Jazzing Things Up

Frank writes...

IRM has been running trains past dark on Labor Day for over a decade now (I had to check - 2015 was the first year) but I daresay we outdid ourselves this year. My father will report on the day's activities from Saturday, but to summarize, daytime activities included five trains on the main line, including the 50th Avenue shuttle; trolley buses in operation; and lunch/dinner service aboard the Zephyr.

I had signed up to run the wood cars for the evening shift and Ted Kuhn was my conductor. In the afternoon, we got everything ready, including checking the pumps on the 309 and 319 and testing the kerosene markers. We also coupled the 309 and 319. We were ready for service by 4pm.

We ended up making three mainline trips, all of which were pretty full, and everyone seemed to have a good time. The real action during the evening was down by the diner annex, where a blues/jazz band, The Stephen Hull Experience, put on a concert at 7pm as part of IRM's "Trains and Tunes" programming. This was the second T&T concert this year and it sounded like it was a great success! And after the concert there was a fireworks show, which was plainly visible from the 309 on our way back from Kishwaukee Grove.

After we got the train (and all the markers and headlights) put away, it was time to get to work. This week we are taking the rest of the seats that were removed from the 460, and will be going back into the 451, to the upholstery shop to be re-covered. Thanks to Dave from B&G for making the museum's new-to-us van available for this. And a HUGE thank you goes out to Good Nick, Richard, and Jeron for loading all these seats into the van. It was a big job!

I took very few photos because I didn't have my phone with me for the most part, but fortunately, we had some photos sent in. The remarkable photo below was taken by Nick Espevik of the 144 at Barn 9 North with the fireworks show in the background, seen over Barn 9.

And Ted, my conductor, took some terrific photos of the CA&E train. First, we have a photo of the train on the ladder track in Yard 8, waiting to go into service.

And here we are on Station Track 1 between trips. After our third trip we terminated on Station Track 2 (see the first two photos) which was a bit of "rare mileage" for these cars.

Overall, a terrific time was had by all, and the museum really put on a great show.

And as promised, here are a couple of views from operating the NWERR 24 during the day.  The car was full on nearly every trip, and everything went well.  Thanks to Zach for being the car host!

Help Wanted!

Tomorrow, Saturday 8/30, we're going to be running the Northwestern Elevated car 24 in shuttle service, and we need a conductor!  Any rules-qualified conductor will be welcome.  Thanks!

Back to Work

I've been on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I haven't had anything to post.  We went to see Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, the Devil's Tower, and things like that.  Just to see what the competition (loosely) is doing, I took some pictures of the Black Hills Central, aka the 1880 Train, which operates almost in the shadow of Mt. Rushmore.  

The locomotive on the day we were there was a 2-6-6-2T, built in 1928.  It has a nice whistle.

The train consisted of seven or eight cars; some were rebuilt interurbans c. 1910 from the Oregon Electric, a couple were built new from flatcars.  They certainly do a great job of marketing, and seemed to be handling the crowds very effectively.  Of course, the location is the main driver of success for tourist railroads.  This one seems to be a well-run operation.

Down the road a little, some of the excess inventory is stored along the street.  The passenger car is another OE interurban that is no longer in service.  

And we had a great time seeing mountains, rivers, geysers, historic buildings, bears, buffalo, waterfalls, and so on.  But now it's time to get back to more serious things.  Like IRM.

The interior of the 306 is really coming along.  All the seats are now in place; the armrests will start soon.

 Phil showed me the progress on the nearly complete toilet compartment.  It looks great.

Gerry and others are finishing up the mechanical and electrical connections in the cabs.

And here we see John in the back room, polishing up some more brass parts.

Tim continues work on the 1268.  The steel endframes are being completely rebuilt, as seen here.  

A lot of the steel is being replaced:

And work is being done on the baggage compartment of the Michigan Electric 28:

I was working on sorting parts, making repairs to various things, but nothing I really wanted to take a picture of.  You'll just have to wait.  But in other news, it appeared as I drove by that at least one car has been moved into Barn 15.  So wherever you look, progress is being made!

Sunday Stripes

Frank writes...

It was a quiet weekend in the car shop. With large special events taking up five out of six weekends from early July to mid-August, and another string of special events through most of September, these last two weekends were the "eye of the storm" in a sense.

I was back working on adding more stripes to the 63. The maroon belt-rail stripes around the back and right sides of the car got a second coat and then saw the masking tape removed. The tape took off a bit more ivory paint, but it will be easy to touch up.

Later on, as seen below, I applied a primer coat to the stripes on the doors. Once the doors are done, all the striping below the drip-rail level will be complete.

After that was done, I helped out with a switch move. The 1702 was brought outside and a large wooden reel was mounted into one of the frames on the deck. It looks like a real working line car now! This operation was managed by Joel and Richard, with Greg, Jeron, and myself lending a hand.

As for other news, on my way in I drove over to the east end of Barn 15, where the roll-up doors have already been installed. There's plenty more work to do on the building, including paving the aisles and doing all the electrical installation, but it's moving forward rapidly.

After dinner I made some progress on cutting a new piece of steel for the coupler carrier at the back end of the 18, but I didn't take any photos and it's difficult to describe exactly what this part is and how it works. I hope to have an illustrated update soon.

Recent Arrivals

 I recently acquired this photo, and to me it's a very interesting moment in early IRM history.

It's a little after 4 PM on Saturday, March 31, 1962, and three CA&E cars have just arrived at IRM's original home behind the Chicago Hardware Foundry in North Chicago.  The 431 was in the middle of the train, between the 309 and 321.  In this picture, the 309 has just been uncoupled from the train and is presumably being switched into its storage location somewhere behind us.  The 431 still has its adapter coupler in place.  Its trolley poles and third rail beams are stored inside the car.  Behind the 431 is the 321.  Because it was only three days ago that this car was chosen to make the trip, it alone still has its trolley poles on the roof.  (Ironically enough, the poles will soon be removed and never replaced.)  And all three cars have a lot of history ahead of them!

Bob Barth is the switchman standing on the steps of the 431; photo by Warren Cobb.

A Word From W.T. Van Dorn

And now, a word from our sponsor, the Van Dorn Coupler Company, excerpted from an article printed in the August 12, 1905, issue of Street Railway Journal.

Some Experiences with Draw-Bars for Electric Cars

by W.T. Van Dorn

The real action of the present form of Van Dorn automatic coupler is probably but little understood even by its users. Figs. 1 , 2 and 3 have been prepared showing sections through the 1902 form of coupler. Fig. l shows the position of the link and coupler heads after a coupling has been completed. In Fig. 2 the couplers are shown in the process of coupling. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the same coupler, Figs. 1 and 2 being horizontal sections. The first thing to notice is that in Figs. l and 2 the link has been inserted in the righthand coupler and fixed by the center pin which has been dropped through the link. The point of the link that is inserted into the head is held in position by the abutment block, as shown, and the part of the link that projects out is in position for automatic coupling with the opposite head. When the cars come together the point of the link will strike the pin that is against the side wall. The link is deflected past the pin and comes in contact with springs in the side of the drawhead, which are forced out until the point of the hook passes the pin. It is readily seen from Fig. 2 that with a link having an elongated point sufficient in length so that when the strain sideways is brought to bear, the point of the link on the spring is close to where the springs fulcrum in the side wall of the draw-bar; the link under no conditions can be twisted out in train service, no matter what the strain may be.

The design of a link to prevent the uncoupling of cars under all conditions has been a matter of much thought. Previous to 1902, a form of link was used with shorter points, and when they became badly worn they could be accidentally disengaged on the shove, although they served their purpose admirably in the work which draw-bars were called upon to perform at that time. The 1902 pattern was designed to prevent any possibility of trouble with the unusual strains of the multiple-unit system.  All Van Dorn draw-bars are now made of the pattern shown.

The tight coupling with little lost motion, before mentioned as such an important matter, is made possible by the present design of coupler, which is such that the essential dimensions—that is, the location of the holes with reference to the coupler faces and the dimensions of the links, can be made a matter of accurate machine work.

A coupler having once been made accurately, it is next in order to inquire what are the chances that, after the wear of years, it will remain reasonably accurate. The wearing points are evidently the coupler faces, the pin holes and the hooks on the link. In the first place each coupling head had two pin holes, and that insures double the wear. Each link is automatic at each end. Place the bar in either head and the pin through the center aperture and couple automatically to the opposite head (the wear on pins is only on the pull and not on the shove), and the wear is only on the two pin holes that are in operation at this time. Place the bar in the opposite head and it is vice versa; and that assures double the life of both coupling heads and coupling bar. The coupling bar is made out of the best quality of steel forgings, and after years of wear can be readily upset to a standard length. One of the greatest features of the Van Dorn couplings is their great durability and the possibility of making them as good as new with a very slight cost, and of their maintaining a tight lock over a long period of years.

Besides performing an important function in the simple act of coupling cars together, the spring in the coupler head has to perform another part with which it is probably not generally credited. It requires about 1 ton pressure to couple two large draw-bars. This helps to cushion the shock at the instant of coupling. 

The company with which the writer is connected has lately brought out a very heavy type of coupler, and in this heavy type has embodied some new features, including large round pins. This assures great durability as well as strength, and longer life of pins and links. The round pin draw-bar, No. 19, illustrated in Fig. 4, is of this design. It is sufficiently heavy for such use as would be given in any steam railroad service or on an electrically-equipped steam road. 

It takes more than a pair of coupler heads and a coupling device to successfully operate cars and trains. The draft rigging under the car is no less important. In this connection it may be interesting to look at some of the common forms of draft rigging used on elevated and interurban roads. Fig. 4 shows a general form of draft rigging which is quite commonly used. The stem of the draw-bar goes through a stop casting, on either side of which are the buffing springs. The stop casting is riveted to a solid steel plate 8 ins. wide and 1 1/2 ins. thick. This plate runs back to the king bolt of the truck on which it swivels, or to any other swivel that may be provided. A modification of this plan is shown in Fig. 5, where nothing but a short swivel can be used because of the arrangement of car and platform sills. Fig. 6 is another way of securing a long swivel, and can be used where plenty of room is available. 

In conclusion, it can be said that the production of a successful automatic coupler for electric roads is much more difficult than the production of an automatic coupler for steam roads, because of the necessary introduction of the swiveling feature on any electric railway draw-bar and the frequent pushing strains with the multiple-unit system. At the same time good automatic couplers are even more necessary on electric than on steam roads, because of the dangers in coupling on electric railways with makeshift types of non-automatic draw-bars, as the radius bar in such times is liable to shift in position or buckle out, and this makes it more dangerous than it was formerly on steam roads with a hand couple. Many people have been under the impression that the M. C.B. type could be used to work on a radial bar. I have had plenty of experience with this, and have found it is absolutely impossible to make a successful draw-bar on these lines. There is trouble making a tight lock, and further, for interurban service, the cars overhang so far from the trucks that unless the tracks are free from sudden changes of grade and almost perfect, the draw-bars oscillate up and down, and one will go right over the top of the other. The coupling must be such that they are held rigidly together, so that no difference what the unevenness of the track may be, they cannot separate. If the lock is not absolutely tight, the bars will swing sideways and buckle on the push. 

For more information on how your railway can benefit from the use of Van Dorn Automatic Couplers, Van Dorn MCB Couplers or even Van Dorn Target Ends, click here.

Sunday Report

Frank writes...

The car shop was hopping on Sunday, with a big crew out working on several projects. We'll start with what I was doing.

I put a first coat of maroon on the stripes around the back end and rear right side of the 63, as shown here. After one more coat of maroon, the masking will come off, and all the belt-rail striping will be done except for the doors. I touched up the ivory on the belt rail under the motorman's side window, as well, which you can see below if you look closely.

I also cut out the stencil I'd drawn for the car number, which was created working off original photos. After dinner, I painted the car numbers on the front and left side of the car. It will also get numbers on the right and rear side. At some point we'll also need to add the RTA emblems, which in this livery is a white GCRTA logo on a square white background.

The big project for the weekend was the Electroliner. On Saturday, a big crew had jacked up the 801 A car and then the truck was slid sideways on heavy-duty casters. The #2 motor in this truck had experienced a grounded cable inside the motor case, so it should be a straightforward repair but will require taking apart the motor. With the truck removed, the motor was removed and a spare put in, after which the truck was slid back under the train. Between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, a crew of volunteers worked on hooking everything back up, after which the 'Liner went for a couple of test trips.

The good news is that the newly replaced motor worked great! The bad news is that an issue arose with the gearbox coupling on a different motor. But that's why you do testing like this. The next item on the to-do list will be diagnosing exactly what needs to be done to fix this. Stay tuned...

In other exciting news, a crew including Steve, Mike, Drew, and Alex was working on installing seats in the 306. All these seats have been completely rebuilt by the 306 restoration team, including tearing down every seat frame to its component parts and repainting/repairing each part as needed. The restoration team is also constructing the toilet compartment, with the doorway framed out over the past week. The car's interior is looking spectacular. I didn't get a photo, but the controllers have also been installed at both ends, located in the original Fox River Electric location rather than the more centered position they were moved to by Shaker Heights.

And finally, the building contractor is continuing to make progress on Barn 15. The sliding door is now mounted on the west end of the barn.

The Latest on GB&W 109

Thanks to Gregg Wolfersheim, who has sent another progress report on Green Bay & Western 109, the wood coach currently in Barn 4 for a quick cosmetic restoration...

The south side of the 109 has had some of the original siding sanded down. The old Marquette & Huron Mountain RR yellow has come through. It's mostly in good enough shape to leave as a base for repainting. Around the arched glass it was very loose, so we sanded down to bare wood. White primer has been applied to that, and any new wood.

A close-up of the stained glass area. Notice the new trim applied by Ralph and Jack.

While sanding above these windows, I decided to clean up the glass. I used a wire wheel to remove the oxidation and soot revealing some fancy stained glass!

The scissor lift made it easy and safe to work on the arched glass and letter board.

The man from Chernobyl showed up, too! Actually it was Marcus Ray running the belt sander and later the pad sander.

The area where the bay window was has been enclosed for now. Car siding was installed by Ralph and Jack.

Most of the south side is in primer now. Several holes were filled in with epoxy. Next will be Pullman green.

Diesel Days 2025

Frank writes...

Sunday was the final day of a very successful Diesel Days event. As with every year, the property was filled with the incessant burbling of diesel engines, regular blasts of horns, and the smell of diesel exhaust wafting through the air. A good time was had by all, of course. But before I get to all that, it's time for some traction action.

I use the word "action" a bit loosely, but I did get some work done on Shaker Heights 63. A final coat of maroon was put on the belt rail stripes down the left side of the car, after which the masking was removed. You'll note that a bit of ivory paint under the motorman's side window came off with the masking tape, but that will be easy to touch up.

After that, I masked around the back end of the car and down the right side aft of the center doors. After dinner this sector got a coat of primer, soon to be followed by maroon paint. Other than the doors, that will complete the belt-rail striping. I also climbed up on the roof to match the grey color we'll need. This car's roof was light grey early in its Shaker career, when it was yellow; then was medium grey during the "vermilion era" to which it's being restored; then was a very dark grey at the end, when it received its LRV white livery.

I also showed the late Don MacCorquodale's nephew Dan, who was being shown around by Nick, through the 309.

In other news, the roof and end wall are on Barn 15. And I didn't get a photo, but a steel gantry frame was out behind Barn 4 being painted prior to installation in the Track 41 East doorway. This gantry will support the door bridge mechanism for the overhead wire that will allow it to bridge the gap across the roll-up door.

So, on to Diesel Days. When I arrived on the property mid-afternoon, there was an A-B-A lash-up of E-units waiting to take its train east from Station Track 1 with all six prime movers running. Nobody else can do this; only the UP has a three-unit set like this, but their E-units have all been rebuilt to single-engine models. The lead unit, 9976, was given a quick coat of paint on its nose within the past few days to spruce up its appearance.

Up at the depot, for most of the weekend anyway, two of our four recent diesel acquisitions were on display for walk-through guided tours. This pair was Metra 614, shown here, and BNSF 9400, which is in the background. The other two recent acquisitions, Amtrak 231 and BNSF 6976, were in operation throughout the weekend.

Sunday's dispatcher was Zach, who adroitly kept things moving during a very busy event with a lot of train movements. He's up in the interlocking tower working at the CTC machine, as the dispatcher typically does on busy days. You'll notice he has a video feed to show him several "high-traffic" locations around the property, including the public webcam feeds as well as a couple of additional camera locations.

For the last train of the weekend, the bi-level train coupled up to the 614, which acted as a cab car for its first revenue trip over IRM's line. This may have also been 614's first trip down our railroad to Kishwaukee Grove, I'm not sure. Kudos to all the Diesel Department volunteers who worked tirelessly to pull off this event - it was quite the sucess.