Union Pacific M35 Update

Thanks to our intrepid investigative reporter Gregg Wolfersheim for sending along an update of what he's been up to on the doodlebug, Union Pacific M35:

Recent activity on the doodlebug has focused on the roof. Some clean up of the radiators and the flat roof sections near the front. The gray primer is slowly getting covered in black.

The same area now covered in black.

The number board box is open for painting. You can see the single bulb used for illuminating it.

View from the right side. The flat roof is made of copper. You can see the folded over section on the tack molding which is in white primer.

Meeting Day

Frank writes...

Saturday was a day of meetings, from the operating rules test in the morning to the safety meeting in the afternoon and the annual IRM membership meeting in the evening. Before we get to all that, though, let's start with some train stuff!

Mid-afternoon, after the safety meeting, Joel and the car shop guys worked on getting the 309 out for some testing to try out the new axle cap bearings. Ted and Ashtin reinstalled the air compressor strainer, which had been disassembled and cleaned out, and then Brian, Jimmy, and others (I'm sorry, there were a lot of people there and I'm having trouble recalling who all was involved) pulled the car outside for oiling. Ted drew the short straw and, with help from Joel, crawled under the car to oil the new bearings. The 45-tonner crew then pulled the car out to the car line where the pole could be raised.

Here we are at Depot Street. What a beauty! Anyway, we made it as far as Karsten's, with a few stops to check bearing temperatures. It became clear that one of the bearings was running hot, even at relatively sedate speeds. We made sure it didn't get hot enough to cause any damage, but we'll need to take a look at it. The bearing isn't too tight, so it's not clamping the axle; our hope is that it may be as simple as the waste making poor contact with the axle and not spreading oil effectively. The 309 was put back on the pit before the annual meeting so that this can be examined during the week (for the record, the bearing in question is the #1 axle, L side).

After the annual meeting, I was able to spray a coat of black paint on the end castings and through bolts for the 319's grid box. A huge THANK YOU goes out to Greg, who during the week sand-blasted the end castings and then primed everything.

And with that, on to the meetings! It's always nice to see people that I don't run into very often, and this time I got a chance to chat with Steve Iversen, Randy and Betty Anderson, Charlie Strong, and a few others. I also spoke with Buzz; we're going to try and pick back up with the project to get vinyl masks cut for the Futura lettering on the 451 so we can (hopefully) spray that this summer.

Above, the safety meeting was held in the cafeteria at Marengo High School, as has been the case the last couple of years. It's a very nice venue. The annual meeting was also held in this spot.

Above, Nick points to his preferred candidate's yard sign. Congratulations and condolences to the winners of the director elections, Bob Olson, who was reelected, and Lee Evans III (aka Lee 3), who is the assistant curator of the Diesel Department and was elected to his first term on the board.

The other matter that came up for a vote at the meeting was taking the 321 off the Permanent Collection list, which we discussed here a few weeks ago. The membership approved this measure, meaning the car is now no longer on the Permanent Collection list. But that said, there seemed to be some confusion around plans for the car. So, what's next for the 321?

First, the car is not in line to be scrapped; in fact, it hasn't even been deaccessioned in IRM's understanding of the word (i.e. it has not been slated for disposition). The authors of this blog are in favor of making the car available to a good home as a static display piece, but that decision will be up to the Board of Directors and will, of course, be dependent on someone being interested in taking the car. For now, the car is still part of IRM's historic collection, just not the core, or "permanent," collection.

If the car is made available to other organizations, it will not be as a complete car. IRM is retaining the trucks, motors, and control equipment in accordance with the original donation conditions for the car. As such, we don't really expect another trolley museum to be interested, though I'd love to be surprised on that count.

STOP THE PRESSES: Thanks to Matthew Kalnins, who was working in operations on Sunday and sent some photos of the 460. This was the public debut of the new seats! He said there were numerous favorable comments.

And on a related subject, Jon reported that the batch of seats recently taken to the upholstery shop - these comprise the first 1/3 of the seats that will go into the 451 - are already done! IRM recently acquired a cargo van, so we are hoping to use it sometime soon to take the remaining two-thirds of the 451 seats to the upholstery shop and retrieve this latest batch.

Two Days in One

I was out on Tuesday, and moved the 309 westward so I could start on replacing the bearings for the #1 machine.  That was easy enough.  

After moving the car, however, things became more difficult.  The #1 case was too far to one side (north) to fit the replacement bearings, which have much thicker flanges (as designed) than the old worn-out ones.  I tried a couple of different methods of moving the machine, but none of them worked.  

Here we see the nice shiny bearing section of the axle.  (This is the gear side.)  But my inability to get the new bearings inserted was rather aggravating.  The other weekday guys were succeeding with their usual tasks, apparently.  So there was no post for Tuesday.  

But on Thursday things started to go better.  Having pondered the problem, I rigged up a better system for moving the motor case, and parts began to fall into place.  Here we see the two halves of the gear-side bearing in place, before reattaching the cap.  It was still a lot of work, but when progress is being made you just gotta keep going.

I have observed that when trying to insert the bearings, as in the picture above, there are exactly two possible situations.  Take your pick:

1) The bearing is so tight that repeated pounding with large hammers has little effect.

2) The bearing is so loose that it rotates under gravity and tries to jump out of the machine.

Towards the end I was somewhat tired, but Phil Albamonte wandered by to see what I was doing, and helped by finishing up tightening the huge bolts that hold the caps in place.  Thanks!

The car should therefore be ready to move itself outside, where we can check the waste bundles and lubricate the motor caps.  Success!

Under the 309

On Saturday, a lot of work got done on the 309.  I was busy most of the day and only got a chance to take two pictures.   The main thing is that we got the next bearing for machine #2 installed.  Dan Fenlaciki was an invaluable help here, as he can keep pounding parts into place longer than anybody I know.  In the picture below, you can see the bright outer surface of the bearing flange, but unfortunately that's about it.  But in any case the car can now move under its own power again.

We also had a lot of help from Ted and Ashtin, who did most of the inspection work on the car.  I was glad to assist them, of course, but it's always good to have new people participating in the inspection process.  They often notice something I've overlooked.

Joel said that the 309 will be staying over the pit this next week, so I'm hoping to install new bearings on the #1 motor if I can.  Stay tuned!

Indiana Railroad Work Car Variety

Indiana Railroad Work Car Variety

by Art Peterson

All photos from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

With four substantial component predecessors and an extensive interurban network from Day 1 of Indiana Railroad (IR), the work car fleet at IR offered a wide assortment of car types, each with interesting “back stories.” Here are just a few of the members of that elite club, showing the diversity of car types, etc. The cars are presented in numerical order, using their IR numbers.

Much of the car equipment data comes from the car data sheets that IR prepared for this rolling stock. This was a carry-over of the UTC practice. The extensive swapping of components between cars was not unique to IR, but the fact that these details have survived to the current day is a fortunate circumstance!  As Roy Benedict observed “IR was cash poor, but component rich.”

IR 761 – East Strawn Siding – Photographer and Date Unknown

Representative of the cars coming into the IR work car roster from the Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern (THI&E), line car 177 had been built in the company shops during 1913. However, those arch windows and the doorway all speak to something significantly older having been used in the construction of this car.  They look reminiscent of the details on some of the Indianapolis & Eastern or Terre Haute Electric cars, but those specifics are lost to history. The car rode on Peckham 14B trucks and was equipped with two GE 73 motors.  Control equipment included one L-4 and one K-64 controller.  

Renumbered to IR 761, at the time of a September 10, 1932 survey, the body was recorded as being “very loose.” Despite this, the car remained active into the late 1930s, being retired on May 23, 1938. The body was sold on July 19, 1938. East Strawn was on the Indianapolis-Richmond-Dayton Line, the old “Eastern Division” of the THI&E. The siding was located 8 miles west of Dunreith, IN.

IR 769 – Arrow Avenue, Anderson – ca. 1936 – G Krambles Photo

The handsome passenger car that eventually would become IR line car 769 was built for the Marion-Wabash line by John Stephenson in June 1905. Almost immediately after receipt, the car was involved in an overturn accident on Anderson’s west side at Arrow and Nichol. Restored to service, the car joined the UTC roster and was rebuilt into a three-compartment configuration during 1915.

Selected for rebuild to a line car in 1927, the car retained its Stephenson trucks, along with GE 73 motors and K-14 control. Under IR, the car was again rebuilt in June 1931, at which time it received the trucks from UTC car “Butler,” along with GE 205 motors from “Windsplitter” 414 and GE K-34 controllers from interurban cars 424 and 425.

During the time when George Krambles was working for IR at Anderson Shops, he caught the car at work doing some serious tree-trimming on Arrow Avenue. In addition, the car and the photographer have collected an audience. IR retired the 769 in March 1938; the car was burned at Anderson on March 9, 1938.

IR 1152 – Columbus Shop – 1936 – GW Niceley Photo

This 1908 Jewett-built car had one of those interesting, complex paths finding its way into the IR work car roster. Glenn Niceley shot this fine down-on view of the car during the period when it was assigned as the tool/wreck car at the Columbus Shops on the former Interstate Public Service (IPS) Louisville Line.

Originally built for the Western Ohio Railway & Power (WOR&P), the car was initially assigned to the joint WOR&P-Lake Shore Electric Cleveland-Lima through car service. By August 1912, WOR&P had sold the car to IPS, where it was renumbered 149. By the time of the 1932 IR equipment survey, the car was equipped with Standard trucks (likely C80P's), GE 205B motors, K-64 control and a D2-EG compressor. IR retired this car during 1939.

IR 1162 – Anderson – 1933 – GW Niceley Photo

Although IR had city operations in a dozen cities from “Day 1,” there were no active cars dating back to the turn of the century, at least not in the revenue city car roster. The “why and wherefore” of UTC’s purchase of this 1903 Brill-built car from Cleveland is another of those lost, historic details.  

The roster in CERA B-102 indicated that UTC had bought car 198 from Cleveland in 1919, but that conflicts with the roster data in CERA B-108, which lists the 198 as having become Cleveland Railway’s welding car 0695, which remained active in Cleveland until 1954. Regardless, UTC 1162 continued to function as a welding car on the IR roster.

On April 6, 1931, the 1162 received the WH 93 motors from car 195. However, by the time of the November 30, 1932 car survey, the car was stored at Anderson, where Glenn Niceley later caught it. IR both retired and sold this car on December 15, 1933.

IR 1186 – Anderson – January 1, 1939 – JF Cook Photo

There were a couple of crane or hoist cars on the IR roster, but only one could trace its lineage back to the Muncie & Portland Traction Company (M&P). The M&P had been leased by UTC from October 25, 1912, at which time this then-six-year-old car became UTC 1167.

Eventually renumbered to 1186 on the IR roster, as the 1930s progressed the hoist cars were frequently engaged in ripping up abandoned rail routes. For example, the “Grays” and “Jackson” station signs adorning the 1186 were both stops on the Indianapolis-Kokomo-Peru line, which last had rail service on September 11, 1938.

The hoist on the 1186 (removed for salvage in this view) was powered by a WH 93 motor and controlled through a K-10 controller. IR had shopped this car in June 1931, at which time the Westinghouse motor replaced the GE 1000 motor previously used.

IR 1193 – Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis – ca. 1939 – RH George Photo

IR did find occasions to add to the work car roster; weed cutter 1193 is an example of this. Built on a St. Louis 72 truck, and equipped with two GE 75 motors and a K-10 controller, Anderson Shops completed the weed cutter car in June 1939. Here, it’s traversing the Kentucky Avenue freight house lead track. The tracks in the street belong to the Indianapolis-Terre Haute line.

Acknowledgements: Many books were consulted in the preparation of this piece including numerous CERA Bulletins. In addition, this piece would not have been possible had not many of the Indiana fans ensured that the IR Car Data sheets were preserved.

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I Had Better Luck With This Last Time

The 309 has been moved over the pit for inspection, and I would like to take this opportunity to replace three motor bearings.  One was done several months ago, when the car was still in the barn.  It ought to be easier over the pit, but you never know.

Here are some progress photos taken under the car.  We start by removing the motor cap on the gear side of motor #2.  You can see where a small jack has been placed to take the weight off the bearing.

Then the three bolts holding the motor cap in place can be loosened.  The cap is carefully pulled out and placed on wood blocks, then slid out of the way to the left.  Be careful not to knock it over, it might land on your foot.  When it's removed, we see the half of the bearing that has the opening for lubrication.  That's where the waste bundles press against the axle and keep it wet.

Then, the other old bearing half can be removed, and we see the axle.  It doesn't appear to have any scoring or uneven wear, so that's good.

The problem now, however, is that there's not quite enough room between the motor frame and the inside surface of the wheel to fit the new bearing in place.  That's because the old bearings were all very worn, allowing too much slack action for the motor, side to side.

I tried to move the motor frame somewhat to the left, but so far without success.  I'm hoping the shop guys can rig up something better, or maybe just put more muscle into it.

Of  course, several other weekday guys were hard at work, but I didn't take time to photograph them.  You just have to be there in person.

I Feel Like I've Been Here Before

Frank writes...

Thanks to the shop guys, who did a terrific job of conducting all the annual inspection work on the 319, I knew before I even arrived Sunday what I'd be working on. Joel even sent me a photo.

Sure enough, one of the elements in grid box #1 under the 319 was almost completely burned through. It's also burned into the adjacent grid element. There's still contact, so the car can move itself around, but clearly we need to fix this before it goes into service. And unlike failures at the "bottoms" of the grid elements, which can be patched quite handily with small nut/bolt/washer sets, this particular failure point requires replacing the grid element.

This all seems a bit familiar, of course... I've rebuilt a number of these grid boxes on our CA&E cars. It's a weak point in the system, I suppose, though these castings also weren't intended for 100 years of service and we probably accelerate more slowly than they did on the CA&E, putting additional strain on the grids. (Though trust me, I'm quite happy putting more strain on the grids and less on the motors!!)

With the 319, my hope was that we could pull grid box #1 off the 321 and swap the two boxes. But it turns out, we already did that! Back in 2013 (12 years ago to the day), my father and a brand-new volunteer named Brian Patterson had swapped these two grid boxes. When Will and I went over to Barn 11 to the 321, we found the grid box originally off the 319 there, complete with the spike still stuck into it. So, we removed it and brought it back to the car shop.

The box is shown above, after the pulled the spike out but before we took the box apart. This box is really odd: the five elements at the left end are completely out of the circuit. They're basically just there for show. Is it possible that the shop would move taps around to adjust the rate at which the car accelerated on certain points? That seems strange, but it's the best guess I can come up with. Anyway, I spent the rest of the day disassembling the box and starting to clean up the box frame. I'll need one replacement tap, one replacement grid element, a bunch of copper washers, and new mica tubes and washers, but it should be a straightforward rebuild.

Again, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who worked on the 319 inspection! Among other things, Joel swapped out an intransigent trolley shoe insert while the guys also replaced a balky governor. At the end of the day, the shop crew switched the 319 back over to Barn 8 and brought the 309 over to Barn 4, as seen here. Will even got a bit of an early start on 309 inspection items.

So, what else was happening? I swung by the south end, where the Southwest Storage building, the "U-store-it" style building, looks to be nearly complete.

And the posts are in along the north wall of the next building to the east, the South Storage Building. I think our B&G Department's motto is "go big or go home!"

Sunday was the second of three days of Bunny Trolley Hop, and it seemed quite well attended. Matt Kalnins sent along the following three photos of streetcars at Depot Street, starting with the 4391.

This car and the 3142 received nice magnetic Bunny Trolley Hop panels on their flanks

The third car in service, the 144, has wooden sides so didn't get the additions. Here, motorman Paul Cronin and conductor Zach Ehlers demonstrate proper CSL attire.

Elsewhere, the indefatigable DC Line crew were out working on various repairs while Joel was doing more transferring and rearranging of parts and tools as part of the shop expansion project.

Saturday Report

Saturday was the opening day for the Bunny Hop this year, and things seemed to be going well.  It's not as busy as Thomas, so most of us were continuing with routine activities.

The 319 had been moved into Barn 4 over the pit for its annual inspection.  I must admit it's good to have new people looking over the equipment, since they might notice things I tend to take for granted.

In this case, I wound up discussing a few issues with Joel, as well as two new members I hadn't met before, Ted and Martin.  Now if only we had a chalkboard nearby, I could start drawing circuit diagrams and magnetic field maps for traction motors and really make this an educational experience.  In any case, their help was greatly appreciated.

Fred Zimmerman was painting seat frames for the 306, and as usual several other things were going on which I didn't get a chance to photograph.

I needed to make some 3/4" quarter-round strips for the corners in the Jewell Road shelter, and Tim helped me set up the router table to make them, starting with 1x2 boards.  Here we see one of them installed in a corner.

I continued working on the interior.  There's always more to do.

 And as usual, stay tuned for the latest updates!

The Latest From Green Bay

Or, at least, from the Green Bay & Western! Our intrepid investigative reporter Gregg Wolfersheim has submitted another illustrated report of progress on GB&W wood coach 109.

Part of returning the 109 to its condition as a coach requires us to remove the bay windows. These were added in 1947 to make several of the cars, in essence, mixed train cabooses. Here is how I lowered them to the ground using the steam department lift truck and a short chain. The last two bolts were cut, and off it came!

Here is the opening. The middle post was cut out, along with the threaded rod that runs from the side sill beam to the roof to accommodate the bay window. For the time being, we will simply blank off the opening. In the future, when the car is fully restored, the post and rod will have to be replicated.

The steel bay has been saved for now. It's resting on TMER&L flatcar E58.

Here is an inside shot of the car. Jack did a nice job years ago returning the varnished walls to their original splendor.

This is the other end with the only toilet room left in the car. The outline is apparent on the other end so the 2nd one could be replicated someday. Right now, without the actual toilet in place, it's a cozy closet for hardware, paint and tools.

Some THI&E Stop Species

Some THI&E Stop Species

by Art Peterson

All photos from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

With a peak of 403.42 route-miles, much of it coming from four predecessors, plus extensions made by Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern (THI&E) after acquisition, and a total of 600 defined stops on its lines (in full disclosure, not all were individually counted; but Stop 1 was Indianapolis, while Stop 600 was Sugar Creek, and it looked like there were a lot of numbers to fill in between those two extremes), it shouldn’t surprise anyone that there was considerable variety in styles of structures used for the various stops.

Here are four examples. What is unusual about these is that three of the four were on the Indianapolis & Plainfield Electric line, linking its namesake cities. This 14-mile line opened on September 15, 1902. The fourth station species was on the 25-mile, THI&E-built extension to the I&P line, which extended service to Greencastle from 1907.

Some of these photos were taken by THI&E’s Acting Chief Engineer, Don Walker, but not all images are attributed. Surviving records indicate that the road did maintain a card file on its stations and other structures, noting frequency of painting or varnishing work, etc.

What’s interesting about the timing of the bulk of these survey photos (the majority date to May 1926) is that this date coincides with the period when the Electric Railway Journal noted (mid-June 1926) that Sam Insull had been discussing the inclusion of the THI&E into the Indiana Electric Corporation (a predecessor concept for IR) with the road’s principal stockholder, Randall Morgan. Mr. Morgan’s death in late May 1926 delayed these discussions a bit, though the Journal noted the process resumed mid-summer.

It's purely speculation, but the structures survey may have been done as part of the determination of the valuation of the THI&E properties to be included in what would ultimately become IR.

THI&E Ben Davis Station - May 1926

The Ben Davis area of Indianapolis was named after the Superintendent of the paralleling Vandalia Railroad (PRR by the time of this photo). The PRR line is to the photographer’s back. On the THI&E, Ben Davis was 6.5 miles west of Indianapolis and was assigned Station Number 395. A June 1928 THI&E timetable shows that there was suburban traffic between Ben Davis and Indianapolis. The 5:00 pm trip out of the Traction Terminal was due here at 5:25, had six minutes to turn around, and returned to the Traction Terminal by 5:57. [Ed. note: Check out that neat speeder! It almost looks like it was cobbled together using a motorized velocipede similar to IRM's Adams Motor Car.]

THI&E Six Points Stop - May 1926

If you went 3.6 miles west of Ben Davis, you’d come to the Six Points area (the name is still used today). This simple shelter served as THI&E Station No. 402, also known on the road as Stop 11 on the Brazil Division.

The Six Points name refers to a road intersection and the crossing of the Vandalia Railroad at this location. Curvature on Highway 40 and an odd-angle crossing of the railroad were a hazard for years. It was not until after IR’s Terre Haute rail service had been abandoned that the awkward geometry finally got straightened out.

THI&E Boys School Stop - Undated - D.H. Walker Photo

The Indiana Boy’s School was located about 0.4 miles east of Plainfield and opened in 1867, though the “Boy’s School” name only came into use from 1903. The school was replaced by another facility/program in 2005.

This view looks west towards Plainfield (see the “Plainfield Siding Mileage Board” partially obscured by the freight platform) and Don has captured a westbound interurban receding in the distance. Boy’s School was THI&E Stop 411.

THI&E Fillmore Station - May 1926

There’s an interesting sag to the front side of the Fillmore Station building, though there’s no record of what was done to keep the door on that side of the structure functioning. Note the portable substation on the siding behind the station THI&E Station 429).

Around the time of this photo, the first train of the day from Fillmore was the 6:05 am train to Indianapolis. Service ran every 1 to 2 hours thereafter, with the last train being the 12:35 am train to Greencastle.

A closing note: there were more substantial THI&E stations along this section of line (especially where the station coincided with a substation location).

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