Back at it

Frank writes...

Sunday was my first day back at the museum since October, what with my busy wintertime work schedule, and I picked a good day to go out: highs were in the 60s and it was partly sunny so it was a great day to be outdoors.  I didn't get a whole lot done but I did help out with a few switch moves.  These revolved around the CTA 2000s, which were just repainted (see below) and look better than new.  They're also our new neighbors in Barn 8, parked right next to the 319, so we'd better be careful with that black roof paint!

I spent some time wandering around and acquainting myself with some of the progress since I was last out.  Richard, Greg and another volunteer whose name I'm afraid I managed to forget were putting poles and roof cables back on the 2000s while Norm and Jeff were back in the barn working on the Michigan interurban car.  With roof work on the latter essentially done they are now tackling the badly deteriorated floor at the front of the car (the rear platform floor was rebuilt in the early 2000s).

I also went over to Barn 7 and spent a bit of time looking over the CSL "green cars," the 2843 (shown above in service) and 2846, because I'm working on historical articles about these cars which should appear at some point on this very blog.  And you can help!  I'm looking for photos of these cars (in-service photos or pictures prior to their stint in Barn 7) or any original CSL documents pertaining to them.  Any assistance will be very helpful in fleshing out the history of these "hidden in plain sight" gems.

Operating Schedule for 2015

The operating schedule for the CA&E wood cars for 2015 has been finalized.  As usual, the consist will typically consist of two cars.  While we will most likely start the season with the 308 and 309, we are hoping that the 319 will be back in the regular operating fleet early this summer and it will likely be swapped in for one of the other two cars.  The 36 will remain a "special event" car for the time being, particularly as it is still seeing interior repainting work.  And, of course, operations are always subject to weather and mechanical considerations.  But here's the plan.

May 25th (Memorial Day)
June 6th
June 7th
June 20th (Chicago Day)
June 21st (Fathers Day)
July 3rd
July 4th (Trolley Pageant only)
August 2nd (Vintage Transport Extravaganza)
September 5th
September 6th
September 7th
September 17th-20th (ATRRM Convention)

We should have three or, hopefully, all four cars running for the July 4th pageant.  Then on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, September 6th, the wood cars will be taking the 3pm-9pm shift for IRM's inaugural "twilight ride" event.  It will be the first time for these cars carrying revenue passengers at night at IRM, I suppose, and it should be fun.  And then later in September the cars will be operated as needed during the four days of the ATRRM Convention.

So mark those calendars now, and don't forget to sign up to be a motorman or conductor.  Help in crewing the cars is always appreciated!

CTC Panel from Rondout

Bob Olson of the Signal Department reports:

IRM received the generous donation of the CTC panel from the METRA tower at Rondout, IL on Monday, March 9, 2015. The panel, which was installed in 1963, controlled the crossing of the EJ&E and the junction to the line to Fox Lake and Madison.  One of the last manned towers in the Chicago area, the tower was cut over to remote control by the CP dispatcher in Minneapolis last Friday night.

 

This picture shows the panel loaded on the IRM pickup truck. Pictured left to right are the  district signal tech, the local signal maintainer, and Metra Trainmaster Robert Conway.

319 Roof Report

Another nice spring day meant more progress on the roof.  I drove into Woodstock looking for the lumber we'll need for the running boards, but it wasn't in stock.  It should arrive next week.

Meanwhile, I started installing the saddles.  You know, it's nice to get (nearly) instant gratification.  On Saturday I left a note for Rod ordering screws for this project, since slotted wood screws are lamentably hard to find.  They arrived today and went right to work.

In order for the saddles to line up with the carlines, the position of each carline can be marked with chalk on the edge of the upper roof, based on the clerestory moldings.

Then the jig is used to make a straight line across the roof, and the center is marked, followed by the outline of the saddle for applying caulk.  Some of them had to be repositioned slightly to avoid drilling into the steel carline stiffeners.  That doesn't seem to work very well.

 And seven saddles were installed today; my back started to complain.  There are 16 altogether, so if my calculations are correct, we're almost halfway done. 

In other news, the ATRRM magazine has now been put online at this link, and is essentially a blog.  It looks nice and as material is added, it should be an important resource for learning what else is going on at other museums around the country.

In the Spring

Well, that was quick!  Winter suddenly turned into spring, as often happens around here.  The sun was shining, the snow started to melt, and so:

In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of....

Actually, I don't quite remember.  You'd have to ask Mr. Tennyson.  My thoughts, on the other hand, quickly turned to finishing the roof of the 319.  I want it to be one of the primary service cars this year, again. 

The first step is to put on a final coat of black canvas paint.  With the sun out, it was nice and warm up on the roof.  I threw off my sweater and worked in a short-sleeved shirt.  This canvas will be as water-tight as anything can be.  I didn't get to the sides or ends, but those can be done later.  The main thing is to finish the center, so the saddles and running boards can be installed, starting next time.

After that was done, I made myself a guide for marking the location of the saddles, since there's no guarantee that the seam in the canvas is centered.  The saddles need to be centered over the carlines, and that's not easy to do.

Let's see what's happening with the 24.  Tim was repairing many of the seat frames, filling the gaps with epoxy.

Two of the fancy new marker lights have been temporarily installed on the end of the car, and are quite impressive.  Several things need to be done for the final installation.

But while we're here, we have an interesting view of the motorman's cab.  This is the smaller of the two cabs.  

And as usual, lots of other things were going on that I didn't have time to record.

Blocked By Ice

I didn't go out to the Museum today due to the bad driving weather: snow, sleet, freezing rain, etc.  The TV news was full of tales of woe, including stalled CTA trains, obviously due to sleet on the third rail.  The reporters, though, weren't quite sure what the problem was, and claimed that the "tracks were blocked by ice."  Hey, we've got the solution right here...

Material Donations

IRM has just received a sizeable collection of railroad artifacts from an anonymous donor.  Some of the items can be used immediately, others will be valuable spare parts, some can eventually be put on display, but it's all of value and greatly appreciated.  Here are just a couple of things that were held out before putting the rest into storage, since they're from the CA&E.

 A first aid box in excellent condition, with all contents in place.  I'm afraid the modern first aid kits we use on the revenue cars don't include "dental poultice", whatever that is.

And another nice, soothing scenery picture that would be mounted on the bulkhead of a car.

And then there was also a huge collection of books.  We can't thank this person enough!  Now if you have a collection, large or small, of railroad-related items and are wondering what to do with them, wonder no longer.   IRM will be glad to give them a good home.  Say, did I mention that any donation is tax-deductible?  You can call the office during business hours, and they'll take it from there.  Thanks!

Give Me a Buzz

Although spring has not yet sprung, we have only so many days during the winter to do restoration work before inspection season starts, and visitors start wandering through the barns, and one's controller hand starts itching, and so on.  So we need to just keep on stripping and painting.

I'm making slow but steady progress in the #1 vestibule of the 36.  This part of the front wall was sanded down and painted with primer.  The brake handle will have to be removed for stripping, but so far the set screw has resisted all attempts to loosen it.   Resistance, however, is futile. 

And the vestibule door was stripped, sanded down, and painted with first primer.  There's just no way to get far enough away from the door to take a good picture of it. 

 

On my one visit to the car shop, it was apparent that work continues as usual on the 24.  Tim has finished several of the seat backs and cushions for the Bowling Alley, and here they have been covered with paper for protection, and are stored on this rack.

The next one is in below-average condition, so it will need more structural repairs than the others.  

It looks like Keith is proud of the work he has been doing on the chandeliers.   There are three of them in the car: two have three bulbs, and one has four.  That adds up to ten, which is a multiple of five.   So the math works out.  The two clear bulbs are the type to be used; these are special bulbs with carbon filaments and high vacuum, so they're approved for railway car use.

 

And on the subject of equipment, here's the buzzer interrupter box on the 36.   The bare spots on the ceiling above it shown by the yellow arrows are the unmistakeable (to me) footprint of the earlier type of interrupter, as used on the 308 and 309 (below).  It's not clear whether the interrupter was replaced at Wheaton or at Cleveland, but it was obviously after the car was painted red, so it would be nice to go back to the earlier style. 

The long cylinder houses a basically inaccessible 5K resistor needed to drop the voltage to the buzzers.  I'm not aware that we have any of these in storage at IRM, so I'd like to find one that could be made operational if there are any in private collections.  Therefore, if you happen to know of one that we could acquire by donation, purchase, and/or trade, please give me a buzz.   Thanks!

36 Report

 The last two third rail beams for the 36 are nearly complete.  Today the fuses were installed, as seen here.   Unfortunately the fuses may lead to an electrical dead end for the foreseeable future, but we can always pretend they're connected in back somehow, right?

 Tim helped me get them off the bench, since that's valuable real estate, and they're now sitting on the floor near Bill's workspace for CRT third rail beams.  Once the weather warms up, which may happen some time later this calendar year if we're lucky, they can be mounted on the car.

After that, it was time for more work on the vestibule.   The flag box was put back in place and painted blue.  Then the rest of this side of the vestibule, down to the floor.

 And more primer on parts of the front window frame, etc.  There is no real way to speed up this process very much.

Meanwhile Tim continues to work on the bowling alley seats.  Here he has rigged up a system of clamps to compress the springs on this 15' long seat frame so the new rattan can be attached under tension.

How They Did It In Boston

 

Bill loaned me an old book about Boston Rapid Transit with this interesting picture of third rail shoes on a steeplecab.  The picture on the left zooms in on the truck.

There are two wire brushes that can be pushed down by springs, but the springs don't look very strong.  I fail to see how this could be very effective.  In the picture, the brushes are both held off the rail by the wooden handles above them, which are in the vertical position.  And the shoe itself is just a flat bar bent into a U shape.  It can't be very heavy, but there's also a spring above it.  I guess it must have worked.   It appears to me that most rapid transit cars had the same type of third rail pickup, but without the wire brushes.

Let's Russell Up Some Snow

Today the guys put our CGW Russell plow into use for the first time at IRM, so let's see some videos.  Maybe it's not quite like the Sierras, but we needed to clear some road crossings between the main and the south yards for switching.  Thanks to Joel, Rich, Greg, and others for making this possible!

What your humble correspondent was doing is no doubt an anticlimax, but every man has to do what he can.

The third rail beams for the 36 got a first coat of gloss black.  Because they can be balanced on the parts that aren't being painted, there's paint on all four sides of the beams.  Aren't they pretty?

(OK, maybe your aesthetic sense is more nuanced than mine.  Please don't rub it in.)

 

In the afternoon I worked on the vestibule.  Most of the paint on the pocket door was in bad shape, so I decided to strip it all down.  It's an open question whether it's better in these cases to remove the red paint or just sand it down and put primer over it.  Either way, it takes a long time.

This narrow vestibule is not hard to warm up, so later I started painting the ceiling and other parts with a first coat of blue.  Once the flag box is put back in place, it will be nearly impossible to paint the parts above and behind it.  Since this is a flash picture, you will have to take my word for it that the paint is actually much darker than this.  As usual, it looks better in person.

On the subject of our Russell plow, Victor has been doing a lot of work.  Here is the rebuilt headlight, which will replace the sealed-beam headlight with which it came to us, sitting on top of the stove that he has restored.

And here Tim is conducting a seminar on how to install new rattan on bowling alley seats.  IRM is an educational institution, and the learning just never stops.

CRT Markers

Since someone asked about what replaced the elegant rotating brass marker castings on CRT cars, Bill Wulfert dug up an ancient photo of a wood L car with the daytime marker paddles.  I believe these particular ones were gloss white, and of course there were other colors in use.  This picture was taken during the period when wood cars were often mixed with 4000's, something that was no longer done when the 1797 became operational.  Thanks, Bill!