Thomas with Pictures

(Technical issues have been resolved, so here we go!)

Saturday was the first day of Thomas for this year, and everything seemed to go very well.  Ticket sales have been very good, so the first trip of the day was moved up to 9:30.  Operations went smoothly, due to the expertise and experience of our Operating Dept. members.  It's always nice to see the campus crowded with people.  And Barn 3 was open so visitors had some cars to go through.

Percy

Percy's helper!

Thomas

By the way, here's a stack of reupholstered seats for the CA&E St. Louis cars.  Jon Fenlaciki has been doing yeoman work transferring these to and from the upholstery shop:

Since I was on Streetcar Relief, I had some free time.  And I visited the C&NW Historical Society building for the first time.  

Inside the visitor's center

Just a tiny fraction of the documentation they possess

Ticket window from the old North Western terminal in Chicago

  The people there were very helpful and friendly, and I got a tour of the back rooms.  There are some nice displays of various sorts in the front, but behind that are the archives, with an astounding amount of historical documents, much of it going back to the 19th century.  There are photographs, detailed maps of every town the C&NW went through, accounting ledgers, and more.  In some cases they documented every tie that got replaced.  The volunteers are in the process of cataloging and organizing all this material.

Anyway, it's an interesting place to visit.  Right now, it's on the west edge of town, so they don't get as many visitors as they ought to.  But urban development is headed that way!