Saturday Evening Post

Frank writes...

To echo what my father wrote, Saturday was a great day with terrific weather and a good crowd. Assigned to the evening shift, I didn't arrive until about 1:00.

I ran into a familiar face running the 3142.

While I was over at Barn 4 to pick up kerosene for fueling the marker lanterns, I encountered Dan, who was hard at work wire-wheeling one of the wheels for the air compressor wagon, AX545. A huge thank you goes out to Dan for all his work to move this project forward!

When I stopped by later, Dan had completed his work and palletized the four wheels that are being shipped west to the shop where new solid-rubber tires will be fitted. The top two wheels are all cleaned up and ready to go; the third will require the shop to remove some stubborn rubber remnants; and the bottom one is purposely being sent with its original tire so that they can authentically replicate the profile. That tire, too, will be removed by the shop.

When it was time for the "shift change," Zach, Fred, and Steven brought Shaker Heights 18 out of the barn. This was the car's second regular service day of the year.

The above photo by Zach Ehlers is aptly titled "A Rainbow of Traction." You can see CSL 1374, CTA 22, IT 101, CCW 300, and CTA 4391, all viewed from inside SHRT 18. Only at IRM!

Another view from Yard 7: Shaker 18, CTA 4391, the 3142 barely peeking out in the background, CTA trolley bus 9631 passing on Central Avenue, CA&E 431 in the background, and of course CA&E 319 and 309 on the Yard 8 lead.

We went into service just after 5pm. Due to last-minute scheduling changes, we ended up with three different conductors over the course of the evening. The above crew photo includes Mike, the trainman all evening; Steven, the conductor for the second trip; and Ted, the conductor for the first trip. Aaron (not pictured) was the conductor for the third and fourth trips we made. Many thanks to all of our conductors for jumping in at the last minute to help out!

Here's the train in the center berth of Station Track 1 as the shadows lengthen. The west berth is currently under reconstruction; all the ties have been replaced by the indefatigable Track Department, so that means next up is new asphalt and concrete.

The only three mainline trains during the evening shift were our train, Amtrak 231 pulling a rather impressive heavyweight train, and the Shay with its caboose train. Here, the 231 passes westbound just before our 7:30pm departure. The lanterns have been lit!

Welcome aboard the 309!

...or, if you prefer, the 319!

Here we are toward the end of the night. All four markers remained lit throughout the evening; it's always gratifying when none of them blows out! As usual, we ran with markers at all corners and flipped them from red to white, or vice versa, when changing ends. You'll also notice that the heavyweight train over on Station Track 2 is nicely lit up. I'm not positive, but I believe they've started using LED light bulbs with built-in batteries, which allows for several hours of illumination without any modifications to the car itself. Pretty nifty!

As an epilogue, Ted Kuhn, our conductor on the first trip Saturday, was back at the museum on Sunday, but this time wearing work clothes. He sent two photos of the wire-wheeling he did in the main compartment of the 451, cleaning up the needle-chipped panels on the partition.

This is a huge help! Thank you, Ted!