Museum Showcase

The Saturday of our Museum Showcase Weekend was a great success.  The weather was perfect, there were lots of visitors and members, and a good time was had by all. 

 Frank, David, and myself were the crew on the three-car wood train.  I had planned on just running two cars, but the boys talked me into it, and on most of our trips all three cars were nearly full, so it was certainly the right thing to do.

 I was too busy to take as many pictures as I'd like, as often happens.  Fortunately, our friend Chuck Amstein was there, and he'll be sending us plenty of better shots of everything.  It's an annual tradition.  The Museum's first car, Indiana RR #65, was operating.  It was temporarily disabled when the shoe became dislodged from the pole, but that was soon fixed by the Car Department's mobile SWAT team.

And the Zephyr was operating in revenue service, after the FRA inspection was completed.  Here it is alongside the 309; the next time we see it, it will be running on the CB&Q mainline to Galesburg!

The 1268, 1797, and 1808 were also operating.  I didn't get a chance to ride the wood L cars, but others did.

 After dark I served as conductor on the 65, until going dead.  Dan Fenlaciki was the motorman.  Night time operations are always an enjoyable experience, especially when I don't have to do all the work of putting everything away afterwards!

And we got to talk to lots of people, including a few old-time members we don't see very often.

Watch for more posts about this subject!


Frank adds...
 
As is often the case with Members Day, there were a lot of unusual things happening.   At left, some of the museum's oldest interurban equipment meets some of its newest at 50th Avenue.  It's always neat to operate into the 'L' station just for a change of pace!









Unfortunately this was the best photo I was able to get of CRT 1797's passenger service debut, though I'm certain others got better shots.  It operated along with trailer 1268 for a couple of trips in the late afternoon and another nighttime trip.  What a beauty!





Indiana Railroad 65 lost a trolley shoe out on the railroad so some Car Department workers had to go out with tools to rescue it; fortunately, like many traditional Midwestern interurbans, the car carries spare poles on its roof so they just needed to swap out the pole!  After it returned, volunteers rolled a baggage cart up to the car's baggage door to unload the tools and parts.  Here (L-R) Greg Kepka, Joe Stupar, Gwyn Stupar and Charlie Strong roll the cart up while Dan Fenlaciki in the car gets ready to hand out the tools.  Just like the good old days!




Late in the afternoon the wood cars got shunted into Station Track 2, which is rare mileage for these cars.  David is seen ready to board just before the cars headed west back out of Station Track 2 to return to the barn via Station Track 1.




Just before dinner the museum's oldest trolley bus - actually the oldest operating trolley bus in the country - made a couple of trips.  Chicago Surface Lines 84 is seen here spotted at Central & Depot alongside the UP turbine.




  
I wasn't able to ride the 1797 during the day but David and I were both among a gaggle of Car Department volunteers who managed to clamor aboard for a nighttime trip.  It's hard to believe the transformation this car has gone through in only two short years, courtesy of Tim Peters and Frank Kehoe.  It was a fun end to a fun day!

Four of a Kind

On Sunday, while my back was turned, the crew did a massive rearrangement of Barn 8, completely switching out tracks 82, 83, and 84.  As a result, for the first time in 50 years we now have four wood CA&E cars lined up like this.  It's not the greatest picture, of course, due to the limitations in the barn, but next year for the trolley pageant, if it's humanly possible these four cars will be running as a train.

After this huge switch move, I started by doing some rearranging and cleaning.  I looked inside the 36, and nothing had changed.  Our guys certainly know how to move things gently!  But as long as we're here, I might as well take you on a tour. Watch your step.

 These early cars have the smallest possible vestibule.  I hope you're not claustrophobic.  I forgot to bring my claustrophobia pills.

 This is the smoking compartment.  The light bulb under the number 36 is a later modification; it switches on when you turn off the light in the vestibule.  On the right side is the back of the electrical cabinet.

 All of the wreck tools are missing.  But I hear the FBI is hot on their trail, so your best bet, miscreants, is to cooperate now!

There's a little door which opens so you can oil the wheels on the pocket doors. These old cars have lots of nooks and crannies.

Then you need to be able to open the windows over the pocket doors to clean the glass.  

Unlike the Niles cars, there's no electrical cabinet at the #2 end, but windows on both sides.  Frank and I jokingly refer to this as the "solarium" end.  More hinged windows and hinged panel for oiling up the door rollers.

You will observe that the baggage rack is missing at this point.  At sometime in the 20's, I think, this car had a toilet compartment installed at this location.  It was removed again in the 1946 rebuilding.

 And here is the main compartment in all the glory of its Bijou lighting.  If this doesn't say "1902", what does?

 Here's a detail shot of the baggage racks.  These are actually somewhat better than the ones in the later cars, which are good only for hats and small packages.

And here's a detail of the ventilators.  This is the only preserved car that doesn't have the "Utility" brand ventilators.  This is a pretty crude design, and I haven't been able to get all the little doors open yet.

After moving the various scaffolds and steps around, since everything had been rearranged during the big switch move, I moved the 319 a few feet to provide air for testing the 36's brake system for the first time since it arrived.

The compressor has a shorted armature, but I have selected a replacement which we should be able to overhaul and install sometime in the next few months.  I had to find another control pipe hose for the 36, and after installing it, I could pump up the car for the first time with air from the 319.  I had to tighten up a few pipe joints, and the motorman's valves need to be overhauled, but everything else seems to be working OK.  The brake cylinder, the triple valve, the conductor's valve, and the whistle valves all function as intended.  So I blew the whistle a few times!

 And I did some more paint stripping, now on the #2 end.  Once the Museum is closed, I can start stripping paint from the north side of the car.  But that's enough about me....

Tim Peters has made tremendous progress on the 1797, helped by Frank Kehoe, so they'll be ready to run a two-car wood L train for Members' Day!  The Zephyr was moved outside so the barn could be locked, and Tim can run his cars up and down the length of track 41.

So this Saturday, for Museum Showcase Weekend, we'll have two trains of wooden electric cars running.  Plus lots of other stuff.  And the weather is supposed to be "glorious."  You won't want to miss it!

Salt of the Earth

Chuck Amstein also visited a salt mine museum in Hutchinson, Kansas, and sent us these pictures.  The most on-topic item is this unusual electric locomotive from the Hutchinson & Northern, on display outside.

It was built by GE in 1919 as a demonstrator for their inside-bearing truck design.  I'm not sure exactly what the advantages of this design were supposed to be, but it didn't catch on.  The demonstrator, however, was sold to the H&N, and used until 1963.

 It appears to be in excellent cosmetic condition, although it's missing its poles.

 The rest of the mine looks pretty interesting, too, if you like this sort of thing.


 Sort of like the coal mine at MSI.

Abilene and Smoky Valley

Our friend Chuck Amstein took a vacation to the middle of Kansas and sent us some great photos from the trip, as usual.  His main destination was the Abilene and Smokey Valley Railroad, which operates on an old Rock Island branch between Abilene and Enterprise.

 They have restored this beautiful Santa Fe Pacific, and Chuck got a cab ride.

 It's a 1913 Baldwin, modernized in 1940 - converted to oil, new cab, LFM disc drivers, etc.


















Here they are running around the train at Enterprise, the end of the run.

  You can see the old Rock Island signals, no longer used.

 

This (L) looks even flatter than McHenry County.  I guess we're back in Kansas, Toto.

There will be other pictures from the heart of Kansas to post soon.

 

 
 And I will probably regret this, but....
 

Chuck also took pictures of this Hudson on display in Topeka.  It's part of a project to create a high-speed bio-fueled locomotive.  You can look up the threads discussing this project on RyPN and elsewhere; let's leave it at that.  

Beware Being Caught!

Another 1909 Chicago Railways safety announcement courtesy of John Smatlak.

To the Moon!

David Writes....

Saturday was a fairly busy day for us on the CTA 3142. I was operating and Al was doing some more line training. Throughout the day, we had very good passenger loadings, operating the car fully loaded at times. The weather was very nice, a bit chilly at times, but sunny and bright.  Art Schwartz from the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum rode with us several times throughout the day.  The day also provided a good chance to try out my new CSL/CTA streetcar uniform.  Frank pointed out that with the 8-point hat and Ike jacket, I look like Ralph Kramden.  One of these days Frank, Pow! Right in the Kisser!

In addition to our normal trips, we ran a "Charter" trip for a birthday party that was being held at the museum. The group had their cookout and gift opening ceremony under the Central Avenue/McCormick Place pavilion, and then rode a special trip around the streetcar loop to Depot Street, where they boarded the mainline train. Nick did an excellent job of coordinating the events for the day.

At the end of the day, I took Al shopping at the East Union outlet of Henry's Fine Clothes for Men.  As you recall, Henry's is a specialized haberdashery for IRM members, providing the finest in gently used transit clothing. Al was able to find a conductor's jacket that fit him well. Another satisfied customer!

Finally, this old framed poster from the Chicago Surface Lines hangs in the office at IRM near the sign-in book. A good reminder that when you interact with the public at IRM, you are a representative of the museum.