IT 1702 Roof Work

 Gregg Wolfersheim sends us another update on the Illinois Terminal line car:

A few pics of the last few weeks on the line car project. After removing about 2/3 of the roof boards, I decided to prime and paint the carlines. It is easier from above, rather than from below with everything dripping on your face!

Another view of the carlines partially in primer.

From inside looking up at the carlines now in the dark green.

The four posts that lift the work platform up are tenoned at the bottom. Here is the last one, still on the big bandsaw.

The last of the roofing was removed today. Next, the ends of the carlines will get primer, followed by paint.

Nearing the Finish Line

Frank writes...

We got a lot accomplished on the 460 on Sunday. It's been a team effort, and the car is now quite close to being ready for revenue service again after a year in the shop.

Most of the progress on the car I didn't photograph; sorry. But phase 1, the first thing I worked on after arriving, was putting another coat of red on the door from the platform into the smoker. This was possible thanks to Nick Espevik, who located some correct-color red left over from the 431 project and thinned it a bit to make it usable. The result is above, and the door is now ready to hang on the car.

Phase 2 was roof work, which I probably should have done a week ago when it was in the 40s, and not Sunday when it was in the 80s! Greg Kepka was instrumental in getting this work done - he helped with getting tools and caulk, instructing me in using the crimper, and helping get stuff on and off the roof. I connected the cable from the roof fuse box to the electrical cabinet, then caulked and screwed down the rooftop fittings on the car like the horn and air piping flanges. The roof still needs another coat of canvas paint, but that's not necessary for it to run.

Phase 3 was finishing interior work, and Matt Kalnins from the diesel shop worked with me here. We finished attaching the last seat in the smoker; removed the tools and other stuff (space heater, tarp, etc.) from the car; and installed the big steel ceiling panel back in the vestibule ceiling. We also located and reinstalled some steel trim strips in the ceiling and reinstalled the buzzer cord.

And finally, after dinner, Matt and Joel shoved the battery tray back into the battery box and reinstalled the battery box cover. Thanks to everyone who helped out with this! Other than hanging that door, the car is ready for inspection and service.

I spent almost all my time working on the 460, but after dinner I took some black paint over to Barn 7 and painted the bumpers at both ends of the 18. The front end bumper was primed last fall, while the back end bumper had been spot primed.

What else was happening? Plenty, as usual! Joel was working on various department projects, including trolley bases for the 1808; Gregg was working on the 1702, cutting new vertical posts that will support the rooftop platform; and Bob was getting ready to run some more tests on the 1565's control system. While I was driving in, I noticed that our C&NW crane, shown above, now has trucks under it for the first time in three or four years. It's been up on blocks behind Barn 9 for some time, so it's great to see the progress being made by Paul on this project.

Nick and Greg spent most of their time working on the 415, and in the evening I stopped by Barn 2 to take a quick look. They're rapidly getting it ready for fresh paint, after which it should be ready to rejoin the operating fleet. Joel says it will look beautiful in blue with a silver roof.

1970s Photos from Bill Wulfert

Bill Wulfert has supplied some photos he took in the 1970s of the electric collection as it was at that time. IRM has come a long way!  These photos are copyright Bill Wulfert and may not be copied or reproduced.

It's 1973 and the newly acquired 1754, in the left foreground, is receiving a coat of green and orange paint to cover its work service yellow. Bill points out that the car was initially painted with Pullman green paint, which is too dark, but before too long this was corrected. Behind it is the 1797.

And here's a better view of the 1797 on the left and the 1268 in the center. Off to the right is the 253, which at this time was probably still privately owned. I believe the cars are on the "caboose track," roughly on the alignment of the current streetcar line in the area of the Yard 4 East and tail track switches.

At one time IRM owned five North Shore MD cars (well, six if you count the 202). Two of them, the 236 and 237, were scrapped and the parts used to keep the other North Shore cars in service. Here we see the 236 being scrapped in 1973 or 1974. It appears that in addition to stripping the siding off the car, most of the roof has been torn off. We suspect this car was “dismantled” using a clamshell bucket.

Here's another view. I believe this is looking northwest, and the 236 is sitting on what is now the south track of Barn 2. Those reefers off to the left are on the aforementioned caboose track, about where the Yard 3 switch on the streetcar line is today. At the far right is the 966; peeking out between it and the 236 is Santa Fe combine 2302, which was in wretched condition and was infamously traded away for a keg of spikes; and beyond the 236 are the two Baldies we scrapped in 1974, 4215 and 4216. In the foreground are probably the remains of the three 1700-series wood 'L' cars that were cut up in 1973, CTA 1770, 1775, and 1784.

Here we're looking east down the caboose track again. The 'L' car to the right is the 1797, and beyond it is the 253, possibly in about the same location it was in the first photo of this post. Down at the end of the caboose track, on what today is the tail track, are CB&Q caboose 14073 (apparently it was BN green when acquired!) and a North Shore caboose, either 1002 or 1004. To the left, sitting in Yard 2 within the modern-day footprint of Barn 2, can be seen the corner of the 966; the 354; and Sand Springs 68. Visible over the 68 is some of the network of equipment over the substation.

Now we fast-forward about 10 years to the early 1980s. This is Barn 4, of course, with the 65 sitting on track 42. In the foreground is Muni 1183, ex-Kansas City 767, a car which spent years eating road salt in Toronto. Badly rusted out, it was scrapped by IRM in 1987 after we acquired identical KCPS car 755, an ex-Philadelphia car in much better shape that is now the subject of a major restoration effort. But car 1183 did (briefly) run at IRM. In the left background, you can barely make out Cornwall 14 sitting in front of Barn 2 - which was, of course, an electric barn until about 1993 - and behind the van on the right is the oil shed, with a tarped body behind it that's likely Michigan Electric 28. The photo says that on the left is Bill McGregor.

Friday Update

A brief report on Friday's activities:

In just three weeks it'll be Memorial Day weekend, and we plan to have a three-car wood train in operation on Monday, May 28th.  So mark your calendars now.  The consist will be the 319, 36, and 309 in that order.  I put the train together and checked the operation of the brakes and control system, and everything went well after a couple of adjustments.  It could only move a few feet, but that's probably enough for now.  Since the 36 is in the middle, we can test things without a working feed valve, but it would be good to have it adjusted.  Unfortunately, there's no good way to take a picture of the train while it's in the barn, but it will look as good as ever.  Like this:

Meanwhile, Tim was turning out huge quantities of tongue and groove boards to completely replace the roof on the 1808.  Here we see him running them through the table saw.  Each board requires three or four passes.  And you'll notice he was putting the Berlin sander to good use.

And Norm was cleaning up the various parts of the 306's line breaker, as seen here.

The interlocks:

Back in Barn 8, I disconnected the motor leads to the #4 motor on the 308.  I'm hoping we can pull both motors out of the truck sometime soon.  (The car has only two motors, but they're at the #2 end, so I'm calling them #3 and #4.)

This one appears to still be functional, and it probably just needs to be dipped and baked.

And I checked the contactors on the 36 and 309.

Finally, Gregg was working on the 1702.  Here we see him inside the car, painting the carlines with primer.

 

The 24 When It Was the S-111

Bill Wulfert was kind enough to provide a series of photos from his collection that were taken by Illinois Electric Railway Museum member Eddie Mizerocki in the late 1950s. These are photos of CTA work car S-111, previously CRT 1024 and originally Northwestern Elevated Railroad 24, at a time when IERM was considering acquiring the car. It's clear that its condition was far from pristine, but fortunately it was good enough that the museum elected to go through with the acquisition. The rest is history. These photos are copyright Bill Wulfert and may not be copied or reproduced.

Wednesday Variety Show

Variety is almost always good, and we have plenty of variety for you today.   We start with the North Shore contingent.  Here we see Pete and Fritz examining an electrical cabinet door, or what's left of it, with Buzz looking on.  

The inside of the door looks like this:

That's not quite up to IRM standards, so it needs to be replaced.  Here Fritz is seen later in the day mortising the door by hand.

Norm is working on the line breaker for the 306.  He was able to go to South Elgin and check out the wiring of the breaker on the 304, and we appreciate their cooperation.

I started by putting a coat of red paint on the other side of the 460's vestibule door.  It will probably need another coat, and that will give us a chance to modify the color if we decide it's necessary.  This is what I used on the 319's vestibule, but may not be exact for the 460.  You never know.

Then I went over to Barn 8 to do some more inspection.  I started on the 36, but quickly determined that the feed valve was stuck open.  I took it to the shop -- several of our newer members are now being trained as feed valve experts, among other things, and I'll let them handle it.

So I moved over to the next car, the 309.  The air system here was working up to spec, and I also checked out the interior and electrical systems.  The interior looks just as nice as ever.

On the 460, I had some time to finish the blower compartment door by attaching the latch and the metal plate.

It's nice to know that at least some of the electrical equipment is UL approved.  You don't see this on the older cars!

But wait, there's more...

Gregg has been removing the roof of the 1702:

And John has started assembling the folding doors for the 306:

Finally, let's have a contest, courtesy of Buzz.  What are these things, and what do they come from?

As always, there was a lot more variety around the property than I'm able to present here.  Paul Hough was working on 1808 parts, and Tim was elsewhere; I never did learn what he was up to.  Victor and Bill stopped by from the freight department.  And then there's B&G, the coach department, the model railroad department, and probably several others, all of whom were busy.  I hope that's enough variety for one day.  Just wait till operation starts -- soon!

Sunday Update

Frank writes...

Sunday was yet another cold and rainy day at the museum, but as it turned out, I was able to get a lot done.

The big news, as shown above, is that Greg and I got all of the seats reinstalled in the 460's smoker. We've still got some tools and other stuff in the compartment, and the door to the platform still needs to be installed (more on that later), but the car is quite close to being ready for service. Greg and I also took a look at the roof, where there are a few minor tasks still outstanding. A crimp connector that was needed for one of the rooftop cables was ordered by Joel.

Many thanks to John Naglich Sr. for ordering a couple of test light bulbs that are 25W, 34V. The 450s came from the CA&E with 25W, 30V bulbs, but those have proven impossible to find without placing a custom order for some 10,000, so 25W 34V bulbs will work. They'll last longer, too, although they're slightly dimmer. I tried out one in the third fixture from the left to see how it works; it fits in the fixture just fine and is slightly dimmer, but it shouldn't be noticeable. This also shows the vent cover in the ceiling that my father repainted, and which I reinstalled.

After dinner, we turned over the door to the platform and painted the interior side of it with blue/grey paint. It looks pretty sharp! The other side of this door will need a coat or two of red, and then it will be ready to reinstall.

I also painted the blower compartment door with fresh blue/grey paint. And by the time this was done, I'd also reinstalled the first aid kit box (shown) and the elevated license.

Finally, a big thank you to Tim Fennell of the Coach Department for dropping off some nice hardware for hanging signs on steel cars using magnets. Just a few minutes drilling holes in our nice new display sign for Shaker Heights 18, and voila, we have an easily removable and attractively mounted sign. Thanks, Tim!

Of course, as always, there was a lot of other activity I failed to photograph. Tim was hard at work in the 1808; Gregg was up on the roof of the 1702, removing old tongue-and-groove slats from the roof; and Frank and Tim were in the shop working on assembling rebuilt doors for the Kansas City PCC. Joel, Zach, and Nick spent part of the day leading an "intro to streetcars" class for new volunteers interested in operations, and then later they were working on various things, including installing more vestibule components on the 757. Nathan and Mikey were working on the rebuild of the small forklift and Doodlebug Bob and Mikey were working more on the control system for the Class B.