A Good Time Had by All

Frank writes...

Saturday of Museum Showcase Weekend 2024 saw great (if slightly warm) weather, a good crowd, and a lot of enjoyable train operations. What more could you ask for?

My father was conductor on the CA&E wood train, with the 309 and 319 holding down service, so he'll have an update on that. As for me, I was scheduled to operate the 18 in the afternoon and evening with Zach, so I didn't have to sign in until 1pm or so. When I arrived, I met up with Russ, a volunteer from the Minnesota Streetcar Museum, and helped load some PCC parts that we're trading them into his van. Then I spent a while showing longtime IRM volunteer Eric Z and some Fox River Trolley Museum volunteers around the CA&E fleet before going over to Barn 7 and switching the 4391 out of the way of the 18 (the other car east of the 18 on track 73, the Matchbox, was already in service).

We ran seven or eight trips around the car line, always with a good crowd of passengers, until putting the car away just before dinner. Unfortunately, the day was not entirely without incident. At one point the air compressor blew a fuse; after a bit of inspection, cleaning, and a new fuse, it ran okay for the rest of the day, but it's just the latest sign that our National BB2 could really use a thorough going-over. And then, on the last trip, it seemed like the "riding up over the frog" issue at South Junction was starting to return. We'd been keeping a close eye on this throughout the day, so maybe the heat makes it worse, but it was decided not to bring the car back out after dinner as originally planned. Oh, well. We will try and work with the Track Department to see if it's possible to adjust that South Junction switch.

Above are just a couple of interior shots I took of the 18. It's pretty obvious which seats have and haven't been repainted! I should mention that it was nice to see several out-of-town friends we don't run into very often, including Randy and Betty Andersen and Bill Fronczek from Pittsburgh, all of whom rode the 18.

After an enjoyable BBQ dinner, my father and I had an unusual experience. Dave Diamond is working with a videographer named Alec, shown above on the right, to develop a new video about the museum. They're filming a number of volunteers, particularly "old-timers," and wanted to interview me and my father. And what better setting than inside the 309? So, we sat and chatted with them for a little while. Dave took the above photo.

In the meantime, Zach had gotten Veracruz 19 dug out of Barn 7, and we took it out for night operations. The above crew photo was taken by Jordan Torregrosa. Zach and I are both wearing the new reproduction CSL badges that he had made earlier this year. They look fantastic and I got a number of compliments on mine. The good news is that you can still purchase one! A few extras were made and are now available. Drop us a line if you're interested.

Thumbs up! This was going to be a photo of a nice sunset, but it was photobombed by some derelicts from the Diesel Department. L-R Matthew K, James K, Logan S, Lee E, and Zach.

Here's the 19 at Depot Street. We ran until after 11:00pm (!!) and were remarkably well patronized the entire time. Who doesn't like an open car on a warm evening?

There are always unusual train operations on Showcase Weekend; Saturday highlights this year included the Zephyr as well as the Pullman consist pulled by AT&SF 92 and the 1630 (not at the same time!), plus IT 101 running at night. A very unusual piece to see on the railroad was Milwaukee Electric dump motor D13, which carried passengers in the dump section for the first time in at least 15 years, maybe more. Nathan and Mikey set up portable stairs at Central Avenue and ran express trips around the streetcar line from there. This operation was extremely popular, but unfortunately, after a few trips the car blew a control resistor and had to go out of service. It's not a serious problem, though, and it's probably already fixed by the time I'm writing this.

Randy adds:

During the day, there was a lot of activity.  The 309 and 319 were in service, and here they are as the Galt House passes by.

Andy Sunderland was the motorman, and we had a great day.  Sorry we didn't get around to taking the usual crew picture.  And among other things, the Matchbox was in service, with Jeff Obarek as motorman:

Finally, I promised you a surprise.  Betcha don't recognize this car:

This is actually the 1268.  Tim has essentially run out of wood L cars to restore, so he has gone back to the first one he did, and has started rebuilding it a second time, with an earlier paint scheme and various other changes.  Some people are just never satisfied!

Old Reliables

Yesterday, when I was lubricating the journals on the 319, it struck me that I had been dealing with those particular trucks for a long time.  Here's a picture of the first train of cars to arrive on IRM property, on the first track to be laid, in May of 1964.  There are three CA&E cars: 321, 431, 309, and four L cars: 1024, 1268, 1797, and 1808.

Mizerocki collection

As it happens, the 321's trucks now have a different carbody sitting on them, but otherwise all of these trucks, motors, control systems and so on are still in operation.  And you'll see some of them in service this weekend.  It's hard to match that for reliability!

Ready for Showcase

Showcase Weekend, known as Member's Day in ancient times, is almost here, and we need to be ready!  There will be a large assortment of interesting equipment in operation, as always.  Among them will be the 309 and 319, so I checked and filled the oil in the compressors and journal boxes.  That's a dirty and annoying job to have to do in the morning of operations.  Now all is well.

Among other things, the guys found a pie-plate lampshade that could be used on the Jewell Road shelter.  I cleaned it up and took it home.  It will need some different hardware to attach to the conduit that will project out over the door, and I can do work on it at home.

Here for comparison is a closeup from 1949:

I suspect that the original lamps ran on 600V DC, but we won't want to try that here.

Meanwhile, Frank Kehoe was hard at work cleaning up various parts for the 1808.

Like these:

And tomorrow, we'll have a surprise (or maybe more) for you.  But you'll have to be there in person to see it.

In Memoriam Doug Oaks

Once again we must sadly post notice of the death of another long-time IRM member, Doug Oaks.  I remember him mostly from back in the 70's, when he was one of the earlier trolley bus fans. In later years he lived too far away to appear very often, but kept in close contact with the Museum.  And he was always a strong supporter of all the various projects on the property, and a good friend to everyone who knew him.

The funeral will be next Monday, Sept. 16 in Ohio.  The obituary is at this link.  Thanks to Richard Schauer for bringing this to our attention.

277 Progress Report

 Another dramatic submission from Gregg Wolfersheim:

The right side of the combine is coming together. Most of the painting is done. Baggage rack is back up.

The left side is another story. Previous water damage has turned some of the veneer into a peeling mess. Some of it had been treated with epoxy to fill in what was gone. Here I have sanded what painted surfaces I can get to.

Later, I primed most of it. The bare spots are where delamination has occurred. Next will be filling it in with epoxy. Hopefully most of the baggage section will be done by this weekend, as the train is scheduled to operate for Museum Showcase.

The lower wall area is getting transformed too.

Light on the Motors: A Single-Trucker Comes to Grief

Light on the Motors

A Single-Trucker Comes to Grief

by Frank Hicks and Art Peterson

All photos from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

For a locomotive roster shot, “light on the trucks” is essential for a good portrait. FM switchers with their thick frames cast giant shadows and made this a challenge. Here’s a set of photos of a single-truck open car working on the Fort Smith (AR) Light & Traction, where the first shot is notable for having superb light on all the underbody components, thanks to the car lying on its side.

Fort Smith had mule cars from 1883, and by 1893 had moved onto electric cars; the population had nearly quadrupled over this period. All lines were electrified by 1899, at which time the track gauge was 3’-6” and the system had six miles of track. The listing in the 1899 edition of “American Street Railway Investments” noted that Fort Smith Traction Light & Power (FSTL&P) was one year into a 50-year franchise agreement. It was noted that six “Laclede cars” were used (Laclede had been established in 1883 and was acquired by St. Louis Car 20 years later), but no other information was given.

Conversion to standard gauge must have occurred shortly thereafter, as American Car records indicate that Fort Smith Light & Traction (the successor company to FSTL&P) received orders 274, placed in 1899 for three closed cars, and 433, for four closed cars, with order 433 being filled in 1902. Car 10 (preserved in Fort Smith) is a member of order 433. On March 24, 1905, American order 585 for 15 ten-bench open cars numbered 50-64 was received from Fort Smith Light & Traction (FSL&T). Exactly one year later, another order, this time order 642 for six ten-bench open cars numbered 65-70, was placed by FSL&T.  In 1908, FSL&T ordered six double-truck, semi-convertible cars from American on order 782, numbering them 20-25.

Fort Smith car 58 (a member of the March 1905 order) shows all its underbody details in this view. The motors may be GE 80s, 40-hp units which each weighed 2,850 pounds. Visible in this great light are the corner braces (diagonal members) as well as the two transverse floor timbers running across the width of the car either side of the truck. The two substantial members either side of the truck, straddling the centerline of the car, are the platform sills. These also provided an anchor for the drawbars. Both drawbars have slumped down once the car was overturned – the drawbar carry iron (an iron strap suspended from the underside of the car’s bumper beam) has retained the drawbars, exactly as it was intended to do. Also note the separate grid boxes and the various angles at which they’re mounted under the car – an unusual arrangement. No records survive to indicate why this had been done, unless somehow they were knocked loose in the accident, though the authors confess nothing else under-car seems to have been knocked about.

While the photographer noted the date of the incident, he didn’t note where in Fort Smith this happened, nor did he include his name on any of the prints. We also don’t have any info as to the circumstances that resulted in this car overturning. A head-on collision on the Denver & Rio Grande, which killed five that same day, pushed any coverage of this incident out of the surviving newspapers from the area.

This down-on view includes a bit more of the overall scene. The thin metal members running the width of the truck between the motors are the motor suspension bars. The longitudinal member running the length of the truck is the brake rod. The thicker members at either end of the truck are the equalizing lever (outermost member) and the brake beam (just inboard of it). The car must be hand-braked – typical for a smaller car of the era – as no air compressor, air tanks, or brake cylinder are visible. The “right” end of the car must have been the front when it turned over because the fender is deployed, or at least what’s left of it is. A close look in between the platform sills reveals the car’s gongs.

In his 1993 book “Breezers,” Steve Meyers noted that as single-truck cars grew longer they had a tendency to gallop at speed. The combination of a lightly loaded car traversing less-than-ideal track at higher speeds made conditions right for a rough ride and/or derailment.

From this angle, you can see the platform hood (the roof section on the end platforms). On most open cars, the platform hood was framed separately from the body roof, but joined to the roof without a break. Although this car is fairly new, there was a tendency for the platform hoods to droop as the car aged (perhaps you’ve seen photos of the Lancaster [OH] cars, which displayed this tendency in the extreme). Mounted to the underside of the hood is the “hood switch” or “canopy switch” that could be used to electrically cut out the motors. The fender appears to be an Eclipse, which was one of the more popular types of folding streetcar fenders of the era.

This close-up view of the end platform of the car shows the GE K-10 controller (moderate-capacity equipment, used on 2- or 4-motor cars up to a total of 160 hp) and the brake wheel on the end platform of the car. You can also see how the angle-iron bumper construction is suspended out from the car’s platform sills. The wheel-type hand brake is a bit unusual for a hand-braked car; gooseneck handles were more common. Just to be clear, the “Little Rock” reading is the line within Fort Smith on which the car was working; this was not an interurban trip to the state capital (one-way distance = 161 miles!). The poster advertises a "tent show" starring Rentfrow's Jolly Pathfinders, at one point advertised to be "the top traveling tent show in the country," at - where else - Electric Park.

With the car upright, at least we can see that the company name was on the running board riser and the pole has been tied down. The horizontal board just below the letterboard could be slid down to armrest height to block passengers from alighting from the street side of the car. In the foreground, you can see various rerailing accoutrements including click jacks, blocking, and ropes or cables. Of course, not only are a bunch of kids hanging around a wreck site, but they’re almost all barefoot!

FSL&T was managed by HM Byllesby & Co. out of Chicago. It was one of 17 utility operations (including electric, gas and railways) that the investment firm controlled. By 1914, FSL&T had 27 miles of track, required 43 motor cars to provide service and was carrying around 5 million riders annually. Birney cars (from Cincinnati) came to FSL&T from 1919. A repeat order for Birneys (this time, supplied by American Car) was placed in 1926. Two members of that order have been preserved in Fort Smith, car 221 as part of a house and car 224 as a fully restored and operational streetcar, while car 205 from the 1919 Cincinnati order is also preserved as a body at the museum there. The last streetcars in Fort Smith ran on November 15, 1933.

Several industry publications (as noted above) were consulted to put a little more meat on the bones of this piece. In particular, the 1911 “Electric Railway Dictionary” was used to provide some additional details on car components/construction visible in these unusual views. In addition, online sources were reviewed as were the production records of American Car and other car builders. As always, the willingness of Randy and Frank to publish this on the blog is most-sincerely appreciated! -Art

More from the Weekend

More pictures from Labor Day Weekend:  First of all, a couple showing how we light the kerosene marker lamps on the CA&E cars:

 

And then, the 1808 in operation.  It was pulled out of the barn so the 1268 could get its roof washed and repainted.  Then it moved over to 43 temporarily.

Early ERHS Bulletins

 Bill Wulfert showed me a couple of interesting flyers from the Dick Lukin collection.  First is an ad for early ERHS bulletins.

And then a flyer put out by Carl Gustafson for his self-published book on the E&B.

Order yours today.  Prices will never be lower!

Night Train to Kishwaukee Grove

Frank writes...

It's been almost 10 years since IRM started running trains into the evening on Labor Day Weekend - I had to check, but the first year we did this was 2015 - and it's still a blast. This year, the CA&E wood cars were the "evening shift" train on Saturday. For most of the shift, my father was conductor and I was motorman.

We brought the train out at about 4:00pm, but had a bit of a wait on the tail track while a spot opened up in the rotation.

Fortunately, as you can see above, the train watching from this spot is pretty nice! Daytime service was held down by the 1630 with the coach train, Minnesota Transfer 200 (later replaced by CB&Q 504) with a caboose train that also added a couple of freight cars behind the engine, and the CA&E steel cars on the main line; Northwestern Elevated 24 working the 50th Avenue shuttle; and Veracruz 19 and the Green Hornet on the car line. All of those except the 1630 and 4391 were put away by dinnertime, but the C&NW bi-level set and, of course, our train came out to replace them.

We neglected to get a formal crew photo, but hopefully Carina Borst will forgive me for stealing a couple of crew photos she snapped when she joined us for our 7:45pm departure. Above, myself and Zach, who joined the crew for the last two trips (we departed on the 45's hourly from 4:45 to 8:45).

Above, my father and Zach on the 7:45 train; my father had to vamoose after this trip and Zach worked the final trip and helped get the train put away. Thank you, Zach!

Here you go, a couple of nice shots of the train in Station Track 1 before the 8:45 trip. We had a good crowd pretty much every trip and everyone seemed to have a good time. We've come up with a good system that involves carrying markers at all four corners and using the little "flippers" to flip them from white to red (or vice versa) when changing ends. We also carry a headlight at each end of the train to make changing ends easier.

Everything ran smoothly this year. We didn't even have any of the kerosene marker lanterns blow out!

So, enough CA&E photos - what else was going on?

When I arrived shortly after lunchtime, a crew was doing B&G work outside the electric car shop. They were working to extend a gas line, and I was told that by the end of the day, the new line was run, just not hooked up. Pictured above, Jimmy on the ground, Facilities GM Dave Diamond in the hole, Nathan taking measurements, and new volunteer Ashton supervising.

During the day, before switching to join the CA&E crew as conductor, Zach was running NWERR 24 on the 50th Avenue-to-Jefferson Street shuttle. Here, the car comes into the 'L' station from one of its trips. This car truly is one of the most spectacular pieces of equipment we run and it's terrific to see it in operation.

And here we have the second bunch of seats for the CA&E curve-siders! For some reason, this batch didn't arrive "bagged," so we're going to pick up some garbage bags to protect them until they can be installed in the 460, which hopefully will only be a matter of weeks or months. This means that all of the full-width cross seats for the first car have been reupholstered; Jon is picking up the last half dozen or so seats, which are the slightly narrower seats that go against the bulkheads, on Tuesday and taking them to the upholstery shop. Exciting progress!