Buses and Tarps

Frank writes...

Sunday was my last day out at the museum for a while; my job has me on the road for much of the winter so I tend to be a "sunny day" volunteer despite my best intentions.  But I tried to make the most of the day.  The first job was to test the grid box I installed last week, which I did with the help of Joel Ahrendt.  The good news was that it tested fine; not even any sparks!  The bad news was that when Joel went under the car to drain the air tanks he noted that one is leaking at the end of the tank.  So that tank, the inboard main reservoir tank, will need to be replaced.  Rats.

I didn't get any photos of the 36, since nothing visibly new happened, but after that I went over to the Hoffman garage and got another "bus tour."  Since last weekend IRM has acquired two more buses from the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis; this is the last of our last bus acquisition from MOT.  The first is pictured above and below.  All bus photo are by Richard Schauer and were taken earlier in the week when the buses arrived, so all rights reserved, don't republish, etc etc.

It's a Yellow model 716 bus from Connecticut Company, ConnCo's number 590, built c1937 if I remember right.  It's a diminutive little thing that seats only 23 people.  Chicago didn't have any buses exactly like this but the CSL did have a number of similar models from other builders, some this size and some even smaller that looked like bread trucks with windows.  In the above rear view note that the back of the bus is sloped, like a sedan of the era, and would have a spare tire mounted under the rear window.

Of the four buses acquired from MOT this one is in the best shape.  The seats probably don't even need to be reupholstered, though it needs new windows and some woodwork on the roof among other things.  Note that the engine sits in the front of the bus to the right of the driver, meaning the door is set back a few feet to make room.  Weird.

And the final one is this trolley bus from Indianapolis Railways, which was in the roughest shape of the new acquisitions.  This is a Brill built in 1934 and fills in a gap between IRM's Brill trolley buses CSL 84, built in 1931, and CSL 192 and 193, built in 1936.  Is that the low tire pressure alarm I hear?

This is one of only two survivors from Indianapolis Railways and the only trolley bus.  The other survivor is actually of the same vintage and heritage: a Brill Master Unit streetcar shell owned by an outfit near Indianapolis.

This trolley bus needs a lot of work but it's complete and it's our only piece of equipment from the Indianapolis street railway system.

But let's get back to work.  There were a bunch of us gathered in the Hoffman garage gawking at buses, and the gang agreed to help out with tarping the 321.  We'd been talking about this for a couple of months but it was always too windy.  With no wind we headed out to Yard 11 to get to work.  The above photo was taken by Gwyn Stupar and shows what a 30'x70' tarp looks like when it's rolled out.

There was a big crew that helped out: Joel Ahrendt, Greg Kepka, Ray Piesciuk, Richard Schauer, Joe and Gwyn Stupar, and Bob Sundelin.  A big thank you to everyone!  Above Joe, Ray, Gwyn, Bob and Joel (back to camera) are seen as we start to rig the tarp up to haul it over the roof of the car.  Yes, the 321 already had a tarp on it, but the tarp had become porous due to UV radiation so it needed to be supplemented.

This morning's Daylight Savings Time switch didn't do us any favors and it started to get dark around 5pm as work progressed.  Here's the tarp in place but not yet tied down.

And it's dark but the work is just about done.  Cargo straps are used to keep the tarp in place.  Joel did some final clean-up, tying up the ends of the tarp.

And here Joel is tying up the tarp corners while Bob conducts a visual inspection of the shop truck journal.  The hope is that this tarp will only be needed for a few months, as the 321 is one of the cars that will go into indoor storage once Barns 13 and 14 are approved for occupancy.  Once that happens we can remove the tarps and examine fully the effects of six years of outdoor storage.

So what else was happening on the property?  Ed Oslowski was working on repainting the smoker/baggage compartment of IT 277.  And Norm, Jeff and a new volunteer were hard at work on the Michigan Electric car; above Jeff is seen cutting some new steel plate.  Work at the moment is focused on the front left corner of the car.

And then there's the Electroliner, seen in the background with three of its motors in the foreground.  These are from the end trucks, both of which have now been removed and replaced with shop trucks.  The center (idler) truck is also out, leaving only the second and fourth trucks to be pulled and replaced with shop trucks.

Which reminds me: the mystery item from a week ago?  It's a "Liner Lifter" - a fixture that was fabricated in the IRM car shop last week to make it possible to lift an end car of the Electroliner without screwing up the pilot.  Just put the forks of a forklift under the pilot, put the Liner Lifter in place so that you're lifting the center sill (the pin on the tow bar pocket keeps the fixture from shifting), and raise the forks.  Voila!

New Trucks and Tarp

Today the 321 was retrucked and tarped, thanks to cooperation from many Car Dept. personnel. The main people who helped with changing the trucks were Joel, Warren, Stan, Ray Weart, and myself. Here are some views of the progress during the day.

The needle beam supporting the car.

L to R: Ray, Stan, and Warren.

This was the first time the 321 had been off its trucks since it left Wheaton.

(L) Joel drives the forklift after we picked up a 4000 truck from its storage location along Bruneau Rd.

For tarping the car, we had help from several more, including Tim, Bill, Charlie, and Vic.

It was a lot of work, but things went well. Thanks to everybody who helped!

I also got a chance to ride the open car for a short trip.

More Preparation

I installed some more carpeting on the roof of the 321 today, so I believe it is ready to tarp. The used carpet came from an anonymous donor down the street from me. And then I spent most of the rest of the time removing my personal belongings and tools from the car, since it will be very difficult to get inside once the tarp is installed. That took longer than expected. For the time being, the baggage compartment of the 277 will be my workshop. Not much to see here, so let's look around a little.

On Sunday the crew did some switching, and the 205 was moved from track 81 to track 73, among its fellow streetcars, where it fits in much better. It also relieves the worries I had about backing the IT cars into it! Here (L) it is on 73, just about where the 309 and 321 lived for many years. The PFE reefer was then moved to track 84; here it is between the 218 and the IT train.



And contractors are making progress on framing the car shop extension over on the south side of Barn 4.




Preparations for moving the Trolleyville collection are in progress, and the excitement is building. I'll be going to Cleveland for the weekend of the 31st to help collect the parts that belong to our cars. News and views will be posted here, of course.

321 Update

There were no classes to teach today due to Columbus Day, but there was still plenty of work to do on preparing the 321. I finished disconnecting the motor leads and brake rigging from the trucks, and cleaned up some parts left over from yesterday's activities. Here's what the 321 looks like minus the steps and pilots. (One ground shunt had welded itself to the truck; that needs to be fixed with a torch. And one kingpin could only be raised an inch or so before it jammed, but I think that will be no problem if we can jack the car up slightly.) And I did lots more work on the roof, and removed some more parts and personal property.

With the steps and pilot out of the way, we can get a better view of how an inside-hung motor mounts on the truck.
Legend:
Red circle: motor leads.
Green arrows: Ground shunt.
Yellow arrows: Axle cap bearings.
The cover plate over the armature is below the motor leads, and the gear pan is behind the ground shunt wire in this view.

And here's the 4001 under its new tarp, nice and secure, and completely hidden.

Stan and I walked through the material yard and looked at spare trucks that we might be able to use to put under the 321. Unfortunately, the ground is pretty soggy.

And for Columbus Day, I discovered that work has started on the new Car Shop extension on the south side of Barn 4. There were two contractors earlier, but they got away before I took this picture. As you can see, materials are being staged for construction to start.

What's cream and maroon and looks like an "L" car?

Answer: the 321, now! Today we made more preparations for the impending arrival of the Brookins equipment by taking step wells and pilots off the 321 to facilitate removal of the car's trucks so that they can be used under the 319. I started off by removing three of the car's step wells (the fourth was left in place to ease continued access to the car's interior); Dan Fenlaciki then helped me move them to the center aisle of the barn between tracks 82 and 83. Dan and I removed the car's four third rail beams, reunited them with some hardware that had been removed previously, and put them along the barn wall. By this time a sizable crew had arrived on Track 84 to tarp CSL 4001, and several people lent a hand in removing the 321's pilots. Dan Mulvhill and Joe Stupar both helped with some particularly balky bolts; Joel Ahrendt assisted in taking the pilots down. Thanks to everyone who helped - it was not an easy task and it would have been impossible without everyone who lent a hand! The 4001 is now tarped for outdoor storage and the 321 is a big step closer to outdoors-ready.

EDIT: Unofficial Company Photographer Gwyn Stupar sent along some photos of the proceedings. At left, I'm loosening bolts on the third step well; at right, Dan Mulvihill (R) and I take off some difficult bolts from the #2 end pilot. Below left, I'm removing bolts from the pilot braces at the #2 end (the little air tank over my head is the equalizing reservoir for the M23 brake stand, something the 308 and 309 don't have). Accessing these is a lot easier with the step well gone! "Watch Your Step" indeed! Below right, Joe Stupar doesn't mess around - he's seen here using a cheater bar to remove one of the final nuts holding up the #2 end pilot.

Putting a Better Floor on the Roof

This may seem like one of the strangest things I've done yet, and that's a hard act to follow.

The 321 will need to be moved outside to make room for the new cars from Cleveland, and to protect it will be tarped. The roof needs lots of work, and it quickly became obvious that I didn't have time to do the necessary wood work. So pieces of carpet will be used to protect the tarp from nail pops, loose boards, sharp edges, and so on. I started installing them as seen here.

(L) Before

(R) After

The roof of the 4001, which will also be tarped.

I also had to finish removing all of the old tacks left over from the tar paper which was installed at North Chicago. That took a while.

And I disconnected the motor leads and brake rigging from the #2 truck, so the car can be put on shop trucks.

Tom Cornillie was visiting, so we looked at the 277.

By the end of the day I had done most of the center part of the roof, but ran out of carpet. I'll need to find some more, if I can. Or if you have a pile of rolls of used carpet, please let me know. Condition isn't important. Of course, I'd like the color to be as sophisticated and stylish as possible, but otherwise anything goes.

Time and tidying wait for no man

Wednesday I took a day off of work and went out to the museum to work on cleaning out the 4001 and 321 in preparation for those two cars being tarped and put outside, so that cars from the Trolleyville collection can be put indoors immediately. This should only be a temporary situation but the cars will still be inaccessible for a few months, and it seemed like a good time to clean out a lot of the "dead storage" materials. At left is the interior of the 321 after this tidying-up effort... there's still a lot of stuff in the car but most of it is related to the car's function as a workshop. Tools and other easily movable items will be moved out before the car is tarped, so that they will be usable over the winter.

After a lot of moving and sorting, attention turned to the roofs of the two cars. My father did some work on the 321's roof to install some roof covering, so that the tarp won't chafe and rip on a few currently-exposed sections of framing. I covered over the roof boards and trolley hook bolts on the 4001's roof with carpet; this car is now ready to tarp, as it is completely emptied of stored materials and the roof is about as snag-free as it's going to be.

Below is a picture of one of the trips we made to the container with the department truck, moving spare parts out of the 321. Ever wonder how we're able to keep this stuff going and restore cars that are just shells? Spare parts! As Bob Bruneau always said, "parts is parts!"

Status of CA&E 321

Since people ask about the status of this car every so often, you deserve an honest assessment of current plans and the reasons behind them.

Frankly, I have just given up on restoring the 321 for the foreseeable future (i.e., my lifetime). The car has just too many problems, mostly dating back to its destructive conversion to work service in 1962, followed by years of neglect during its storage outside. On closer examination, the structure is not nearly as sound as I had thought. It would take at least ten years for me to complete, since there seems to be little prospect of getting additional full-time help, and when it was done, it would be just another CA&E car. And honestly, I was getting a little bored.

As it is, the car makes a nice display piece. We have wyed the 321 to put its good side towards the public sidewalk. Next spring, Frank will letter the letterboard, completing the cosmetic restoration. It also serves as a convenient shop space for our Barn 8 projects.

I believe my time can be better spent on other IRM projects. As a first priority I will continue to supervise and maintain the two blue cars. These should take only part of my time, and for the immediate future I will be concentrating on the IT cars 277 and 518. These will provide a much more immediate improvement to the museum's operating fleet. I will also be available for help on other projects, such as the roof of the 757.

Exercise Is Good For You

Over the past two days I spent most of my time working on the roof of the 277. I tried to detach the trolley base from the boards, but one bolt could not be loosened, so I finally decided to cut up the trolley boards. My saber saw works better than I expected. I had tried drilling out the screw heads, but the boards were still fastened tightly to the saddles. To remove the base itself, I'll need at least one helper, so that will come later.

The good news is that many of the tongue and groove boards uncovered so far are in good shape and may not need to be replaced. I know that will change as I move farther back.


Compare these photos to a "before" picture here, taken at about the same location. This work is harder than it looks, believe me. The wood is too rotten to be used in service, but not rotten enough to be removed easily. Those ladders on the side of the IT cars are a real advantage. By now I could probably climb up and down in the dark - but I won't!

By the way, the two longitudinal pieces shown by the yellow arrows are of interest. They serve as supports for the radiator cooling coils for the air conditioning system, distributing the weight across the roof. As you can see, the one on the right is almost rotten out. As long as they're not being used, and the car isn't running, I don't think the system will collapse, but fixing them is going to be a challenge.

I also recaulked the one remaining leak in the barn roof over the 277.

After I'd had enough of working on the roof (or at least my back had had enough) I turned to a minor repair job on the 321. Frank will letter the car next spring, but the letterboard had a small section that had rotted out, as shown here. I needed to fix this before lettering started.

First I used my chisels to square up the hole, and chamfer the rabbet (which of course you can't see.) Yes, I know these pictures are blurry, but it's difficult to get good pictures in the barn. I then made a patch piece in the woodshop.



Finally, the patch piece was installed, and painted with white primer. I just need to let this dry, apply some filler, sand it down, and repaint it.




In other exciting news, Dave Diamond finally received the ceramic side panels for the Salem diner. Here he is installing them. When this is finished, it will be a dramatic improvement.







And work continues on Barn 11 - the south side panels are complete, and the north side is about 1/3 done.