Don't Take No for an Answer

But please, honey, they still need trainmen for this weekend!

The disappearing railroad car

Where did the end of this interurban car go?  What happened to its siding? its windows?  What's going on here?  Why, long-term outdoor storage, of course!

The car body seen above was acquired just recently by a northeastern museum which is now working valiantly to try and save it.  And they've got their work cut out for them.  But this didn't happen overnight; over time any wooden car stored outdoors, as this one was, will naturally deteriorate.  The only real solution is indoor storage.  And indoor storage is something that many of the historic railway cars at IRM are currently lacking.

But fear not, readers - you can help!  IRM is now raising funding for building a storage barn which will house dozens of historic and irreplaceable cars and will preserve them for the future.  But donations are still badly needed to help get the museum the rest of the way towards building the next barn.

Donations towards the Barn 14 Fund or towards any of the department-specific indoor storage space funds - Electric Car, Freight Car, Internal Combustion, Passenger Car or Steam - may be sent to the Illinois Railway Museum, PO Box 427, Union IL 60180.  Or you can quickly and easily help out by clicking here and donating online.  All donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thank you for your help in preserving our history!

The Highest Speed

This neat advertisement was recently e-mailed to us.  It shows CA&E (then AE&C) car 32, identical to our car 36, in an advertisement for Stephenson printed around 1903.  At the time the "Great Third Rail" was brand new and one of its biggest selling points was its speed - the highest then attained under practical operating conditions.

High speed is what's needed today, too: there are only a few days remaining in 2012 for you to send in a donation to help fund Barn 14!  Your donation is fully tax-deductible and will help preserve indefinitely some of the priceless artifacts at IRM, including wooden interurban cars as well as other historic equipment currently sitting outside.  Put Barn 14 on the memo line or, to donate specifically to preserve members of our traction collection, put "RISWEC" on the memo line.  Only with your help can IRM preserve more of our rail history now.  Please consider sending in a donation to IRM at PO Box 427, Union IL 60180 today - and thank you.

Going, going, almost gone or car 36 where are you?

Al writes…

Been having nightmares about a large slab of green wood. This led me to venture out to the museum yesterday to remove that last expanse of green paint on the side of 36. I was able to complete removal of the green below the belt rail by the end of the day. And as Randy often says it's a day of scraping, sanding and painting.

With this progress we are coming close to removing all vestiges of the car's "Cleveland" identity. Somehow I couldn't resist the urge to leave the painted number on the side of the car to the very last. I felt like there should be a little ceremony as I removed that last "Cleveland" identity item. So I held a little ceremony with the barn cats( oh wait there are no barn cats in barn eight ) as that identity was removed. I believe that was the last vestige of Columbia Park and Southwestern identity remaining.After sanding I was able to get a coat of primer on the car,

Speaking of residents of barn 8, 4412 has joined the group and is shown here wearing its new hat.  Tim Peters did meet his Thanksgiving deadline.

As always there was a lot of activity in barn 4 and the wood shop on a Wednesday. Spent a little time observing the manufacture of new windows. Bob Katella does a good job covering those activities in his blog so I won't repeat them here.

One activity that was unique was continued attention to stringing trolley wire over the connection just east of the barns.

This blog entry is brought to you by the Shameless Prodding Division of Hicks Car Works. Please remember to consider a donation to the Barn 14 fund. And remember the matching contribution program offered by the Hicks car works.

50% More or the End Is In Sight! Plus a bonus feature!

Al writes...

After my success last Tuesday I decided it was time to try again yesterday. As Randy stated in his last blog entry "Another day, another few feet of wooden siding stripped, sanded, and primed. " I was feeling a little bit better this week than last, so my efforts were able to cover one and a half windows for a 50% increase in the area prepared for future painting. Although today was chilly, working in barn 8 with a heat gun was not entirely uncomfortable.

 One feature about the 36 is that it was apparently varnished initially and when scraping the sides using a heat gun the varnish tends to gum up on my scraper and requires fairly frequent cleaning. As you can see at the end of the day we are within striking distance of completing the car side below the belt rail. It sure would be easier if Randy would figure out that dipping process.

As it was last week, things were rather quiet around the campus. I didn't have time to go exploring but some of the usual characters were seen on site including Rod, Frank, Nick, Ed and judging by the music coming from barn 4 Tim Peters was hard at work on the 4412. Of course Jan and company were keeping the lights on in the office. And hearing equipment moving about the site I assume Dave was hard work on B&G activities as well.

Bonus feature

It seems that we have a new face at IRM. Seen arriving was this three unit set of Miniature Train Company locomotive and two cars. This appears to be an MTC G12 model  12" gage amusement park train. For those of you not familiar with the Miniature Train Company it is probably best known for its F3 like locomotives on 14", 15" and 16" gage track, that were used in various amusement parks around the country. The Chicago area had at least five MTC G 16 train sets that I am aware of. There were two at Kiddieland, two at Riverview and one at Lincoln Park and I understand one is in private hands not too far from IRM.This train set is a smaller model than those and may be familiar to some of you babyboomers as similar to the one that ran in the Fair Store (note the early history of MTC was building trains for use in in Dept. stores) on State St. during Christmas (electrically operated I assume). Also arriving with the train was a truckload of 12" gage "snap track".

The miniature train company was a local supplier of amusement park trains. It was a small enough company that there does not even seem to be a Wikipedia entry for it. However a brief history of the company can be found here. I guess we will need to watch IRM cyber space closely for further developments.

My only question is what relationship did the Rattlesnake Island Railroad have to the North Shore?

This Blog entry was brought to you by the Shameless Prodding Division of the Hicks Car Works.

Remember indoor storage is the only long term solution to maintaining our equipment and ensuring that the preservation efforts of our volunteers do not get undone by time and weather.

YOU, yes you are being prodded to do something about it!  IRM is in the process of raising funds for Barn 14.  There are several funds you can donate to, but we here at the Hicks Car Works ask that you donate to code name RISWEC for cars in the Electric Car Department Collection.  Make a minimum $25.00 donation today!  You can mail your check to this address:

Illinois Railway Museum
P.O. Box 427
Union, IL 60180

If you want to, you can donate through this secure online link.

Any bit helps, so donate today!

Shameless Prodding Post

Al writes…

If you are at all familiar with NPR's  Car Talk, you may be familiar with the Tappet Brothers' (Click and Clack) Shameless Commerce Division. Noting the success of this operation the senior management of the Hicks Car Works has decided to implement a Shameless Prodding Division hoping that you will be prodded yo help build the next barn at IRM.

As it has been noted before the very nature of the material which is used to construct transportation equipment is subject to deterioration from continued exposure to the elements. The only way to ensure that surface and/or deeper deterioration does not occur is to place the items, in this case our rolling stock, undercover. We have noted several times the effects of continued exposure to the elements. It is very disconcerting for volunteers that have spent time restoring equipment to see that restoration deteriorate as a result of weather exposure.

Case in point here we have a photograph at one of the more famous Electric Railway Museums (and I don't mean to throw stones at them). As you can see they are attempting to be preserve one PCC car with the use of a tarp. However, as we know the tarps require constant attention. This blog frequently reports on Randy's trips to the south end of IRM to ensure that 321 continues to be protected by its tarp. But as this photo shows tarps can't always be counted on to provide the necessary protection. In addition any preservation efforts can't be appreciated when they are hidden from view. The other two PCC's have no protection and are deteriorating as a result of exposure to the elements.

I tend not to take photos of deteriorated equipment so I don't have too many. But in this case I am presenting two bus photos for which I apologize. It seems that at many museums the buses tend to be somewhat more neglected than the railway rolling stock and provide a good example of what will happen if equipment is not protected from the elements.

In the first photo we see what can happen to one of the famous New York/Chicago Yellow Coach double-deckers. In spite of being constructed of metal this bus is totally collapsing on itself. In the second photo we see a Cleveland, St. Louis built trackless trolley, again in a state of advanced deterioration.

As an aside this trackless trolley is almost identical to the St. Louis built buses purchased by CSL. One could argue that it might find a more loving home at IRM.

But to the point indoor storage can only be achieved with contributions from all interested IRM friends.

YOU, yes you are being prodded to do something about it!  IRM is in the process of raising funds for Barn 14.  There are several funds you can donate to, but we here at the Hicks Car Works ask that you donate to code name RISWEC for cars in the Electric Car Department Collection.  Make a minimum $25.00 donation today!  You can mail your check to this address:

Illinois Railway Museum
P.O. Box 427
Union, IL 60180

If you want to, you can donate through this secure online link.

Any bit helps, so donate today!