Keeping On Track

The only remaining task needed to make the 36 an operating car is to change out the compressor, as we have mentioned previously.  To do this, rusted bolts under the car need to be torched, so this will have to be done over the pit.  Rod is very supportive, and we agreed on what needs to be done.  Mostly, the 36 needs to be wyed so the compressor is on the south side of the car.  And before that can be done, we needed to do some more switching, but more about that later.

In the morning, I started by fixing a seat in the 319 that had come out of its track last weekend.  This seat is across from the toilet compartment, and there was originally a stationary bench seat at this location.  Probably when the oval window was removed, however, it was replaced by a walkover, but this mechanism is different from all the others, and has been a source of trouble since Day 1.  I had thought about replacing it with one of the seats we got from North Freedom, but it's different from those also.  So I put in another shim, longer screws, and it seems to work better.  We can only hope it will keep on track longer this time.

And then I also managed to get the other diagonal brace installed on the 36's #1 pilot.

More switching was in progress today, mostly by the capable hands of Warren Lloyd.  The turbine was put back where it belongs, but I missed a couple of nice opportunities to photograph it, especially waiting at the Depot St. shelter, just like a streetcar.  Here it is back in Yard 5.

Unlike most used book stores you have probably visited, ours has to be ready to move once in a while.  Luckily the wheels are factory equipment.

Rod and I had the task of wying the Toledo and Detroit 16, so it will be facing south at the end of track 81.  This is a beautiful locomotive, and the running gear is still complete, so one of the crew is oiling up the cylinders before we pull it out and around the wye.

 

I was busy, and unable to take many pictures of it outside, unfortunately.

After all this was done, we decided to put off switching the CA&E cars around until Saturday.  It was just too hot and muggy.

Another thing going on today was the start of the annual woodworker's convention, organized by Bob Kutella.  Most of the activities will be this weekend, but registration started today and fans of old woodworking machines were already starting to bring in their equipment.

Another thing I need to do is make a set of lift tabs for the windows in the 36.  Here's a picture of one; the dimensions are 1 3/16" x 2 13/16".  If anybody would like some made, send me a message and we can share the cost.  Tim Peters and Frank Kehoe are my contacts with the foundry in Chicago, and they will be helping with the legwork on this project.

Finally, it's always interesting to see what other museums are doing.  Here is a video of our friends at Northern Ohio Railway Museum moving NOTL car 1515, which I'm sure you will find fascinating.  I might point out that NORM owns three cars from this series, and the 1515 is the best of the lot.  Experts say it can be restored.

Out of sight but not out of mind, or painting the bullseye

 

Al writes...

I went out to IRM yesterday to see what I could do productively. First I checked on progress with the third rail beams for the 36, however due to the housecleaning in the wood shop for the upcoming meeting of the wood working group not much sawdust producing work was being done. Not being good at being neat, I volunteered my services to work on the CTS PCC. As Loren and Company are getting close to installing the headlining on the interior, him preparing the brackets for the bull's-eye lighting was on the critical path. So I signed up to put a coat of enamel paint on those that had already been cleaned up in primed.

These brackets are above the cieleing liner so the color they are painted is somewhat irrelevant. After getting these painted I completed wire wheeling the remaining brackets in preperation for priming.
 

By the end of the day I had completed all the cleaning for the remaining brackets.  Meanwhile the first of the ceiling panels, in this case the front "clam shell" was in place in the car making the availability if these lights somewhat critical

Meanwhile  John Faulhaber continued to work on tacking down and stretching the canvas for the roof of the 810.

On the next unit to the west Pete Galayda  and John Nelligan are busy at work on the wiring of the interior of the CCW 300. Great progress is being made here.

There wasn't much new to see on the outside around the campus and a rain in the afternoon didn't encourage me to walk areoud.

Meanwhile Nick shared a critic of our performance at the DOWT event conducted by HILTI.  One suggestion they had was to pipe the audio from the master of ceremonies and the Thomas music that we play throughout the campus and especially to the entrance.  I just can't imagine being subjected to Harold and I for the entire day.!

Dave's Depots: Union Pacific/Central Pacific/Southern Pacific Depot-Corinne, Utah

David writes.....

For those of you who haven't been there, Promontory Summit, Utah is literally out in the middle of nowhere.  Today, if you went there, the closet thing of interest is a rocket fuel plant, some ranches and the northern shore of the Great Salt Lake.  After Southern Pacific built the Lucin Cutoff in the early 1900s, the line through Promontory became a secondary route and was eventually mostly pulled up in 1942.  The only track that remains, other than the mile of reconstructed track at the golden spike site, is a segment from Brigham City to Corinne, which mainly provides a load-out point for sections of solid fuel rockets.  

Out along this lonely streach of highway stands the remains of the Corinne depot, built in 1870 as the Central Pacific freight depot.  A passenger station originally was located across the tracks.  By 1917 when Union Pacific's Oregon Short Line was using the facility, the passenger functions had been merged into the building.  Now owed by the Golden Spike Heritage Foundation, ambitious plans are afoot to restore the depot as part of a grander plan to run passenger trains from Ogden to the Golden Spike National Historic Site park boundaries as an alternative means to bring people to Promontory.

Chuck Amstein Photos of Showcase Weekend

Staff photographer Chuck Amstein has sent in some great images, as usual.   To begin with, you can watch this video of the CA&E train.

(And then, I just noticed  this video taken from the 308 on Labor Day by "foxrivermotorman".)

Jim West flags his train across a busy street.



And we're ready to go into service.







Dan helps by watching poles.  All four of them.

On the tail track.

"308 to dispatcher, call for orders."

And west to the depot.

Change ends, and we're ready for our first trip.

As seen from the Zephyr.

Chuck also rode the Indiana 65, with Jon Fenlaciki, motorman.

With its original IRR fare register.

Kevin Brown, conductor.

The famous South Shore line car also operated.  It has to be towed through the yards, of course.

And Dan and Chris Buck were running the single-truck open car, which was always packed.

Ready to be put away into the barn.

But other cars are being brought out for night operations.















Among other things, the Zephyr was running at night.

And a two-car North Shore train.

And then Chuck got a night ride on the dynamometer, which doesn't run very often.  He says: "The large gauges register the drawbar pull.  Some of this stuff was actually working."

 

The crew quarters.

Hydraulic piston connected to drawbar, for measuring drawbar pul 

Drawbar on right, connected to the large piston.

 

Showcase Report

Saturday of Showcase Weekend was a big success and a lot of fun for everyone, I think.  The weather was perfect and we had a very good crowd of visitors.  We were running the four-car CA&E train, as advertised, mostly just to show we could do it, but on nearly every trip we had three cars full of passengers, more than I expected.  As usual, there were long-time members visiting from out of town, such as Steve Iversen, Randy and Betty Anderson, and others.  I was too busy to take any pictures, but lots of others were taking pictures, and I'm sure we'll get some good submissions.  Dan Mulvihill was our trainman, along with Frank and myself.

Everything went well until our fourth trip at 1:30.  When we got to the east end of the line and changed ends, the train refused to go west.  Diagnosing the problem was not easy, but we tried various things and determined that at least the two cars on the west end would move by themselves.  The situation was made worse by the difficulties in communicating with the dispatcher from Kishwaukee Grove.  Usually we don't have to call from there, and for a while we could hear him clearly but he couldn't hear us.  Finally we got permission to put all the passengers into the 309 and 36, and return to the depot.  (Frank stayed behind with the 308 and 319.)  Here we were met by Rod and Joe, with tools and a spare control jumper.  When we got back to the east end, it didn't take long to determine that the problem was just a defective control jumper, and with a good one in place, the train operated normally.  This caused some significant disruptions to the service, but our dispatcher, Bob Opal, is able to handle stressful situations in a manner all his own, and in the end all was well.

Then for supper we had Fay's Barbeque, which was excellent as usual, followed by night-time operations.  Harold Krewer was the night trick dispatcher, and kept things moving admirably.  When I get some pictures sent in, maybe there will be more to tell. 

 Frank adds...

As my father mentions, it was a fun day.  I missed the first trip of the four-car train, but that afforded me the opportunity to catch the above picture of the train passing Spaulding Tower coming into the station.  Boy, what a great sight!  I was on the crew for the next couple of trips and got to talk with some visiting friends including Ray and Bill Burmaster from Mid-Continent.  Ray told me an interesting story: in 1962 he had tried to purchase a set of rattan seats from the CA&E to install in their Copper Range passenger car.  They had evidently already scrapped most of the "shorties" but agreed to the sale.  Then, at the last minute, they said they couldn't offer the seats any more because they'd been able to sell the entire car - the 36, sold to Gerald Brookins in Cleveland.  Mid-Continent bought a set of North Shore seats instead and just recently they made their way to IRM too as spares for our cars.

Our conversation was cut short by the aforementioned mechanical problems, but after a relaxing spell spent at Kishwaukee Grove I was rescued (rescue train seen above) and the four-car train ran back without issue.  Dinner was great and I got to go for trips on the Zephyr and CTA 4000s afterwards.  I daresay a good time was had by all!

Clear the Track!

We're scheduled to run all four wood cars in passenger service on Saturday, so there were several things that still needed to be done.  First, there was lubrication: check three compressors and 32 main journals, seven of which have waste and need more careful attention.  Then the train was made up, and I checked the control systems and brakes.  And finally ran the train about a car length out of the barn, and back in.  Enough for today.

This was the first time I've had all 12 traction motors powering, and the train seems to run nicely, with little slack action.  Of course, it didn't go very far or very fast, but I can quickly tell if something's wrong.  So I'm confident we're ready for Showcase Weekend.  For a better view of the train, be there on Saturday.

Then it was time to go through the train, clean up, and make sure that we had flags, motorman's stools, and so forth in the right places, and remove anything not needed. such as tools and spare parts.

Over the years, we've collected a good number of small American flags for use on the Fourth and similar occasions.  (The two biggest ones on the left are 48 star flags, for historical purposes.)  They were usually stored in one of the toilet compartments, which always bothered me a little.  So I collected them all and moved them into the 150, where they are now on display.  Much better!

Lost and Found Department:  I also found the following items of value left behind by members, I would think: a nice flashlight, a "fanny pack" or similar item, and a man's necktie.  Identify them by sending me a PM and they're yours!

Then I worked on installing the angle braces for the 36's pilot, recently installed and painted.  One of the bolts I could not get loose, but one brace is now in place, and that will surely be good enough, since the 36 is in the middle of the train.

 

Finally, here's a picture of Barn 9: they've started moving things back in, but it's only about half full.  At one point the entire barn was empty, I'm told.  The reason may surprise you: it was due to a contamination scare.

Scurrilous rumors were spread to the effect that the building was contaminated with large amounts of ferric oxide (a toxic material sometimes called "rust") and that anyone entering Barn 9 was in danger of coming into contact with this rust.   So all of the equipment had to be pulled out of the barn, a thorough examination was made, and experts concluded that these fears were completely unfounded.  So that's a great relief -- we're safe!

Seriously, though, you won't have to worry about toxic contamination this weekend when we'll be showcasing lots of carefully restored equipment.  Bring your camera, you'll have a great time.  And we could still use another trainman or two!

Finishing the Pilot or Tours, We Give Tours

Al writes...

I was out to IRM twice this week.

Yesterday I did spend some time painting the pilot on the 36  that Randy and John had mounted on the car last Saturday. The day started out warm and partly cloudy but by one o'clock we did have some fairly heavy rain. Fearing that I would melt I was stuck in barn eight  after  finishing the pilot until the rain ceased.

Then I went over to help with activities in the shop and to see how I could help Rich Witt with his plans to assemble the third rail beams which requires a tricky bevel cut for the beams. These are required to clear the leaf springs on the trucks. Rich is still designing a system to do this but had not yet started on the task. So I decided to help out with the CTS PCC by priming several of the car card racks.

One significant advancement noted in barn 4 is that the Lake Shore Electric 180 is now wearing new headgear. Canvas is being stretched to finish the roof installation. This will complete the outside restoration of this box trailer.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to provide a tour for several guests.

The primary guest was Mr. Jun Kobayashi of JR East, which is the privatized part of the former Japanese National Railways consisting of the routes around and north of Tokyo. It is been reported that JR East is the most profitable railway in the world with an operating ratio of around 40%.  All those commuter trains you see running side by side in the videos and simulations of Tokyo are JR East operations. But there are some bucolic lines as well, even within the Tokyo suburban network.

Typical Tokyo Commuter Line

Suburban Branch Line in Tokyo

Accompanying Mr. Kobayashi, Was Bob Kollmar and his wife.  Bob is is director of Engineering, Communications and Train Control for the Association of American Railroads.  In that role he is the AAR's primary contact on technical issues on those topics with the FRA and the FCC (no don't blame him for your radio or scanner being obsolete due to narrow banding, that far predates him).

I pointed out to Mr. Kobayashi that JR personnel studied the Electroliner when developing the Shinkansen concept and that a donation from JR might be appropriate.  We'll see where that goes.

One unfortunate thing was a result of the filming at IRM on Friday.  As noted in other posts some of the steam locomotives from barn 9 were parked on the streetcar loop.  Mr. Koboayashi is a bit of a tram fan but we were unable to give him a streetcar ride.


BTW JR East has one of the nicest museums around, sort of modeled after York in the UK.

  I could post a few more photos from the museum if there is interest.