Sleigh Ride

Frank writes...

Sunday was the penultimate day of Happy Holiday Railway 2025, and although this year's event was impacted by both snow and extremely cold temperatures, in the end the whole things was very successful and our visitors seemed to really enjoy themselves. As for us volunteers, the 30-ish temperatures on Sunday meant one thing: it's time for our recent tradition of bringing out the one-truck open sleigh!

Our Veracruz open car, appropriately festooned with battery-powered lights, came out for a few trips at about 4pm. Many thanks to Good Nick and Mikey for working with me to get the car out of the barn (including moving North Shore 749) and operating it. Here, the car sits at Depot Street just after sunset with the president running and Lee and Jimmy conducting a check ride.

We ran it for about seven laps and put it away about 6pm or so. The regular heated cars, the 431 and 3142, stayed in service until after 8pm.

After that, I spent some time with the copying machine and drafting accoutrements to complete the stencils for the air compressor wagon. I didn't get a photo, but it is now completely painted in dark green, including the underside. Joel said it's ready to letter, which means I'm up! You'll note that it will receive a CTA, rather than a CSL, emblem. As a CSL fan, it pains my soul to do it, but the air compressor's current configuration matches its late-in-life condition with a crosswise air tank on the end and electric markers. As shown by our nice 1953 photo at Forest Park, that puts it squarely in the CTA era. So, we must be accurate.

Most of the focus over the weekend for the volunteers was on HHR, between making sure the trains were running, turning the lights on and off, and so on. But several of the guys were working on New Jersey 4. The car did get wyed, making access to the door side easier, and I believe there was a crew working on it both Saturday and Sunday. One wheel on the right side has been replaced - so that's five down and three to go - with the second in progress, awaiting replacement of those studs at the end of the torque arm.

I also did a little bit more work on that spare grid box, though nothing very photogenic, and I measured the clips we'll need to make to hold up the ribbon fuses on our new grid boxes. Note to self: the clips are 14-gauge steel strips, 1-1/2" wide and roughly 5-1/2" long apiece.

Arctic Circles

Frank writes…

The good news was that, for the first weekend in 2025, Happy Holiday Railway wasn’t impacted by snow. The bad news was that the high temperature was about 10 degrees both days this weekend. But the show went on, and the visitors I spoke with were in good spirits. I showed up in uniform ready to work as "streetcar line relief," i.e. giving the day's streetcar motorman an hour-long lunch break, but it turned out the regular motorman had to leave at 5pm. So, I ended up running the 3142 in circles from 3pm until it went back to the barn around 8:30pm. It was chilly, but still, it's hard not to like spending a day on the Surface Lines!

Here's the 3142 at Central Avenue, ready for passengers. There were two cars on the streetcar line, the 3142 and CA&E 431, and we ran a simpler-than-normal operation by virtue of not stopping at Electric Park or Springfield Avenue.

The platform heaters to the left and right of the motorman do work, as does the heat throughout the 3142, but the car's heat is a bit anemic. Still, it was a lot warmer inside the car than outside! As you can see, this car is fittingly equipped with a prominent aluminum pole, and it's IRM, so of course feats of strength and the airing of grievances are a given.

I had a few trips that were sparsely patronized, but then there were also trips where we were completely full and turning people away - generally those were departures from Depot Street right after the Santa train had pulled in.

Zach Ehlers took the above photo, of me running the 3142 along the streetcar line east of the ruling curve, and the below photo of the 431, while he was out turning on the Christmas lights. As it got dark, the big attraction became seeing all the nice light displays at the south end of the museum from the streetcar.

Here's the 431 at South Junction. Two weeks ago, service was held down by the 3142 and the 749, which was nice if for no other reason than you had the "red car" and the "green car." Very festive of us!

And here's the view out my window at the end of the night as the last Santa train of the evening pulled into the station around 7:45. The 431 was run all day by Gregg, with his conductor Dan visible there on the right.

So, what else was happening?

Mike S. has been hard at work on the air compressor wagon, AX545. The priming is done, at least as far as I can tell, and now he's applying a fresh coat of CSL work car green. It's looking great! I had hoped to finish the stencils for this thing, but a half-day stint in service put off those plans until next week.

Here's another view of the compressor wagon.

It's hard to tell, but the above view shows the front truck of NJT 4. The guys were able to finally extract the last two intransigent bolts from the front wheel and install the wide-tread wheel, so the car now has four wide-tread wheels on its left side. They want to wye the car, since there's a lot more space on its south side than its north side right now. In the meantime, they put it over the inspection pit and on Sunday started doing some inspecting. The news was not good: the MG set and the first traction motor they meggered are both grounded. Regardless of the condition of the other motors and miscellaneous equipment, though, we plan to put the other four wide-tread wheels on the car so it can be towed around. Watch for news on that in the near future.

This is not the same side of the 1268 I photographed last weekend; a week ago, this side of the car was down to the sub-siding! But Tim has been making progress at his usual breakneck pace, and both sides of the car now have a complete set of brand-new tongue-and-groove siding installed.

And finally, these last two photos were sent in by Brian LaKemper, showing those grid box covers that he and Zach were working on lettering a few weeks ago. They're finished and now installed in the Class B, where they guard against accidental contact with the grid boxes. Brian pointed out that now all the rest of the interior equipment suddenly looks shabby by comparison!

Of course, there were other guys out. Greg, Brian, and Jimmy were working on the aforementioned testing of NJT 4's electrical equipment. Richard was running the "food donation bus" at the museum entrance and Joel and Good Nick spent much of their time helping with various event functions to help HHR run smoothly. Many thanks to all the volunteers who came out in the extreme cold to make it all happen!

The New-Fallen Snow

Frank writes...

I was out at IRM again on Sunday, this time without the rest of the family, but something seemed a little different... oh, that's right, it's the 10" of snow on the ground that fell over the course of the day Saturday. This caused the cancellation of the day's Happy Holiday Railway operations, but our volunteers were out by 8am Sunday shoveling and snow-blowing, and all Sunday trains ran as planned. The guys even cleared out the Barn 7 doors so the 3142 and 749 could go into streetcar service.

I arrived just in time to run the 3142 for a few laps while the regular motorman, Jeff, took a well-deserved mid-afternoon lunch break.

After that, it was back to the car shop. A huge thank you goes out to Richard, who got the pattern for our first reproduction third rail beam casting ready. I worked for a little while on cleaning it up so it's ready to go to the foundry.

This is the piece that bolts to the underside of the third rail beam. Holes will be drilled out so that the shoe can hang from this using links. We are getting seven of these cast because that's how many we will need in order to make the rest of our fleet complete.

Our old friend Steve was visiting from Oklahoma, and he spent the better part of the day putting a coat of primer on our CSL air compressor wagon, AX545. Above is how it looked when I arrived...

...and here's how it looked when I left. Pretty spiffy! After priming is complete, the next step, of course, is a coat of CSL work car green.

Jimmy and Greg made more progress on NJT 4. The Allen bit we ordered came in, so they were able to remove both wheels from the left side of the rear truck. Here, Jimmy is removing one of those Allen bolts. Both of these wheels need a bit of work before the new, wide-tread wheels can go on - one has a bracket that will get installed before the new wheel makes access difficult, while the other wheel had a stud that loosened and came out, so that will need to be reinstalled. We also came up with a plan for removing the frozen bolts from the #1 left wheel. It's coming along!

Pretty much the whole car shop crew spent the morning clearing snow, but they were up to various tasks in the afternoon. Richard manned the "food bus," parked inside the entrance to accept donations of food for the Marengo food pantry. Greg and Good Nick worked on assembling a good set of batteries for the CTA 2200s while Joel worked on various shop and equipment improvements and cleanups.

Thinking of getting into the "Giving Tuesday" action? Consider the IRM Visitor Center! The transformational impact of this structure is impossible to overstate, and with everyone pitching in, it will happen sooner rather than later. Thank you!

A Trip on the Happy Holiday Railway

Frank writes...

I snagged tickets a while back to take my wife and daughter to HHR on opening day, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely, you won't be surprised to know.

Above is the impressive HHR train, consisting of a six-car bi-level set in real push-pull operation with C&NW 411 on the west end. The operation is a bit different than typical summertime service. The train departs westbound, goes to Jefferson Street, and then returns east via Station Track 2. If there are any passengers who just missed their train (and there usually are), the train makes a quick stop to board them before proceeding east to Kishwaukee Grove and then returning to the depot. To avoid having to clear switches, the train holds the main at Johnson and Schmidt Sidings. We had a great time aboard the train, and kudos go to Santa and the elves, all of whom were in great spirits.

Before our trip, we toured the Model Railroad Exhibit and the new "Jingle Junction" heated tent where Mrs. Claus was welcoming kids and Bob Opal was playing festive tunes on the piano. Of course we also went through Barn 6, which Jim Ward has decorated with an incredible 800-foot illuminated pathway said to contain over 100,000 lights. The above photo doesn't do it justice, but it does include the 319, which is wintering in Barn 6 for a change.

As soon as our Santa train trip ended, before we were even off the platform, the fireworks show began. Here's the view of the 749, one of the two "streetcars" in service, stopped at Depot Street with a burst visible in the background.

We viewed most of the fireworks show from the lawn behind the depot. As with last year, it was a really impressive display! The fireworks show is only this first weekend. Unfortunately, HHR has been cancelled for tomorrow (Saturday) due to the dire weather forecasts, but additional trips have been added on December 19th and on Saturdays in December to compensate. Make sure to tell your friends to get their tickets now!

Happy Holiday Railway

Frank writes...

Our whole extended family bought tickets to Happy Holiday Railway on Sunday and took the kids through the whole experience, including the fantastic Barn 6 light display, the streetcar ride, and (of course) the mainline train ride. I barely took any photos, and the ones I did take didn't turn out that great, but the experience was a ton of fun.

The weather was cold, but not too terrible, and the snow on the ground made for a festive atmosphere. We also went through Barn 3, with its assortment of passenger cars nicely done up for the holiday.

A huge thank you goes out to all the volunteers and staff who made this event happen! As I write this, HHR has just concluded, and we ended up with attendance roughly 30% higher than our previous record. This is due to the two new bi-levels that were added to the train this year, courtesy of the hard work of the Diesel Department crew, as well as all the additional staff and coordination that went with the new cars. This was the first year that HHR exceeded Day Out With Thomas as the museum's largest event by ticket volume, and given all the positive feedback, I am optimistic it will continue to grow. I certainly look forward to it being a "new tradition" for our family!

Sunday Report

Frank writes...

It was another happy day on the holiday railway on Sunday. The weather was foggy and in the low 40s, which all things considered wasn't too bad.

After arriving, I ran the 3142 for a little while so that its regular crew could get a lunch break. Zach was piloting a trainee motorman, Josh, in service. Above, the car sits at Depot Street while the ghostly figure of North Shore 749 lurks in the background, spotted on the west wye for a crew lunch break.

Here's Zach in the back window of the car. He observed that I was wearing a Chicago Railways hat badge, he had his nice CSL badge, and Josh had a CTA badge, so between the three of us we spanned the last 50 years of Chicago streetcars.

Over in the depot, Joel was filling in for HHR stalwart Bob Opal and tickling the ivories for the enjoyment of the visitors.

It was damp, but most of the time it wasn't really raining outright, and overall everyone seemed to be having a great time. It's always nice to see the property hopping like this!

After my stint on the Surface Lines, I changed into work clothes and spent some time working to install another newly reupholstered seat in the 460. It's the third nice one, behind the two previously installed seats. I didn't get it fastened in; I'll need to do some more persuading.

Meanwhile, over in the car shop, Jimmy (shown here, clearly thrilled at having his photo taken) and Brian were hard at work fixing air gauges. This is painstaking and often thankless work, but it's vital to keeping our cars operating safely. Today they were concentrating on repairing gauges for CSL 1374 and for CA&E 308, which we hope will see a few days of service again in 2025.

At the west end of Barn 4, Norm (right), Ashtin (left foreground), and Will (behind Ashtin) were installing hardware under the front end of Michigan Electric 28. Norm was practically giddy at being able to resume work on this car, which has been paused for a few years due to Barn 4 construction. They got cut lever chain hangers and stirrups hung, as well as most of the circle iron supports.

Finally, Nick and Joel exhumed some spare items from storage that are going into an auction IRM will be holding. We'll pass along details when we have them, but some spare items are being auctioned off to open up space and raise money. Don't get your hopes up too high - as far as I know, we're not auctioning off railroad items, much less railroad equipment. But you'll have to check it out for yourself. If you're looking for a microwave, window air conditioner, or a little cart for painting stripes in parking lots, you're in luck!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays Railway was in full swing as always yesterday.  Here are just a few quick videos of the action.  Our thanks to all the volunteers who have been working hard to make this a success!

Sleigh Ride

Frank writes...

The weather on Sunday was spectacular, as December goes, with a high around 50 degrees and sunlight all day. What a great day to take out the open car!

Nick E got Veracruz 19 out of the barn in the late afternoon, and once I was done working car line relief, which took longer than expected, I high-tailed it over to Yard 7 to join him on the crew. Here's the car ready to go into service just after sunset.

And here's yours truly once we got around to Barn 9 North. My wife found these nifty AA battery-powered LED light strings on sale at a local big-box store, so we decorated the front and rear of the car a bit for the occasion.

The open car proved pretty popular; once the sun went down it was definitely chilly, but we had a good crowd of riders on most trips and everyone enjoyed touring the light displays arrayed along the car line. We ended up making 11 loops before putting the car away after the last HHR train of the night returned, while CTA 3142 and North Shore 749 provided heated car line service all day. The Happy Holiday Railway event has now completely sold out for the year, which is quite an accomplishment given that we've added a car and a half's worth of seats. Kudos to the huge crew of people who have worked to organize, promote, assemble, and operate this event!

Saturday Snapshots

On Saturday, HHR was in full swing.  Everything seemed to be going well.  I had signed up for the cushy job of Streetcar Relief, which provides ample time during the day for taking pictures or talking about Car Dept. projects with the people involved.

Several projects in the car shop were continuing:

Fred Zimmerman assembles a rebuilt controller for the 306.

Tim spreads glue on ceiling panels for the 1268.

...helped by Buzz.

One of the unsung heroes of HHR:  Bob Opal is there just about every day, all day, providing holiday-themed musical entertainment in the depot:

On the car line, Chris  Czyzewski was running the 3142:

Keith Letsche was conductor on the 749:

Marcus was motorman during the day, later relieved by Zach.

And some twilight views:

As twilight approached, the 749 received a headlight:

And the oil-fired marker lights:

And as always, there were many others helping out whom I missed.