We're Floored

Many thanks to Richard Schauer, who yesterday passed along news and some photos regarding progress on the South Storage Building that is being built for our bus departments:

I am quite happy to announce that the concrete floor has been completed on our new bus garage!  We received a very favorable bid from a local company and completed this part of the project well under the estimated cost.  Unfortunately, it appears that the electrical work, which is the only substantial work remaining before the occupancy inspection, will come in over our initial estimate; the bids are due later this week.

The attached pictures were taken today, looking in from both end doors.

This garage will give all of our trolley and motor buses an indoor home, with some space available for future expansion of our fleet as important examples come available and for storage of parts in an organized manner.  Thank you for supporting us!

Thursday Brief

Even after Showcase Weekend, there are still special events going on at IRM.  This Saturday will be Bus Day, and there will be plenty of activities for everybody.  The 309 and 319 will be in operation again, so stop by and say hello!

Another thing coming up is ARNfest.  This isn't really a public event: members of the society show up from around the country to display, repair, operate, buy, sell, and discuss old woodworking machines.  As a continuing memorial to Bob Kutella, I guess, we still allow them to take over most of the car shop facilities for the week.  And as a result, most of the weekday Car Dept. guys seem to be on vacation.

Out in the barn, though, some projects continue.  Tim was working on new wooden parts for the drop sash in the 1268.  

Gregg is making progress on the interior of the Green Bay car, which really looks nice.  Much of this work was done by Jack, but the windows are being completely rebuilt.  And they're complicated.

And Steve Iversen is here from Oklahoma for a few days to work on PCC trucks for the Kansas City car.  These trucks need to be kit-bashed, so to speak, to be correct.  We have a couple of trucks from Shaker with the correct wheels, flanges, and gauge, but the wrong brake activators.  So here Steve is trying to remove them from a Philly truck, which has the wrong wheels and gauge, and is terribly rusted.  Very frustrating.

I worked on moving and sorting parts and cleaning in preparation for a project that we can't even hint at yet, so no pictures, but watch this space.  When the news breaks out, we'll break in!

Soggy Showcase Saturday

Frank writes...

IRM put on quite a show for Museum Showcase Weekend on Saturday, as we usually do. The festivities were dampened a bit (quite literally) by the weather, but on the whole, things ran smoothly and I'd say that everyone had a great time.

When I arrived in the morning, plenty of prep work for the day's activities had already been done. A ceremony to reveal a painting by railroad artist Robert West was planned for the afternoon, and since the painting depicted a Milwaukee Electric car and a C&NW caboose, we obliged by providing both as a backdrop for the ceremony. The 972 ran itself over to Yard 4 West and the caboose was brought over by a Car Department switch crew.

Randy adds: Compare this view to a picture taken by my father 50 years ago, as it happens:

Up at the depot, it was clear we weren't going to be going into service too early because all three tracks - both station tracks and the main - were occupied by long trains! The Zephyr, on Track 1, was by far the shortest. Over on track 2 was a very impressive heavyweight train with two modern diesels, Metra 614 and BNSF 6976, on the head end. The consist included the dynamometer, Santa Fe combine, Galt House, Dover Strait, Villa Real, and the Inglehome bringing up the markers. It was really nice to see the Inglehome out again; for many years this was our go-to observation car, but it had been out of service for several years until completion of repair work recently. The third train, over on the main, was an impressive six-car bi-level train with a pair of E-units as power.

If we thought our entry into service might be delayed, we didn't know the half of it. When we did our initial brake test in the barn, the 319 was overcharging the train line, pointing to an issue with the feed valve. We would have swapped it with the feed valve off the 308 as an expedient, but they're different styles, so the 319's valve was brought into the shop to see if we could quickly clean and service it. It turned out the valve had water in it, which obviously isn't good, and needed a very thorough cleaning. A huge THANK YOU goes out to Greg (shown above) and Joel, who worked for a couple of hours on getting the feed valve repaired. It will need a bit more work, but shortly after 1:00 we installed it and left the barn.

We also owe a big thank you to the dispatcher, Andrew Ossler, who immediately got us out of the yard and up to the station for a 1:30 trip. Including us, there were six mainline trains - the three shown in the earlier photo, the Shay with its caboose train, and CRT 1797 running shuttle service out of 50th. Of those, the heavyweight and bi-level trains could only fit in Station Track 2 and couldn't fit on that track together at the same time, so they were going out at :15 and :45 to avoid each other while the "short" trains - us and the Zephyr - used Station Track 1. We had time to make two full mainline trips, at 1:30 and 2:30, and were loaded for a third when the dispatcher called us to let us know rain was expected in about half an hour. Oops. Rather than offload our passengers, we made a streetcar line trip, let everyone off at Depot Street, and ran for the barn. (I should mention that my father was running and I was the conductor, but we failed to get a crew photo - sorry.)

We got the cars inside about five minutes before the skies opened up. I observed the rain from the west end of Barn 8. It was quite a spectacular cloudburst, but after 10 or 15 minutes the rain slacked off.

We even ended up with quite a nice rainbow. The biggest effect, other than our train going back to the barn early, may have been to delay the BBQ dinner by 30-45 minutes. I believe the BBQ crew had just started cooking the pork chops when their grill got completely doused by the downpour. But in the end, dinner was good, and night operations commenced at 7pm or so.

My assignment for the evening was "car host" on the 229. The original plan was to run the D13, the dump motor, but there's a lot of setup and take-down associated with running that, and the rain made that work impractical. So, the 229 was the alternative. We put a few stools inside the center section and carried people around the streetcar line for a couple of hours with riders in both cabs and riding as "freight" in the middle. I was assigned to the middle of the car while Zach operated and Will served as conductor. Above, we're stopped at Electric Park with some riders from other museums in the center section. We had visitors from Hoosier Valley, Northern Ohio, and FRTM, among others.

Here's Zach in the 229 at Central Avenue with the 2200s behind him. These cars have been out of service for a few years, but recently the motor shop completed rebuilding a replacement motor, so this was their first foray back into revenue operation for a while. From what I heard, everything ran very smoothly. As for the 229, we only loaded at Central Avenue because there was a set of stairs there to access the baggage door; we then did "express trips" around the loop and unloaded again at Central.

Another "only at IRM" moment: the 19 and the 229 are held at Barn 9 North while the bi-level train heads south down the connector track to the south yards.

And after I departed the 229 crew, I stopped over at 50th Avenue to see the 2200s. These cars actually took over for the 1797 in "Jefferson Street Shuttle" service midway through the afternoon, so they were making trips both before and after dinner. Other trains in service after dinner were the Shay and its caboose train, the 92 pulling the heavyweight train (with all the cars lit, no less!), IT 101, and the Zephyr, which was providing dessert service in the dining car. The 19 and 3142 were also making trips on the streetcar line along with the 229.

GB&W 109 Update

Thanks to our intrepid freelance reporter Gregg Wolfersheim, who has sent along another trove of photos detailing recent progress on the Green Bay & Western coach that is still located in the Barn 4 Electric Car Shop.

A few weeks ago work started on the north side of the coach. Where the bay window was, a frame work is now.

Much of the sill on this side is in rough shape. Without totally removing the siding and rebuilding all of the structure under it, we have to replace just the worst. This side had a lot of repairs made to it, probably while it was in tourist railroad days. It wasn't always like the original construction.

On the south side, I painted the screens on the clerestory black. Then the letterboard got a coat of Pullman green.

Tim has been sanding much of the outside.

The window frame area is now in primer. The sill required three applications of epoxy to fill in the cracks and holes. Soon, the sash will be painted and then put back into their tracks.

Ralph is splicing in wood where the sill should be. Notice the bay window area is now enclosed.

Ralph and Jack working together rebuilding the sill.

Tuesday Report

Tuesday was another busy day at IRM.  The Museum Showcase Weekend, previously known as Members' Day, requires lots of preparation.  Here we see just a part of the bus collection lined up.

Meanwhile, back in Barn 4, work continues on several current projects.

Here Tim is fitting new wood to the east platform of the 1268.

And great progress is being made on the interior of the 306.

John is attaching the newly polished brackets to the seats.

Work continues on installing the control equipment.

And in the shop, the arm rests are being repainted prior to installation.

I hadn't run into them for a while, but Steve Smunt and Paul Hough have continued to work on the interior of the 277, and they are doing excellent work.

Here Steve is stripping one of the window shade boxes for refinishing.

The north side of the main compartment is getting close to completion, and it looks great.

Finally, I had a few things to fix up on the 309.  For instance, a couple of burned-out bulbs had to be replaced.

  The 309 and 319 will be in service this Saturday, along with just about everything else that we can fit onto the railroad at one time.  If you can, stop in and say hello!

Hops Aboard Photo Gallery

Many thanks to Nick E and Steven J, who sent along photos taken during the Hops Aboard event on Saturday night.

Steven took this photo of the 504 getting its coach train ready before the event started. BN 9976 was not in operation during the evening.

Here's one of the nice Hops Aboard tasting glasses being put to its intended use, courtesy of Nick.

Nick got this shot of the band set up on the 50th Avenue platform. This was a pretty neat venue, especially with the platform lighting, but Zach had to make sure to spot the 1374 at the Central Avenue platform so that we weren't completely blocking the band!

There were some really nice displays set up in the depot, temporarily replacing the usual displays, about the Milwaukee "beer line." Nick took this photo and the next couple as well.

Yours truly

This was the first time I'd done a "car talk" for people with beer in their hands. Don't worry, I kept it brief and only spent a few minutes going over the pros and cons of K-28 vs. K-35 controllers. This wasn't really a railfan crowd, after all.

While the event was going on along Depot Street, Joel and the car shop guys were doing a switch move. Here's the 972, which yes, was moving itself under power. These last several photos were taken by Steven.

And here we have the 972 with one of our favorites, the 18! Between the intermittent air compressor issues and the problem with the car wanting to climb the frog at South Junction, this switch move was its first operation in 2025. We have plans to address both those issues, but between all the shop extension work and other, higher-priority projects, this has not been at the head of the line.

Here's the 251 heading into the barn.

The 251, 749, and 714 were made up as a three-car train.

Here's the Class B moving the C&NW bay window caboose. What could this possibly all be about? You'll just have to come out to IRM this weekend for Museum Showcase Weekend and find out!

Hops Aboard

Frank writes...

I arrived at IRM Saturday afternoon to help out with the first-ever Hops Aboard, a beer festival run at IRM. The museum was open normally during the day - about the only unusual thing was that the Shay was running "Take the Throttle" trips as part of our annual Steam Engineer Experience offering - and closed at 5pm. An hour later, at 6pm, we reopened for Hops Aboard. Attendees paid a special-price admission and received a number of drink coupons that could be redeemed at six or eight brewery stands. These were set up behind the depot and at the corner of Central Avenue and Depot Street. Lower-price "designated driver" tickets without any drink coupons were offered and all attendees had to be 21+.

Zach and I signed up to operate the "Matchbox," and although the forecast earlier in the week had the high temperature for Saturday at 90 degrees, it actually ended up being about 80. The car had been in service all day, so the daytime crew left it chocked on the car line for us and going into service was quick. Phil from the Steam Shop took the above photo while we waited for the gates to open at 6:00. You can't really tell, but there was a band set up on the 50th Avenue platform that played during the event and they were setting up.

Besides the band, there was a bags/cornhole game set up as well as "Lawn Jenga," which of course we had to try out. No, Zach, not that one!

Several of our volunteers purchased tickets and partook in the beer and festivities. Attendees received these nice beer glasses with the event logo on them. There was uncertainty over whether to permit beer aboard the cars; after some discussion we allowed people to bring beer onto the car but instructed them firmly that they should hold onto their glasses and not try to set them down on the floor or seat. We didn't have any spills.

Overall, the event seemed like a tremendous success. We had over 300 people buy tickets, and remarkably, something like half of them had never been to IRM. That's exactly what we want - to expand our appeal into new groups and demographics. Almost invariably, the attendees I spoke with were blown away by the size of the museum and by the fact that the event workers were volunteers. The only real hiccups were beyond our control, due to the fact that a couple of breweries and food trucks no-showed. Attendees seemed quite understanding and a number of people were vocal that they hope we run this event again next year. Furthermore, with the band, the food truck and beer stands, and the diverse and lively crowd, it was just a very fun and vibrant atmosphere. A huge thank you and kudos go out to our Event Manager, Tricia, who was responsible for conceiving of, planning, and coordinating this event.

The event wound down at about 9pm. We weren't the only car on the streetcar line; the 4391 was also in service, while the 504 and the Shay - each with their own coach train - operated on the main line during the event. Even with two cars in service, we were mostly full on most trips. Above, Zach talks with Matt, who was running the "Hornet."

Here's Zach in the doorway of the 1374 at the end of the night when ridership was down to Jimmy.

And now, let's rewind to earlier in the afternoon. Since Hops Aboard didn't start until 6pm, and our streetcar was already in position to go into service quickly, I had time to get some work done before signing in to operate.

The job for the day was lettering on the 63. I'd previously painted the car numbers on the front and left sides. This left both rear corners - for whatever reason, Shaker liked putting numbers on the back corners instead of just a single number on the back - and the right side of the car.

Two down...

...and there we go. I still need to replace the "Eastbound Entrance" and "Westbound Entrance" lettering next to the doors, but the more noticeable thing to do will be adding RTA stickers to both sides. Ideally, I'd like these to be actual vinyl stickers, but we can paint the logos on if we need to.

There was also some news on the 36 front: this truck was retrieved from along Bruneau Drive and set on live (albeit difficult-to-access) rail behind the car shop. It is intended to serve as the 36's shop truck while we pull the car's actual trailer truck and replace the leaf springs. This truck is very historic in its own right, as it came from the Intramural Railway, the first-ever electrified elevated railway. The IMR ran through the 1893 Columbian Exposition grounds in Chicago. We have two of these trucks, built in 1893 by Gilbert, that came to us from the Electric Railway Historical Society.

And finally, in political news, we'd like to extend our congratulations and condolences to IRM's new (starting October 1st) president, Nick Espevik! Our current president, Marcus Ruef, is stepping down to take a position of great importance that I'll hold off on announcing for the moment. Marcus will remain on the Board of Directors, though.

I've been sent some additional photos from Hops Aboard by a couple of our more capable photographers, so stay tuned for a "photo album" with more images of the event coming soon!