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!

Jazzing Things Up

Frank writes...

IRM has been running trains past dark on Labor Day for over a decade now (I had to check - 2015 was the first year) but I daresay we outdid ourselves this year. My father will report on the day's activities from Saturday, but to summarize, daytime activities included five trains on the main line, including the 50th Avenue shuttle; trolley buses in operation; and lunch/dinner service aboard the Zephyr.

I had signed up to run the wood cars for the evening shift and Ted Kuhn was my conductor. In the afternoon, we got everything ready, including checking the pumps on the 309 and 319 and testing the kerosene markers. We also coupled the 309 and 319. We were ready for service by 4pm.

We ended up making three mainline trips, all of which were pretty full, and everyone seemed to have a good time. The real action during the evening was down by the diner annex, where a blues/jazz band, The Stephen Hull Experience, put on a concert at 7pm as part of IRM's "Trains and Tunes" programming. This was the second T&T concert this year and it sounded like it was a great success! And after the concert there was a fireworks show, which was plainly visible from the 309 on our way back from Kishwaukee Grove.

After we got the train (and all the markers and headlights) put away, it was time to get to work. This week we are taking the rest of the seats that were removed from the 460, and will be going back into the 451, to the upholstery shop to be re-covered. Thanks to Dave from B&G for making the museum's new-to-us van available for this. And a HUGE thank you goes out to Good Nick, Richard, and Jeron for loading all these seats into the van. It was a big job!

I took very few photos because I didn't have my phone with me for the most part, but fortunately, we had some photos sent in. The remarkable photo below was taken by Nick Espevik of the 144 at Barn 9 North with the fireworks show in the background, seen over Barn 9.

And Ted, my conductor, took some terrific photos of the CA&E train. First, we have a photo of the train on the ladder track in Yard 8, waiting to go into service.

And here we are on Station Track 1 between trips. After our third trip we terminated on Station Track 2 (see the first two photos) which was a bit of "rare mileage" for these cars.

Overall, a terrific time was had by all, and the museum really put on a great show.

And as promised, here are a couple of views from operating the NWERR 24 during the day.  The car was full on nearly every trip, and everything went well.  Thanks to Zach for being the car host!

Night Train to Kishwaukee Grove

Frank writes...

It's been almost 10 years since IRM started running trains into the evening on Labor Day Weekend - I had to check, but the first year we did this was 2015 - and it's still a blast. This year, the CA&E wood cars were the "evening shift" train on Saturday. For most of the shift, my father was conductor and I was motorman.

We brought the train out at about 4:00pm, but had a bit of a wait on the tail track while a spot opened up in the rotation.

Fortunately, as you can see above, the train watching from this spot is pretty nice! Daytime service was held down by the 1630 with the coach train, Minnesota Transfer 200 (later replaced by CB&Q 504) with a caboose train that also added a couple of freight cars behind the engine, and the CA&E steel cars on the main line; Northwestern Elevated 24 working the 50th Avenue shuttle; and Veracruz 19 and the Green Hornet on the car line. All of those except the 1630 and 4391 were put away by dinnertime, but the C&NW bi-level set and, of course, our train came out to replace them.

We neglected to get a formal crew photo, but hopefully Carina Borst will forgive me for stealing a couple of crew photos she snapped when she joined us for our 7:45pm departure. Above, myself and Zach, who joined the crew for the last two trips (we departed on the 45's hourly from 4:45 to 8:45).

Above, my father and Zach on the 7:45 train; my father had to vamoose after this trip and Zach worked the final trip and helped get the train put away. Thank you, Zach!

Here you go, a couple of nice shots of the train in Station Track 1 before the 8:45 trip. We had a good crowd pretty much every trip and everyone seemed to have a good time. We've come up with a good system that involves carrying markers at all four corners and using the little "flippers" to flip them from white to red (or vice versa) when changing ends. We also carry a headlight at each end of the train to make changing ends easier.

Everything ran smoothly this year. We didn't even have any of the kerosene marker lanterns blow out!

So, enough CA&E photos - what else was going on?

When I arrived shortly after lunchtime, a crew was doing B&G work outside the electric car shop. They were working to extend a gas line, and I was told that by the end of the day, the new line was run, just not hooked up. Pictured above, Jimmy on the ground, Facilities GM Dave Diamond in the hole, Nathan taking measurements, and new volunteer Ashtin supervising.

During the day, before switching to join the CA&E crew as conductor, Zach was running NWERR 24 on the 50th Avenue-to-Jefferson Street shuttle. Here, the car comes into the 'L' station from one of its trips. This car truly is one of the most spectacular pieces of equipment we run and it's terrific to see it in operation.

And here we have the second bunch of seats for the CA&E curve-siders! For some reason, this batch didn't arrive "bagged," so we're going to pick up some garbage bags to protect them until they can be installed in the 460, which hopefully will only be a matter of weeks or months. This means that all of the full-width cross seats for the first car have been reupholstered; Jon is picking up the last half dozen or so seats, which are the slightly narrower seats that go against the bulkheads, on Tuesday and taking them to the upholstery shop. Exciting progress!

Labor Day at Night

Here's just a part of what you were missing on Saturday of this year's Labor Day celebration.  Of course, if you can show up on Sunday or Monday, there will be even more.

The open car was in service all day, a sure-fire crowd pleaser:

And the LGB group had a large layout on display:

Both steam locomotives were in operation:

And of course there were lots of photographers about.  I always like to take pictures of other people taking pictures of trains:

During the day, the North Shore cars were in operation:

I had some time to stop over at the Model Railroad building, which was busy as usual.  I should point out that they have lots of trains and equipment for sale, as well as books:

And I was struck by this model of the 308 that was recently donated:

I guess some people are more easily amused than others.

Anyway, Frank and I were on the night shift, so in the afternoon we had some time to work on the 18 a little.  I cleaned up the interior a little:

While Frank touched up the grey paint:

Over on the next track, Zach and Norm (under car, not shown) were working on diagnosing a problem with the Electroliner's electrical system....

with the aid of nice big circuit diagram.  I gotta get a copy of this.

Finally, it was time to bring out the CA&E wood cars for their evening runs.  We decided to switch the order to put the 36 at the east end, so the "solarium" end is at the front of the train:

And you can watch the steam trains go by:

Here's the crew: conductor Jim Lewnard, motorman Frank, and me:

And the IT 101 was also in operation on the night shift:

During actual night operations I was too busy to get many pictures, but everything worked out well. The lanterns stayed lit and didn't set anything on fire, so what more could you want???

Wait, I have the answer!   Member's Day, aka Museum Showcase Weekend!

Frank adds...

I didn't take nearly as many photos, but I'll echo that it was a terrific day with great weather and a good time was had by all. As shown previously, I ended up with enough time in the afternoon to put some more grey paint on the 18.

I finished up a three window-wide panel on the left side and the panel between the doors on the right side, meaning the entire car below the belt rail - other than the doors themselves, which need some work - now has fresh grey paint. I also touched up a few spots on the letterboard where roof paint had dripped under the masking tape; the letterboard will need to be heat-stripped and properly repainted one of these days, but this makes the car look neater in the meantime.

And just a couple of photos during the afternoon: the 319 on the ladder track, and the "Brookins Special" of the 319 and 36 on the tail track.

I didn't get a photo of it, but the RTA diesel bus was circling the property for much of the afternoon. The bus guys got it running and Steven was driving it in his official first day of public operations at IRM. Congrats!