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.

Car Shop News

Tuesday was another busy day in Barn 4.  Let's start with the 306.   Both controllers have been placed on the platforms, and will be wired in once the appropriate holes have been drilled in the correct place.

Once the heaters have been wired in, they will start installing the seat frames (since the heaters are attached to the bottom of the frames.)  Here the frames are lined up against the wall.

 Here we see the toilet compartment partially assembled.

And here Phil is running wood through the jointer.

John was working on the light fixtures:

Tim was working on the 1268, of course.  He's currently rebuilding the west end of the car, among other things.

As you can see here, parts of the underframe are rusted out.  Tim hopes to get some of our welding experts to make repairs.

And work continues on the GB&W car:

CA&E 460 was providing passenger service today.

I had a project to work on, but I'm not sure it will actually go anywhere, so for the time being I think I'll keep it dark.

Meanwhile, progress is rapidly being made at the south end of the property.  The south side of the roof of Barn 15 has now been installed, as seen here. 

In the distance, you can see the new Bus Barn, which still needs electrical installation and a concrete floor.

 And here is the north side of Barn 15, with the roof being installed starting at the east end:

The Most Extravagant Extravaganza

This year's Transport Extravaganza seemed to me, and to several other unbiased observers, to be the biggest and best we've ever had.  Of course, I don't have access to the official numbers, but who ya gonna believe?

I didn't get a chance to see much of the antique vehicles, but I was told that there were cars parked in places they've never been before, there were so many.   And on the railroad, we were busier than ever.  There were six mainline trains in operation: a three-car CA&E wood train, a three-car North Shore train, a bilevel train, and a coach train were in regular rotation on the main line, plus  the Shay taking its usual short turns, and the 460 in Jefferson shuttle service.  Plus two streetcars.  Harold kept all of this going on schedule, and that's not easy.

Here's our CA&E train on the tail track before service started.  The 308 currently  has no motors, but it serves well as an unpowered trailer.  And we really needed three cars!  We had them all filled during the day until the very last trip, where two cars were enough.  That's unusual!

And you knew this was coming.  Frank was the motorman, Keith Letsche was the trainman, and I was the conductor.    

Of course, it's always great to have steam operating, as long as you're not downwind for too long.  

A couple of pictures of antique autos from the tail track.  Once we were in operation, I didn't have a chance to get any more.

It's always great to be able to be a part of an operation like this.  No other museum can come anywhere close to this!

Frank adds...

As my father mentioned, Sunday was a great day - the railroad kept moving like clockwork and we carried a lot of visitors. I didn't have time to take many photos but I did grab a couple.

Check out that nice new platform along the east berth of Station Track 1!

Nick Espevik took this photo of my father and I alongside the three-car North Shore train, with Chris C in the cab of the 714.

And here's a shot from the other end of the train. This is quite the lineup on Station 1! But whatever we threw into the stove on the 308, obviously we need to find something cleaner burning.

New - and We Do Mean New - Diesels

Frank writes...

Normally we don't focus too much on the Diesel Department, but the diesel-related news from yesterday was too big to ignore, so here we go. In the afternoon, IRM received three newly donated diesels from two different sources that just happened to show up together on the same train from Proviso.

This photo was taken by Lee Evans after the new diesels were safely on the property. To the left is Burlington Northern (later BNSF) 9400, built in 1993, which was the first production freight locomotive built with AC traction motors. Given that in recent years, AC traction locomotives comprise virtually 100% of the market, this is a very historic engine. When it was dedicated in a ceremony in early 1994, it was even featured in Trains Magazine alongside a familiar face:

I believe the 9400 is now the youngest piece of rail equipment on the property. The engine has been in storage for several years, so the first order of business is to assess its condition and, if possible, make any repairs needed to get it running. Longer-term, the Diesel Department will do fundraising to pay the locomotive's track space and then hopefully work towards getting it indoor storage space. The eventual plan is to return it to its as-built green-and-cream livery. More info, including on donating, is here.

The other two locomotives, described in detail here, are only slightly less new (anything built after, oh, let's say July 1957 is so new that it can only possibly be in its youth, right?) but are also quite historically significant. They're both 1970s-era Amtrak engines, including the only remaining SDP40F and one of only a couple of preserved F40PH's. Between them, they represent most of Amtrak's main-line motive power for 20 or 25 years from the 1970s to the 1990s. The SDP40F is said to be a runner, while the F40PH is in good shape but needs motor leads. Both of these engines are already on the schedule for Diesel Days, coming up in just over a week, so their operational debut at IRM isn't far off.

Anyway, for the record, that's 10,000 horsepower worth of diesels that showed up yesterday, so that's not a bad haul for a Thursday. If you were thinking about something as crazy as not coming out for the Vintage Transport Extravaganza this Sunday, the opportunity to see the new arrivals will surely quash those doubts.

EDIT: Many thanks to Lee for sending along a collection of photos taken on the 31st.

By chance, all three locomotives ended up at Proviso at the same time, so they came out to IRM via West Chicago on the Belvidere train.

This was likely the first time these locomotives are crossing Olson Road but it certainly won't be the last. It may be the last on those particular rails, though.

The Diesel Department was waiting for the new arrivals with a "tow truck" consisting of AT&SF 92 and BN 5383 - quite appropriate for picking up BNSF locomotives. Here, we see the cut from the cab of the 92 after a trip through the wye.

The end of the day found all three locomotives safely in Yard 2.

Lee also took cab photos of all three engines, which are interesting to compare:

First is BNSF 6976, built as Amtrak 644 in 1974.

Next up is Amtrak 231, which was built in 1977.

"One of these things is not like the others." BNSF 9400 was built in 1993 and was among the very first locomotives with a "desktop" control stand, as shown. You'll also note the computer screens; this is by far the most computerized locomotive we have, so in addition to making sure all the mechanical and electrical stuff is working, we'll also need to keep the computers healthy for it to run.