110 in the Shade

"110 in the Shade" is a slight exaggeration, but the weather today certainly made me think of an old musical we did in high school. The 308 and 319 were running in service, and everything seemed to be going well. Dan Buck, Chris Buck, and Henry Vincent were the crew, and they passed on the opportunity for a picture. I went for a ride, along with my old friends Bob Olsen and John Naglich, who were likewise trying to escape the oppressive heat. So that was fun.

We now have nice new 48-star flags for the cars, too. Don't miss the Trolley Pageant this Saturday!

Ray Pieschuk made a sign for the LSE 150, and the only real thing I accomplished today was to make the wood frame to mount the sign on the car. It looks good -- thanks, Ray! I also spent some time sorting parts and cleaning up the car, since I have a fan, but that didn't last long.

Speaking of the pageant, we will have two more cars running for the first time under their own power! Cars 2153 and 2154 were running around the loop for testing and training, using their newly-installed trolley pole.

It sure is hot out here. Let's step into the Art Train display car, where it's nice and cool, and see what they have on display.

On the left, we see a section on RPO's and mail clerks, including a streaming video in the upper left. Have a seat and watch it for a while.

On the other wall, there's a large collection of builder's plates, from many different locomotive manufacturers.




Under development is a section about Chicago railroad stations. Here's a lighted departure board from Union Stattion, showing trains such as the Broadway Limited.

And there's more information about the many stations in the city.

Work on other projects continues, mostly in the air-conditioned shop. Here we have a quilting party: it looks like the guys are making sweaters to keep everybody warm. Actually, they're making up waste bundles for the axle caps and armature bearings on the 1797. You might have thought that the lubrication was provided by just stuffing random handfuls of waste into the available space, but not so! It works much better if the yarn is carefully stretched, cut to length, and tied up into nice neat bundles. Then you don't get waste grabs, and the bearing surfaces are lubricated evenly and reliably. Come on out and join the party!

South Shore Ideal Section Catenary (updated)

The South Shore is in the process of completely replacing its catenary, and this includes the famous "Ideal Section" near Miller. The bridges will be scrapped in about a week unless we can come up with the money to save them. Here's a link to a good picture of what they look like.

So our friend Andy Sunderland writes:

To anyone who is interested: Bob Harris is scrapping South Shore catenary bridges from the ideal section near Miller IN. IRM has no money to buy them. Bob will sell them for an estimated scrap value of $500 each. Now is your chance to help IRM to preserve a portion of history. Contact me so I can tell Bob to save them. We need to know in about one week. Andrew Sunderland

You can email Andy directly; his email address is trolleyman1100 at yahoo dot com. Thanks!

The Carousel House

Here are Chuck Amstein's pictures from the Carousel House at the Sanfilippo Estate. This is only a sample, by the way. And the moral of this story is that if you haven't been there before, you should make plans to attend the Benefit next year. The Calendine brothers are already scheming how to make this event even bigger and better!

As before, all these photos are copyright by Chuck Amstein and may not be reproduced....

The carousel moves, and people got to ride it, but videotaping is not allowed. So you have to use your imagination.

Chuck Amstein himself.

This little 2-6-0 (R) was built in 1888 by Grant as a narrow-gauge engine. It passed through several hands and was standard-gauged at some point. It belonged at one time to the Hicks Locomotive and Car Works in Chicago Heights!

And there's a nicely-restored wooden caboose.

Finally, here's one Chuck didn't take. Kids of all ages like to ride the big carousel!

(Photo by Margaret Miller)

IRM Steam Department Benefit

We attended the Steam Dept. Benefit concert yesterday at the Sanfilippo Estate, and it was a tremendous success. More than 250 people attended, and a large sum was raised for the Steam Dept. The concert by Dave Calendine was fantastic, and everybody enjoyed themselves greatly.

As a Hicks Car Works exclusive, we have lots of great pictures taken by our friend Chuck Amstein. As usual, these photos are copyrighted and may not be reproduced, etc. This is only about half of what Chuck sent me, I'll be posting another section from the Carousel house when I get time.

And the most exclusive part is that Chuck got a guided tour of the pipe chambers for the huge theater organ, which I think is fascinating.

Five manuals, pedal, and innumerable pistons, presets, bells, and whistles.

8' trumpets over the balcony.

32' open diapasons in the hall.


And now, we have a guided tour of the pipe chambers!

The regulators.

Gee, our church organ doesn't have a bass drum, although it does have a Zymbelstern.








Dave Calendine is our tour guide.

Mechanism for raising the console.

The console is in the raised position.

Dave Calendine after the concert (picture taking wasn't allowed during the concert.)

And now back to the public areas in the hall. Lots of stationary steam engines and mechanical musical devices of all sorts.



































Just wait, there will be more!