IRM Before 1970

Many thanks to Art Peterson, who has sent along another terrific trove of photos. In this case, they're from a railway familiar to us all: IRM itself, taken in the early years in Union between 1964 and 1970. Some photos were taken by a young Art Peterson himself. Enjoy!

All photos are copyright Krambles-Peterson Archive and may not be reproduced without permission.

Back when the museum's entire collection was lined up around where Schmidt Siding is now, this shot of Public Service 7 followed by the "Ely" and a couple of C&NW baggage cars was a popular view. This view dates to August 1966, just after the first car (IT 415) operated. Photo by Glenn Andersen. Gregg Wolfersheim adds that this image may have been turned into a postcard that was sold in the gift shop.

The pride of the fleet! It's October 18, 1969, an auspicious day to be sure, and the 309 looks to be on the west track in Yard 1. The 354 is next to it and behind it are a CRT 'L' car, the 101, and a couple of IT orange cars. Photo by Art Peterson.

On June 5, 1966, George Krambles snapped a couple of photos inside the 309 while it sat in the lineup at the west end.

Interior shots of the car before the fire are rare, but then again, it pretty much looks like this again today - after only about 30 years' worth of work.

On that same day, June 5, 1966, George also shot the 321. The car was painted green before leaving North Chicago because it looked so unsightly.

Art Peterson took this photo of the 431. The photo is dated May 21, 1968. Gregg Wolfersheim: This is on the main line in front of the depot with the "big tree" visible.

This photo of the 431 westbound at Olson Road was taken May 26, 1968, by Tom Desnoyers. Of course, where the photographer is standing would probably be in the gauge of the station track lead today. That may be Howard Odinius in the cab, but I'm not sure. Gregg Wolfersheim: Definitely Howard in the cab.

Another Desnoyers photo from the same day, I believe this was taken about where Car Line Junction is today. IRM's main line is off to the left and in the right distance you can see the substation shelter. Behind the 431 is the 65, then the X4 - just arrived from ERHS and possibly with someone working underneath it - followed by a North Shore caboose (1002 or 1004), the C&NW wood cupola caboose, and CSL E223.

On October 18, 1969, Art Peterson took this photo of CRT 1024. In those days, the 1024 and 1808 often ran as a set, so they're probably changing ends here to head back to the depot. Gregg Wolfersheim: This is at Karstens, at the longtime east end of the railroad.

It's the same day, and Art also snapped this photo of the 1808 pulling the 1024 at the west end of Station Track 1. In the left background is the 144 on the west wye; to the right is the 431 and the Pennsy doodlebug is sitting over on the main.

A year or so earlier, the 1808 is sitting on the west switch as it's passed by a C&NW freight train led by GP7 1564. This seems like an odd place to spot the car, but both poles are down, so go figure. Photo dated May 26, 1968, by Tom Desnoyers.

Restoring CSL 144 to operation was a major project, as can be seen in this Tom Desnoyers photo taken July 9, 1967. The car is on one of the newly laid tracks in Yard 1 with the 65 spotted behind it.

Speaking of which, here's the "mother car" on May 28, 1967, in a George Krambles photo. It clearly still wears most of its yellow CRANDIC paint but looks like it's got a new roof.

The notorious Illinois Terminal tower car shown here helped string the museum's first trolley wire. The thing in between the wheels is a clamp to hold the car to the rail; woe betide him who forgot to affix that! This photo was taken by George Krambles on June 5, 1966, just a few weeks before the first car operated. I'm not sure who everyone is but I believe that's Bill McGregor up on the pole.

On July 6, 1968, George snapped this photo of the "Tangerine Flyer" - the 233, 518, 504, and 234. All except the 504 had just arrived from Champaign; the 233 still has UofI blue windows and doors and is lettered "Urbana."

The first operation at IRM was July 17, 1966, and this photo of the 415 was taken one week later, on the 24th. I believe this is east of Olson Road only because I can see a switch - er, the switch - behind the car. Photo by Tom Desnoyers.

Just a couple of months later, in September 1966, George Krambles took this photo of the tidy loading platform that was hastily set up on the west side of Olson Road. This is really an interurban-style platform: vertical boards around the edges with crushed stone fill.

Less than three years later, IRM has changed dramatically, and we see the freshly painted Class B on the west leg of the wye while the 1808 loads at the depot in the background. William Janssen took this photo on June 14, 1969.

The first steam engine to operate at IRM was Shay 5, shown here passing the west switch with two of the Burlington coaches in tow. Photo by Art Peterson.

This must be the early days of Yard 1, with the 354, E223, and one of the North Shore cabooses (either 1002 or 1004) in sight. Photo by Tom Desnoyers, July 4, 1967.

North Shore line car 604 is spotted on the main line, probably in front of the depot, on May 19, 1968, in this George Krambles shot.

The very first car in Yard 1 was Sand Springs 68, which was put there as soon as it arrived in 1967. The car's sad condition upon arrival is clear in this September 5, 1967, photo by Art Peterson.

The 972 was one of the regularly used service cars in the early days. Here, it's parked in front of the depot on May 26, 1968, with one of the wooden C&NW baggage-RPO cars behind it. Photo by Tom Desnoyers. Gregg Wolfersheim: Behind the 972 is the gift shop car. Later, it would reside on the west wye.

For years, the south end of Yard 1 (where the 50th Avenue headhouse is now) was usually the home to the "Juno" and the IC MU cars, among others. But in this May 26, 1968, photo by Tom Desnoyers, those pieces of equipment aren't at IRM yet - the Zephyr won't show up until September and the IC MU cars will be carrying commuters into Chicago for another four years before adjourning to Union. Here we see the "Menominee," still thought at the time to be the "Mendota," with the 1129 behind it still in green and yellow. To the right is the "Ely" while the 1024 is to the left.

That's a young Art Peterson on the right inspecting the "Queen Mary" in this June 5, 1966, photo. The vertical hinge in the middle of the bus is pretty obvious. Photo by George Krambles.

Here's a wider shot of the bus lineup, taken in August 1966 by Glenn Andersen. The "Queen Mary" is on the left, followed by CSL 192, Cleveland 874, Milwaukee 269 and 441, and a lone "Old Look" diesel bus from Milwaukee, one of several we later scrapped.

It's November 1965 and the Boot Creek Bridge has been built, but there are no rails leading to it yet. Line poles have been set and bracket arms affixed as well. Photo by Glenn Andersen.

This photo was taken on March 27, 1966, by George Krambles, showing construction work on the right-of-way. I'm not certain of the location but I think this may be just west of Karsten's Crossing, which for many years was the east end of the railroad.

Thursday Brief

Weekday service continues on a regular basis during the summer, of course.  Thanks to the many volunteer regulars who make this possible.  This year we're trying to have two cars operating each day, one on the loop and one on the main line.

On Thursday I was able to spend a day running the 714 in mainline service.

I had a pretty good number of passengers on each trip, and everything went well except for a couple of dewirements.  Nothing major, of course.

And here's a relatively new regular: Jim Ward, who was running the 3142.

He's no stranger to IRM or electric railway museums; for many years he lived in California and was an active member at Rio Vista, and in fact was the training director.  He was also a friend of our old buddy Ted Miles, IRM Member.  He has now retired and moved back to Illinois, so he has time to volunteer on a regular basis.  He's a good guy to know!

And the bottom line: we can always use more help on weekdays.

Illinois Terminal Class B

 Gregg Wolfersheim reports on his latest project: the Illinois Terminal Class B!

Now that I'm finished with the line car, I've found a few other things that need attention. Many years ago the Class 'B', 1565 got a new canvas roof. At the time the locomotive sat outside. Probably to prevent any leaks from rain, the smoke jack was never reinstalled. I found some of the components and put it back together. Here is a photo of the outside. The gray primer will get "roof red" some day.

All new piping was used on the inside. In theory, we should be able to use it on a cold winter day. Just need to fill the hopper with some of that southern Illinois coal.

Sunday Part II

Frank writes...

To echo what my father said, Sunday was a busy day and ran very smoothly. There was a lot happening and dispatcher Harold Krewer efficiently kept a lot of trains in motion. I was running car 18 in its second-ever day of revenue service at IRM, and at one point we were pulling into Depot Street while the 309 was coming down the west wye into 50th, the IT train was backing into Station Track 1, another train was loading on Station Track 2, and ComEd 4 was proceeding westbound past the depot on the main line. Four different trains were going four different directions - pretty impressive! But I digress.

This was the public debut for the Eclipse fender that Frank Kehoe restored over the winter. The car looks really sharp with this addition! The above photo was taken before leaving Barn 7 (thanks to the Saturday night switch crew that placed the 18 at the door!) and the below photo was taken, of course, at Depot Street.

A lightning strike Saturday night had blown some lightning arrestors and fuses, so the 3142 was the first car out of the barn but it was commandeered by Greg Kepka, who was up at the crack of dawn to fix the signals and needed a conveyance out to address some issues toward the east end. Thanks, Greg! As such, the 18 was the only streetcar on the car line for an hour or two, until the 3142 returned from its (rare) main line trip and the 141 went into service.

My conductor for the day was Keith Letsche, visible above at his station. He did quite a bit of research into the 18, the Shaker Heights line, and the eccentric Van Swearingen brothers, which I greatly appreciate. Our riders got some pretty unique history about the 18 and the origins of the Shaker Heights line.

Here we are at Depot Street with the IT train in the background. For most of the day the main line trains were the "Tangerine Flyer," IT 101, North Shore 714 and 749, and ComEd 4 pulling the coach train.

Late in the afternoon, Harold snagged a slot for the 309 to make one full main line trip, so it's shown here on track 1 with our three-car IT train on track 2. Pretty snazzy!

At the end of the day, there was good news and bad news. The good news was that nothing on the 18 broke. The bad news is that it started picking the South Junction switch to the south yards, which is a facing-point switch on the streetcar line just north of the "diamond to nowhere." The car never derailed, but the lead axle rode up slightly onto the frog before dropping back down into the flangeway. (Thanks to Zach Ehlers for figuring out exactly what was transpiring.) This obviously is no good, so until we can figure out a way to adjust that frog or do something else to fix the issue, the 18 is - regrettably - temporarily out of service.

Trolley Sunday

 Sunday was another busy day for Trolley Weekend, and everything went smoothly.  I was running the 309, so I didn't get many pictures.  Keep those cards and letters coming, folks!

The 309 was in Jefferson Shuttle service all day.  That worked out well and we had a good time.  Most of the trips had a good number of passengers.  And here's the crew:

The conductor is Tim Wells, who just recently became rules qualified and is learning the ropes to being a conductor.  At the end of the day we took one mainline trip.

Meanwhile, Frank had an enjoyable day running the 18.  This will be a valuable addition to our operating fleet.

Let's see, what else was running?  The Com Ed 4 was pulling a train of three heavyweight coaches, the three-car IT train (277, 518, 234) was running, the IT 101, and the 714 and 749.  On the streetcar line, the 18 as mentioned, 3142, and the West Towns 141.  A good time was had by all.

I also had the chance to meet several old friends from the early days -- that's always a good thing.  And as I always say, you just had to be there in person.

Trolley Weekend

This weekend there's no annoying fumes or smoke, we're all electric.  Most of the operable cars will be in service at some point during these two days, so try not to miss it.  As an opener, here's what was going on Saturday morning!

First of all, our oldest operating car, the 24, built in 1898.

  Nick proudly stands on the platform.  This car was running in Jefferson shuttle service.

On the mainline, a mixed train pulled by Com Ed 4.  Zach is the motorman.

And a three-car train of wooden L cars:

And two 4000's.  You don't see these as often any more, since we have so many operable cars.

Back in the shop, Steve was working on doors for the Kansas City car.

And Tim continues woodwork on the 1808.

Somehow I missed getting good pictures of the cars on the loop, the 19 and 4391.  Sorry!

Finally, there was a dedication ceremony for the Milwaukee trolley bus, MST 411, which has been completely restored, due largely to the generosity of a particular donor.  It looks great!

Richard was in charge of the project, and spoke briefly before putting the bus into service.

And Julie and Ray were running the Bus Stop Shop nearby, with various items for sale, mostly having to do with Wisconsin

Finally, as for me, I wanted to check the oil in the 309, which will be running tomorrow.  It's impossible to check the oil without getting dirty.  And I uncoupled it from the 319, put red flags at each end, etc.

Don't miss it!

And I put primer on the rest of the wood on the west wall of the shelter.  It's almost ready to be moved to its permanent location!

...wherever that will be.  It should look at least as good as Springfield!