The Great Third Rail... Beam Project

Frank writes...

It's officially too cold to paint the 63 - Saturday was an unseasonable 68 degrees, but by the time I got to IRM Sunday the weather had reverted to more typical November temperatures in the 40s. That meant that the focus on Saturday was CA&E third rail beams.

With my father having completed two new third rail beams for the 460, it was time to retrieve two more beams and salvage the hardware so he can use it on the other two beams for that car. Our indefatigable president, Nick, and I hauled the two beams above into the "dirty room" at the new east end of the car shop. These came from Trolleyville and have been stored along Bruneau Drive for 15 years. (By the way, Nick coined the "project name" used here for the post title.)

These beams weren't usable when they arrived in 2010, and the condition of the wood hasn't improved. The first one partially disintegrated. But Richard and I were able to get all the hardware off both beams - many thanks to Richard for judicious application of heat as needed! - and the hardware was deposited on a wooden cart out in the barn where the two newly made beams had been put. I meant to take a photo but forgot. Richard also spent quite a while prepping a casting pattern that we are going to send to a foundry as part of an effort to cast more third rail beam hardware, since we don't have enough original beams for our entire fleet. Thanks, Richard!!

Later, I went over to Barn 8, used a jack to hold one of the 308's third rail beams in place, and unbolted it so I could remove these two bits. The plate on the left, which is a 5"x6" piece of 10-gauge steel, acts as a large washer, and there's one at each end of each beam where they bolt to the truck. On the right is a 6"x6-1/2"x3/4" steel plate with ridges that mesh into identical ridges on the trucks. These also go at both ends of each third rail beam, but on the back where the beams meet the truck. The idea here was that the height of each beam could be adjusted up and down easily in 1/4" increments, which was helpful to account for wheel wear. This isn't something we have to worry about at IRM, of course. I took measurements of both these items so we can start looking into options for replicating them for our new third rail beams.

There were also some miscellaneous projects underway, as always.

There was a lot of activity around the property getting ready for Happy Holiday Railway. Lights are going up all over the place and Christmas music was even being piped over the loudspeaker system in the afternoon as our tech folks checked all the speakers. Jim W. was hard at work putting up an extraordinary quantity of lights and other decorations in Barn 6. For the car shop's part, we had to move the line of storage cars currently occupying the connector track north about 30' or so because they want to spot the Belt caboose just north of the ruling curve on the streetcar line. It will presumably be festooned with lights once it's in place. Above, the first car to move was the TM container car.

Then a few of us pushed the next car, CTA 2008 (masquerading as "1992"), up to the container car. With its roller bearings, it moved easily and we didn't even need a car mover. This car is not part of the historic collection and is being stripped for parts.

In other news, Mike S. has been hard at work on our CSL air compressor wagon, AX545. It looks like virtually the entire thing except for the roof has now been needle-chipped and/or wire-wheeled.

Here's Nick again, this time testing the specific gravity of batteries for our CTA 2200s.

And now, a brief retrospective of the major project that the department has been working on the last couple of weeks. You may recall that New Jersey Transit 4, our ex-Minneapolis PCC car, was brought over to Barn 4. The reason it was brought over was to have its narrow street railway wheels, which are prone to derailing on our track, replaced with full-width railroad-profile wheels. Back in October, we shipped out a car's worth of PCC wheels obtained from the CTA back in (I think?) the 1970s. These were supposedly designed for the 5000s, so they didn't have the right holes cut in them. A generous benefactor in the local business community had the holes cut in these wheels, so NJT 4 was brought over for some "foot work."

This was a couple of weeks ago, and the guys started on the front left wheel. On the left is Bob, who lent us a battery-powered impact drill. The resilient wheels on a postwar PCC like this have an inner set of bolts ringing the wheel hub and an outer set of larger bolts around the wheel rim. These bolts hold together the axle hub, wheel, and some rubber spacers.

Hiccup number one was that some of the inner bolts on wheel #1 didn't want to budge. Here's Richard applying some heat, though with a rubber spacer so nearby, this could only be done sparingly. Unfortunately, two of the bolts just did not want to move, and on this wheel they were so close to the wheel hub that the impact drive wouldn't fit onto the bolt. Photo by Ted Kuhn.

After quite a bit of fighting, the guys started working on wheel #2, the left wheel on the second axle. For unknown reasons, this had a different size axle, so the impact drive fit just fine over the inside ring of bolts. Photo by Ted Kuhn.

In just a few minutes, the wheel came off. Here you can see a rubber spacer. By this time it was late, so work was suspended until the following weekend.

A week ago now, I came out to find that the guys had been hard at work that Saturday. Unfortunately, they had come up against hiccup number two. In the above photo, near the left and just to the right of that spring you can see the end of the "torque arm." Surrounding it are some bolts, though they're missing in this photo. These bolts clear a narrow-tread wheel just fine, but they foul a wide-tread wheel (the new wheel is seen to the right, of course). Now, Shaker Heights solved this by using bolts with heads ground down to a thinner profile. Unfortunately, on NJT 4, these aren't bolts, they're studs. And grinding down a stud with a nut on it is not a great plan if it means only a couple of threads are still engaged. The solution? Drill out the studs and replace them with bolts.

And voila: on Sunday, wheel #2 is completed and the new wide-tread wheel is installed. On Saturday, the guys drilled out those studs and installed bolts that clear the wheel. One down, seven to go.

So here's Jimmy working on wheel #4, the left wheel on the #4 axle, this weekend. Notice anything different? If you answered "are those Allen bolts?!?" you would be correct - the inner ring of bolts on this truck, for reasons I cannot fathom, uses Allen bolts. We have a drive for these on order. Stay tuned; with time, all the wheels on NJT 4 should be replaced, at which point we'll give it a thorough mechanical and electrical inspection. If everything's in good shape - and for a PCC that has sat for nearly 25 years, that's a big if - then it may be due for some testing to see whether we can put it into service.

Barn 15 Progress

 Dave Diamond reports:

A large crew from several IRM departments gathered on Saturday to work inside Barn 15, leveling  gravel along the outside tracks. Volunteers from B&G, Diesel, Electric Car, Track, and Signal shoveled for hours on Saturday to get this job done as we get closer to completion on our newest railroad storage barn. Thanks to all for spending a little or a lot of time!

I wish I could put names to all these faces.  That guy in the sunglasses looks suspicious....

Friday Snapshot

Not a lot to report today.  I was working on the first two third-rail beams, and they're basically done until we can install them on the 460, and that won't happen until after Christmas.

The front side.

  But they look good, if I say so myself.  Two down, two to go.

The back side.

Meanwhile, don't let Happy Holiday Railway pass you by.  Tickets are going fast!

Doodlebug Update

Thanks to our intrepid cub reporter, Gregg Wolfersheim, for sending us an update of recent restoration work on our Union Pacific "doodlebug," the M35.

Slowly the side of the M35 is getting needle chipped and wire wheeled. Then, some primer is applied before it starts to rust.

This is the sheet metal cover on the heat shield that has been shown earlier. It actually holds some insulation against the side of the shield.

Here it is attached with multiple screws and nuts. Some primer was applied to the fasteners. Note the curve which corresponds with the arch of the roof.

On the left is the lower heat shield assembly. It bolts to the upper on the right. During maintenance, this lower part is removed to get to the valve covers on the engine.

Get the Breeze at Luna Park

This has nothing to do with railway preservation as such, but it's an amusing picture of life in the good old days.  In the wall of the 1268, Tim found a crumpled-up copy of a multi-page guidebook put out by Luna Park, sometime between 1906 and 1909.  This was an amusement park located on the southwest side at 50th and Halsted.  It lasted only until 1911.  I think there were several of these parks in the city in the old days, but Riverview was the only one that survived into the modern era.

The following description of the park is priceless.  I'd like to see the "Human Roulette Wheel" or "Shooting Niagara" in operation.  They also had a miniature railroad, moving pictures, and flying airships!

"A trip through Luna Park is equivalent to a liberal education."   I'm not so sure about that....

They did have frequent band and orchestra concerts, with an impressive variety of popular and classical music of all sorts.  The guidebook includes lots of ads, mostly for liquor and cigars, it would seem:

There are two types of cigars: 5 cent and 10 cent.

Want to recuperate?  Take the Monon Route to French Lick and West Baden.  Hey, I've been there!

Of course, to get to Luna Park you'll want to take the streetcar.  The Surface Lines run everywhere!

You don't want just any old bourbon.  Get it from Mr. Fox:

Ask the waiter!

Anyway, once Main Street gets built, we should start putting in a human roulette wheel and flying airships at Electric Park.  It'll be a sensation!  Minus the bourbon and cigars, presumably....

Tuesday Report

Tuesday was another exciting, productive day in our fabulous, recently-expanded car shop.  Quickly:

 

Various parts of the 306 are being painted.

Work continues on the 1268.   Stay tuned for more interesting artifacts discovered inside the walls.  Meanwhile, I think Tim just ignores all the parking tickets he gets.

Here's the original pattern for the CA&E third rail hanger, alongside an actual casting.  Note that the casting will have to have a lot of material cut away.

Finally, I started making some new clips for the bolts in the third rail beams.  The rest of the work can be done at home.   And work is almost complete on the second third-rail beam (not shown).

Sunday Short Subject

Frank writes...

I didn't have as much time at IRM on Sunday as I normally do, and spent part of my time helping sort parts and move things around the shop as part of a general rearrangement, so I didn't get any photos of those activities.

I did trace numbers off the X4 and F305 and, after some resizing magic on the office copying machine, made up most of the stencil we'll need for lettering the CSL air compressor. I will need to recreate the "A" from photographs, but I don't expect it to be a problem.

So, what else was going on? Zach, Greg, Jimmy, and Good Nick were out on the line car for practically the entire day switching cross-arms and other hardware from old poles onto new poles along the main line. Joel was working on rearranging and sorting various things in the shop. My father had been out on Saturday and snapped the above photo showing the second third rail beam looking the part, in primer and with its hardware installed.

Tim was working on the 1268, and removing some of the sub-siding had revealed a small cache of paper that had fallen into the walls of the car early in its career when it had drop-sash windows. (This, of course, is a feature now being restored to the car by Tim.) It seems pretty clear that the car has not been disassembled to this point since it was built! Above you can see a pair of Chicago Railways cash fare receipts, with the one at least dated October 25, 1911.

And here's a batch of miscellaneous items. Tim is holding a Hershey's candy wrapper at top right; clockwise from top left are a picture of the Hershey Chocolate factory in Pennsylvania, a gum wrapper, something from the Palmer House, a balcony ticket, a business card from the Burrell & Heath Yacht Yard, a business card for Enoch A. Pearson (who worked in the Monadnock Building), and in the middle, a Garrick Theatre ticket from Saturday, May 31st, which Tim said dated it to either 1913 or 1923, but probably 1913. It can be easy to forget just how much unknown history is hidden in these old trains!

Steam Benefit Concert November 23rd

Jeff Calendine wrote to us and reminded us that the annual Steam Benefit Concert is coming up on November 23rd! Make sure to get a ticket here for your chance to see the incredible Sanfilippo collection and attend an organ concert on the mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ.

Jeff sent the flyer above, which gives you all the information about the event. Proceeds go to benefit the Steam Department, where the guys are currently hard at work putting the 1630 through a 1472-day inspection that will require replacing tubes and a bunch of other stuff, so all support is appreciated. Don't miss this year's concert!

High Beams

Not many pictures from Wednesday, I was too busy.  Like all of the others.  But a lot got done on the next third rail beam, as seen here.  Fritz in particular was a great help in several parts of this process, including cutting the notch into the beam.  Tim helped too.

I've been dealing with these things for a long time, and they are heavy.  We both remember the time back in 1998 when Frank and I drove out to Orbisonia to pick up two beams from the 315 that the trolley museum didn't need.  They were heavy then, but they're even heavier now.  This can only be due to some principle of physics with which I am unfamiliar.  For instance, I don't see how string theory could explain it.

Be that as it may, we're having some unusual weather in Barn 4.  Tim reports:

Look what the wind blew in!!

Just pull back the curtain, and the 28 starts rolling east.  Norm has to jump out of the way!  Luckily no one was hurt, and the car was brought to a stop and secured.   Whew!  Watch this space for further developments.

As I say, I didn't get many pictures of the other projects.  Gregg continued to work on the 109.

Our Usual Busy Selves

Monday was another busy day in the Car Shop, so I didn't get a chance to check out the various other areas in the Museum.  

Pete was finishing a door; I never got around to asking him where it goes.

 

John and Norm were discussing wiring on the 306.  And that's Gerry in the distance.  Work on this car is continuing at a steady pace.

And Norm is also hard at work getting the next two volumes of his monumental book on the Michigan Electric ready for the publisher.  I can't wait.

I'm not sure who's hiding under all that protective gear, but I suspect it's Tim, applying finish to new wood pieces with his typical efficient methods.

Fritz was working on the 28; here are some of the pieces he made to install the ceiling in the baggage compartment.

And here we see him attaching some parts.

Gerry and Phil are working on installing the stanchions in the 306.

Finally, I purchased some new wood and started making the next third-rail beam.  Two pieces were jointed, ripped, and then glued.  It looks just like the first one did.  Here the end is visible at left.  

For the first beam, since the fuses could not be dislodged from the shoe casting, I decided it was easier to just swap it out with another one, which has fuses pointing the right way.  And I also wanted to use longer bolts to hold it together.  And I attached the scraper to the shaft, so it's more or less complete.  Now it just needs a nice coat of black -- feel free!

Finally, while we're on the subject of third rails, someone brought in a rather tired CA&E third rail support.  It's badly rusted, but these things are hard to find.  And to think there used to be thousands of them.