As usual, there were several Car Dept. projects going on in the shop today. Here are some pictures of just a few of the activities.
First, let's have another round of our favorite quiz game: MYSTERY PARTS!
Gerry showed me this bracket, or whatever it is, that was found in the 306. Nobody knows for sure what it is, or even whether it was part of the car in its Fox River days.
UPDATE: Joe Hazinski of FRTM wins the prize for the first part. He writes:
Your first mystery part is a switch iron hanger. It is hung horizontally under the right-side end window inside on both ends of the car. I can't be sure if it is original to the AE&FR, but a switch iron would be needed on the Fox River Line with all its street running.
And then we have these two brackets, also found in the 306. Somebody at some point thought it worthwhile to clean them up and repaint them, but again, we don't know where they go. I'd have much better luck at this game if we were dealing with the Chicago division cars.
These parts, at least, are no mystery: they're the brackets for holding the door engines.
And Gerry brought out one of the two door engines we have on hand for the 306.
You will notice that these motors are entirely pneumatic. The top bracket with the tag rotates. The as-built door system was much simpler than the later rebuilding by Shaker.
The next mystery is who are these two guys, and what are they working on? I was afraid to ask.
Finally, Steve was working on Liner parts, of course, while Pax stands guard to make sure nobody messes up the beautiful paint job.
6 comments:
Interesting mysteries. Has anyone located the detailed photos that Ken Tendick took of the 306 prior to its restoration? These may be helpful. I am guessing the part with the fillaree held up a sign in the interior - perhaps Smoking/Non Smoking? The rust on the rectangular brackets makes me think they lived under the car. -O.Anderson
We have the answer for the first part -- it's a switch iron hanger.
But now I'm wondering if the Chicago cars ever had switch irons hanging anywhere. Prior to 1940 they all had to run through street switches in Aurora, and until 1937 the shorties and Pullmans, at least, ran through Geneva and St. Charles on street trackage. I'd never thought about that before....
The North Shore had switch tenders on street trackage, at least in Milwaukee all the way to the end. I wonder if the CA&E did as well?
Randy Stahl
That's an interesting question. I've never read anything about switch tenders on the CA&E, and I'm pretty sure there weren't any on the third rail lines. The passenger trains generally wouldn't need switches thrown except right at Wheaton, where they were controlled from the tower, and freight trains handled their own switching, of course. As for the Fox River lines, Peffers vol. 2 says that electric switches were installed at various places in Aurora and Elgin, starting in 1923 with the introduction of one-man cars (like the 306!). But those switches couldn't be used where the MU trains ran, on Broadway in Aurora, so they were still manual. That's what conductors are for....
Anyway, I can see why the North Shore would have switch tenders in Milwaukee. They certainly wouldn't want Chicago-Milwaukee expresses delayed any more than necessary.
Could those two mystery brackets have been protective/support brackets for the brake rigging?
I think that was suggested, but the general consensus was that they were too lightweight for brake rigging. But it may be possible.
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