Very Sharp

Another CTA card from the 1754.  It's really too bad this one is in such bad shape.  And I didn't know Burma Shave made blades, so you learn something new every day.

Inexorable Progress

 It was a beautiful day at the Museum and just right for working on all sorts of things.  We'll start with the roof of the 319.

 

Most of the rope guard on the west end of the car was completed.  I don't have a convenient way to access the left side just now, but the rest has all of its screws installed, and it was caulked.  It will eventually be painted black.

Then I attached the guard at the east end.  Here it is suspended with twine over the trolley wire supports.  Most of this end was completed also before I ran out of the right size screws, but I forgot to take a picture.  

Rope guards are one of those details you probably would never think about until you actually have to maintain one of these cars.  Somewhere I have a picture I took of a car that had evidently been operating for a while without rope guards, and as a result the rope had worn through the canvas so that the ends were not attached to anything.  That's obviously not good!  Some lines, such as the IT, had more elaborate guards that would hold the rope out a few inches from the end, but the CA&E and North Shore had simple metal bars like these.  Because of the way the end of a CA&E car arches up, the guards have a compound curve and would not be easy to reproduce.

I also spent some time wrapping up the roof cables with tape.  The insulation is generally in good condition; what might appear as crumbling insulation is actually chunks of tar from the last roof job.  It took a while to chop most of this tar away, so a layer of rubber tape could be applied.  After a coat of canvas paint, it will look good.

 

While we're up on the platform, here are some pictures of the roof fuse box.  We were contacted by an Italian company that makes arc chutes and similar products for electric railroads.  We have several roof fuse boxes that are badly deteriorated and need replacing.  So I agreed to send them some pictures and dimensions and see what they say.

Luckily we can communicate in English.  Thanks to my vast knowledge of operatic Italian, I am easily able to say things like "I love you" and "Die, traitor!" but those have little use in the business world. 

After I got home I got a message that the wood we ordered for the running boards has arrived in Woodstock, so I will able to pick it up on Tuesday, cut it as needed, and paint it.  Progress!

Speaking of progress, lots of other things were going on at the Museum today, of course.  Here's just a sample.

Max started working on the trolley wires over the leads to Barn 8, which badly needed fixing.  Here he is in the bucket, being helped by Charlie Strong.

By the end of the day track 84 (on the right) was pretty much done; it should be evident how much needs to be done on 82 and 83, but they're making good progress.  We don't need to go through these curves at high speed, of course, but if we can get through the yard without dewiring at every frog and every hanger, it will be a big improvement.  Thanks, guys!

Tim is grinding down some metal parts on a seat frame for the 24.

Eric was working on the Cleveland PCC, as usual.  Here Lorne is installing new sheet metal in the ceiling.

And finally, some more work on the 36.  I cleaned up the car to some extent, and painted the ventilators in the smoker. 

 

Progress on the vestibule is slow, but inexorable.  That's because there's no such word as "exorable" in my dictionary.  How about yours?

Enjoy the Finest!

While looking in the 1754 the other day, Tim showed me a pile of old CRT car cards left there by Ray Neuhaus.  They're mostly in pretty bad shape, but are still interesting, I think.  Tim hopes to get them scanned in and reprinted at some point.  It's been a while since we've had any new car card posts, so here's one from Pigley and Ulcers, another Chicago restaurant chain that's long gone. Mmmm!

Spring Break

This week happens to be Spring Break for me, so this is a report for two days of work.

On Tuesday, it was time to install some more saddles.  Five at the east end of the car were finished before the caulk ran out.

Then I put another coat of canvas paint on the lower roof, south side.  Now that we have nice newly-painted L cars on 82, I don't want to work in the center aisle.  I never liked that rolling platform on the uneven surface anyway.  When the time comes, I will switch the 319 over to 84, where the 309 is, to do the other side.

Tim went into the 1754 to look for parts, so I got a chance to take a couple of pictures of the interior.   Its general condition is much like the 321 -- not good.

And then some more work on the vestibule of the 36, finished with a first coat of blue on the pocket door.


And a nice sunset.

On Wednesday I started by attaching one of the rope guards.  The strings hold it in position while the screws are inserted.

Then all remaining saddles were attached.  The next step will be to attach the running boards, which should arrive next week.

And I installed one of the grab irons.  These are a matter of life and death, so it's important that they be done right.  I stood on it, I hung from it as best I could, and was able to rock the car from side to side a little by yanking on it, all without any perceptible motion.  So that's encouraging.

Then there was more stripping and sanding in the vestibule.  That is annoyingly slow and tiring.  Then I thought of something slightly more fun to do.  While repainting the smoker over the winter, the ventilators had to be closed while the compartment was heated.  But for passenger service we will undoubtedly keep the ventilators open, as we do on the other cars.  So I pried the doors open, sanded the sides of the chutes, and put on white primer.  Next time they'll get a finish coat to match the rest of the ceiling.  This is the only CA&E car with this type of ventilator.

Birth Announcement

 

Off-topic, perhaps, but we have something new on the blog: a new baby!

David and Katy Wilkins are now the proud parents of a baby girl, Alexandria Rose Wilkins, born on Friday in Salt Lake City.  Mother and child are doing well.  The father, however, is acting strangely and needs to be kept under clinical observation.  Dr. Hicks suggests liquid sedation.

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!