In Memoriam - Frank Sirinek

We are very sad to report that Frank Sirinek, longtime museum volunteer and project manager for the streetcars in the Chicago Surface Lines collection, died early this morning at the age of 88.

Frank grew up in Pilsen and worked for Illinois Bell most of his career. He joined IRM in April 1965, shortly after the museum moved to Union and before any equipment started operating. He was a Chicago streetcar fan, as he remembered riding the cars in the 1940s and 1950s, and before long he took over the museum's lone Chicago streetcar, CSL 144.

Frank had an enormous talent for project management. Car 144 needed a lot of work in the late 1960s to be made operational, including replacement of large portions of the sides, extensive roof work, and replacement of all its wheel sets. Frank worked hard on the car and enlisted the help of others in the organization to help complete the project. Car 144 was made operational and continues to see regular use to this day.

When the ERHS collection arrived in 1973, Frank spearheaded efforts to get more Chicago streetcars into operation. Initially, work focused on CTA 4391, the "Green Hornet." This car needed relatively little work, and following exterior restoration it was placed into service in 1974 or 1975. At that point Frank began working on the first of his major "frame-up" restorations, CSL 1374, the "Matchbox." Over the course of some 12 or 13 years, he and a large group of volunteers completely rebuilt car 1374. When acquired, it was in very deteriorated condition from its years as a salt car and was missing its seats. Frank and others tore the car down, replaced the floor and much of the roof and exterior, and completely rebuilt the car's interior. Frank's project management abilities made it possible for him to make use of the talents of many different volunteers, notably including the late Bill McGregor, and to do the fundraising necessary. Fully restored, car 1374 entered service in the late 1980s.

Frank's next project was CTA 3142, which he started working on in the mid-1980s as the "Matchbox" project was nearing completion. This car also required major interior restoration work as well as exterior body work and sourcing traction motors from Egypt. Car 3142 entered regular service in 2001 and has been IRM's primary service car on the streetcar line ever since. Following this project, Frank began work on Chicago & West Towns 141, which was just a car body. Arguably his most impressive restoration to date, and still the only electric car IRM has fully restored from “chicken coop” condition, car 141 first ran in 2013.

Over the past decade or so, Frank has mostly concentrated on restoring Kansas City Public Service 755, a PCC streetcar from that city. Frank's "right hand man" for years has been Mike Stauber, with Steve Iverson also working closely with Frank whenever he is in town. In recent years, as his health declined, Frank was able to make it to IRM less and less, but he was still hard at work on restoration work and overseeing maintenance on the Chicago cars when he could. He also kept up with other hobbies, including a handful of antique Chrysler cars and an O gauge model railroad.

Frank's dedication to the Chicago streetcar collection, his immense capabilities in restoration work and project management, and his unforgettable personality, which could be fiery at times but was always tempered by a friendly nature and strong sense of camaraderie with his fellow volunteers, will be sorely missed by all of us. He left an indelible mark on the Chicago streetcar collection and on IRM as a whole. Si monumentum requiris, circumspice.

Service arrangements will be posted here when we receive them.

2018 photo by Carina Borst. 1979 photo by Randy Hicks.