Our new favorite movie star

I was sent this link to some publicity stills from the production company that was out at IRM a week and a half ago filming scenes for The Letter. The movie is set in the 1920s and features the 309, with the 308 and 319 also visible in some photos. The Oscar buzz for "Best Self-Propelled Passenger Equipment in a Starring Role" has already begun. Enjoy! (The photos are on Facebook but you do not need a Facebook account to view them; just click "not now" when the prompt pops up.)

The Letter

Frank writes...

Monday, November 27th was filming day at IRM. The movie being filmed was an indie called "The Letter" which is set in 1922 in New England, if memory serves. And excitingly enough, the producers - following a recommendation from Greg Ceurvorst - specifically requested use of three CA&E wood cars! So of course we obliged with the 308-309-319 (the 36 is temporarily out-of-service for controller work). My father is still on vacation so it was up to me to be the on-site "interurban car wrangler." Unfortunately I had to be at work for the afternoon so I was only there in person during the morning but the aforementioned Greg, our motorman for the day, took a slew of great photos. All photos are by Greg except where noted.

When I arrived around 6:45am the sun was just rising. We don't see this view of the CA&E cars very often, not on operating days anyway. (Photo by Frank Hicks.)

It took longer than anticipated to get everything sorted out, including some unanticipated switching, but we got the train into the depot slightly after 9am. I was able to hook up the 319 to the other two cars, which had already been made up, so the 309 was in the middle of the consist and the 308 was on the east end. Richard Schauer, Greg Kepka, and others in the Car Shop had done yeoman's work to get a portable cab heater working for use on the 308 and it was definitely appreciated during the morning. Those things crank out a lot of heat! But we were extremely lucky that the high was 61 degrees, awfully unusual in late November, so after mid-morning we actually didn't need the cab heater. And the extras on the train weren't miserably cold, which was something I had been worried about given that the cars don't have working heat. But I digress. (Photo by Frank Hicks.)

Initially the crew was Greg as motorman, Keith Leitze (left) as conductor, and Fred Zimmerman (right) as trainman. Fred had to leave for much of the morning to go get the 3142 ready to run (more on that later) but was back later on to resume his duties on the 'Roarin' Elgin.

And here's the shop guy at the west end of the consist.

There must have been about 20 crew people on the set plus 50 or 60 extras, all made up in 1920s attire. Here the extras go to board the train. I went along for the first trip, which included a westbound departure from the depot to Jefferson; then east, running through the depot at low speed, and out to Kishwaukee Grove, then back to the museum short-turning at the west switch. This trip was done to get exterior drone shots which, needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing in the final movie! On the way back at about signal 371, east of Seeman Road, the drone hit a tree so that halted things for a bit.

Initially we thought they'd only need the CA&E cars until early afternoon but then they told us they'd want some dusk shots, so Car Shop regular Thomas Slater and I trooped over to Barn 8 to retrieve a headlight and markers. Here we are returning with the loot. Thomas and his girlfriend Shelby, who has been helping out in recent months organizing some of the department's reference materials, were there working as extras. Larry Stone and Crew Caller Jim West were also there working as extras. Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos of any of them in their 1920s garb.

Here's Keith peering out from the step well of the train.

And a shot of Fred on the platform in his conductor's uniform.

This is the point where I had to leave to go to work, so after this I'm not exactly as clear on what's happening in Greg's photos. I believe they did some filming in front of the depot with people boarding the train. I'm sorry I missed that, I bet it was pretty interesting. I was told by one of the people on the film crew that the producers would likely digitally blank out the cars' letterboards so that moviegoers don't see a Chicago Aurora & Elgin train in a scene set in New England. Here Mark Egebrecht, who showed up to help as a trainman, stands by while extras board. Sam Polenetzky was also there in uniform to lend a hand.

The movie people showed up with all sorts of neat props including several antique cars. There was also an extensive wardrobe department, most of which was spread out on tarps on the grass along the east side of the diner annex. I never went into the diner but I believe that was the staging and dressing area for the extras.

It looks like there was also some filming inside East Union Depot.

Here's Jim West, our longtime Crew Caller, nattily attired as an extra. Jim arrived early in the morning to help out, which was good, because we needed him to fire up the 45-tonner and move the C&NW bi-levels off of the main line so that the movie train could run east from the property. He and Thomas made that move happen.

Then as dusk approached, the CA&E cars were put back in the barn by Greg and Keith. Many thanks to Thomas for stowing the markers and headlight and locking everything up! In turn the 3142 was brought out for some evening scenes the producers wanted to film. Here the 3142 sits in the depot, a location it usually isn't seen in, where the producer goes over the scene with some of the actors.

A few of the extras listen in on how the scene is going to go. I was told that, for some reason, the film included segregated seating on the trains, despite the fact that this would not have been seen in New England in the 1920s. But who am I to question artistic license?

The 3142 prepares to depart East Union at sunset.

They were taking exterior drone shots of the 3142, also, which meant that the on-board crew had to hunker down out of sight. With the car lights on at dusk, and without any toilet compartments or anything else to hide behind, there aren't that many options! Apparently the 3142 has also reverted to its days as a two-man car - proper if this takes place in 1922, admittedly.

Talk about rare mileage! That's right, this photo shows the 3142 all the way out at Seeman Road. I assume that the car has made it this far east before but I can't recall when, and it certainly is not a common occurrence. But the script called for a streetcar at a rural flag stop, and IRM is happy to be able to oblige.

And Greg closed out his photography for the day with this beautiful shot of the 3142 and a fading sunset. If anyone has any additional photos of the movie shoot they'd like to submit, just send them along and we'll be happy to post them. We'll also try and update you once the movie comes out.

No business like show business

Frank writes...

I had a fun time out at IRM on Sunday, though it didn't turn out quite as I expected. When I arrived, there were a few people around. Tim Peters was spray-painting some new tongue-and-groove siding for the 1754, Jeff Brady was working on fashioning a tool to aid in rivet bucking on the Michigan Electric car, and John and Ed were working on the "Electroliner" end car. After yakking for a few minutes with Zach, who was running the 749 in service, I ran into some visitors from Make-A-Wish who wanted to get a photo of a GATX car, as that company is apparently a big sponsor of theirs. While I was showing them the molasses tank car down at the south end I ran into Greg and Good Nick, who were retrieving some parts from the CTA 2000s that are on the list to be scrapped.

Right now one of these two is pretty much emptied out but the other still has some spare parts in it. While we were in Yard 15 we took a quick look in the Kankakee single-trucker, which is sitting atop a TM flatcar. The house door that provides access into the car was open so we closed that.

The Kankakee car is kind of interesting. It's a single-truck pre-Birney McGuire-Cummings car, one of a series of two built for the North Kankakee line (there were two different street railways in Kankakee). The body isn't in bad shape, actually, and if we ever get that Brill 79E1 truck built for the Illinois Terminal Birney, the Brill 21 shop truck currently under the Birney could go under this car. But right now it's slowly deteriorating in outdoor storage. But never fear, you can help!

So while the three of us were speeding along scenic Riverview Drive heading back to the car shop to help with CA&E 431, we were flagged down by Nick (the E.D.) behind the trolley bus barn. His greeting was pretty unexpected: "Hey, just what we need, three white guys!" Uh, beg pardon? Well it turned out that a crew from a nonprofit community theater company was filming a scene on our Chicago Motor Coach bus: Rosa Parks getting hauled off of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. They were short a few extras so we got dragooned - or, more specifically, "Nicked" (well, Greg sped off to commandeer CTA 3142 and send its nattily-attired motorman, Thomas, over to the film site to play the bus driver). Thanks to Ray Piesciuk who took the following photos.

And here we are. Good Nick and I were playing racist cops (those silver badges on our chests actually say "COP" so you know they're authentic). The cops in period photos of Rosa Parks getting arrested and booked didn't wear hats, so neither did we.

"It's a hippie! Get 'im!" Actually this is the three of us getting back at Nick for dragging us into this.

The shoot took longer than I'd expect - welcome to show biz, I guess - but I have to admit it was a fun diversion. The production was on a slim budget, to put it mildly. There seemed to be a producer and assistant producer, both of whom doubled as extras; the director, who was also the camerawoman; and several extras and actors. There were no speaking roles, as the whole scene was going to have a voiceover played over the footage, so I guess we were all extras. Everyone was extremely nice, not to mention grateful for us helping out. Above, Good Nick and one of the extras who arrived with the film crew. Nick and I both played civilians when we weren't playing cops.

Most of the filming was inside the bus, which was marginally warmer than outdoors. The woman in the middle is the director/camerawoman, with Thomas standing behind her, hovering menacingly over the actress playing Rosa Parks, who is sitting in front of the emergency exit door. Various other extras, including me, are sitting throughout the bus.

And finally the cast photo, snapped by Greg, who by this time had put the 3142 back in the barn. From the right there's Nick, Good Nick, yours truly, and Thomas, with the various crew members and extras to the left. The actress two over from Thomas played Rosa Parks while the woman bundled up in front of the bus door was the producer. The movie will apparently be called "Strength of the Black Woman" and is due to premier in March.

After that it was starting to get dark and about all that was left to do was go over to Barn 4 and see what the guys doing the hard work had been up to. Joel and Richard had been fighting the motor leads on the 431; one motor lead on the car had worn through its insulation and grounded out over the summer so this had to be replaced. They also did some repair work on a second motor lead. The motor lead glad hands were a bear to get apart because they're very hard to access; the 431 doesn't have floor hatches so you have to bend over the motor and work in a space about 10" high. But they eventually got it repaired and were starting to reassemble things when dinnertime arrived. The photo above shows Richard and John to the right. Can you find Joel?

Getting Ready for Lights, Camera Action, or Let's Move Things Around a Bit

Al writes…

Went out to IRM yesterday to do some work on the 319 reroofing project. However things on the  museum campus looked rather different than they usually do. In fact those of us that usually work in the shop on Wednesdays were spending more time outside looking at the preparations for shooting an episode of  Chicago Fire on site. The site was full of support equipment for the shooting. Although we're not supposed to publish pictures of the actual shooting I thought our readership would be interested in a few photos of how the preparations affected the way the Museum looked. Apparently, most of the shooting will take place in and around the steam leads and turntable area. This resulted in two oddly different scenes one with the turntable area vacant of any equipment and secondly  the site of the equipment that is generally stored there sitting on the Main line opposite the station.

 

Another other odd view was the temporary building being constructed against barn 9 but extending over the Carline. Of course we all joked that that building was a new indoor waiting area for Carline riders

Also of interest is the revised paint scheme on our gallery cars also star in the episode. This scheme revision is being accomplished with a final wrap similar to that used for advertising on buses.

The main activities of the afternoon were positioning one of our tank cars and the gallery cars for the shoot.

In fact I was so busy watching this activity and taking pictures that I neglected to take a photograph of the tack moulding that I had been priming. So you'll just have to imagine some strips of wood in brown primer.

It will be interesting to see what things look like next week during actual shooting. Stay tuned!

In All Directions

Today people were in motion in all directions out at your Museum.  Let's see here, I think we'll start with the ordinary and move up to the extraordinary.

I painted the red stripes down the north side of the 36.  This makes a big difference.  Now of course the red windows and doors are not right, but at least the red is part of the paint scheme.  If they were green or yellow, that would be a real problem.  And I should remind you that on the south side of the car, the doors and windows are (or soon will be) all correct.

And then there was surface prep, and a second coat of red on the #1 end of the car.  Also primer on the tack molding, which will be painted black next time.

And there were a few miscellaneous tasks on the 36, as usual; I managed to free up a stuck window, sort parts, and so on.

Henry Vincent and his grandson Jonathan Soucek have been helping with door parts in the shop.  They stripped all the paint off these metal parts of one of the side doors, and I helped them along by priming the inside surfaces.  I need to reassemble the door by the time the Museum opens for visitors on April 7th.  They're also making good progress on the train door, and I talked to Bob Kutella about the lettering.  Thanks!

Lots of other members were working on their projects.  Rod is preparing new grids for the 141, several guys are working on doors and windows for the depot, the snow plow, the B&M diner, and who knows what else, Eric Lorenz and others are putting the Cleveland PCC together, and Frank, Mike, and Bill Thiel were preparing the Veracruz open car for service.

Of course, Tim Peters continues to work on the 1024.  There's a lot of work to be done on the roof of this car built in 1898, as your might expect.

Also up on the rooftop, Norm Krentel and Jeff Brady were working on the Michigan Electric 28.

But most of the people out at the Museum today were neither volunteers nor members.  There was a large film crew hard at work.  The Zephyr was running back and forth all day; they were still at work when I left.

There was a line of large trucks parked on Central Avenue all the way from Depot to the ladder, as far as I could see, and other vehicles parked elsewhere.

Down by the depot, they've constructed a loading platform on the north side of the main, with this nice little shelter.  I don't know how much of this we'll be able to keep.  In any case, I had work to do and didn't want to get in the way, so I didn't stick around.

They were also filming inside one of the bilevels in Yard 5, using this assemblage outside to mount the cameras and control the lighting, as I suppose.  It's always interesting to see film crews at work.  My wife will often see them in downtown Chicago.  It's a huge production.

Lights, Camera, Action!

 I believe it's not too much of a state secret that another movie is being filmed at IRM, and this one will star the Zephyr, as usual, plus a bilevel or two.  So the advance crew was busy today.  They bring in the various materials they'll need by truck, along with various other vehicles and what not.

They set up a large heated tent over near the Schroeder Store.

And down by the depot, the carpenters are getting ready to build some scaffolding for filming.  When more details become available on what this movie will be called and so forth, you'll read it here first!  I hope.

Henry Vincent and his grandson have been making great progress on the car 36 parts in the shop.  Here we see where he has sanded down to the yellow on blue lettering, which is what we'll want to reproduce on the train door.

And then they have also stripped and primed the metal parts for the side door, which I want to have reassembled by the time the Museum opens for visitors.  Thanks, guys!!!

Jon Fenlaciki was out today; he's seen here working on the electric heaters for the 65.

 Finally, I spent the day painting the 36, since the weather was just about right.  I finished applying a first coat of the light grey on the north side of the car, and then red on the remaining parts of the #1 end.  The lower blue I can do anytime without a scaffold; the only paint remaining will be the red stripes above and below the windows.

But after taking this picture, I realized I also needed to paint the tack molding black.  That didn't take long, fortunately.

 And at the #2 end, we're essentially done.  The doors and windows on this side still need to be painted, but that will come later, probably over the summer.