CSL Fare Registers

Here's an interesting email we received from a reader, Phil O'Keefe.  I can't answer his questions, but I'm sure some of our knowledgeable audience can help!  He writes:

Hello Randall:

I really enjoy your blog.

I am a big CSL fan.  I have been for over 40 years.  I know quite a bit about the streetcars and routes.  One thing I have been wondering about for quite a while now is… What kind of fare registers did the CSL Blue Goose PCC cars have?  I have looked at this vintage photo of a car in original 2-man configuration and I see nothing except what appears to be a farebox:

Now the thing is, the Peter Witt cars and Pullman pre-PCC car each had a square International fare register mounted above the conductor’s station:

  

Then, the postwar PCC cars have the round International fare registers which were probably salvaged from older red streetcars that were scrapped just before and after WW2. (I believe that International Register Company phased out the round fare registers around WW1 after the square registers were introduced.)

If you don’t know the answer to my question, then I would appreciate it if you could ask around IRM.  I’m sure someone there would know the answer.  BTW, it would make a cool blog article to discuss CSL/CTA fare registers.  I think the CSL primarily used International registers, but I suspect there were some older cars that had Sterling (or Sterling Meeker) registers.  I found a Sterling years ago with a CSL-looking number painted on the face, but no CSL logo.  The face needed restoration, so I added the logo just for fun:

Oh, I’d like to mention that when I lived in the Chicago-area, I was an active member at the Fox River Line.  I worked as a motorman and conductor for many years and ended up as Assistant Trainmaster.  I also worked on car maintenance/repairs/restoration.   One of my biggest projects was getting NSL 715 repaired, repainted, and back in service again after we purchased it from TWERHS at East Troy.  It was a real mess when we got it.

Here’s a photo of Stan Bristol (conductor) and myself (motorman) with George Krambles and his entourage at the museum in the late ‘80s.  

I was motoring CTA 4451 on an inspection trip for Krambles.  I let him motor the car back to the depot from the end of the line.

I would really love to operate the CSL streetcars at IRM, but I now live in Minnesota about 4 hours away from Union.  I would only be able to come out maybe a couple of days a year to operate if I may.   

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Phil O’Keefe

Traction Weekend, Day Two

This was really a bad day.  The company I worked for went out of business, I lost my job, there aren't many openings for people with my particular skills, my former customers are all mad at me....  it's a good thing Prohibition is over.  But better yet, the bad parts are all make believe.

What isn't make believe is that we had a four car train of wood CA&E cars operating again.  There were no problems, apart from a few dewirements.  

And we had a good crowd of visitors.  Most of the time, we had three cars open, and for the final trip, all four cars were in use.

We were busy enough that I didn't get the obligatory picture of the crew.  Jim West was the motorman, Larry Stone the conductor, and Frank and I were trainmen.  By now you should know what we all look like.

And perhaps for the first time in 59 years, we had passengers playing cards on a CA&E train, using the table I made recently to fit the brackets in the 36.  A good time was had by all, indeed!

This looks just like Wheaton to me.  All that's missing is the "Fountain Lunch" sign.  The 409, 431, and 460 were also operating today, displaying a complete history of CA&E car design.  Seven cars from seven different builders.

But the day of reckoning, July 3rd, 1957, comes at last.  Our cold-hearted management decides to stop service without warning, and large numbers of irate passengers are forced off the train.  At least the weather was nice.

After a while, though, the steam train comes to our rescue, and cheers erupt from the crowd.

CRI&P???  Maybe we got on the wrong train, but at least we're moving again.

Anyway, the abandonment is always fun to re-enact, and there were many other trains operating.  We'll have pictures of this later.

CA&E 460 was switched into Barn 8, replacing the 101, and here's a view of coming attractions.  One of the reasons this car hasn't operated often is that it has a hole in the roof. 

 This happened while the car was in Cleveland: they ran it into a streetcar, and the pole punched a nice neat hole in the roof of the higher interurban car.  This was generally not an issue on lines with with one type of car, either interurban or city, but at a trolley museum it can sometimes be a problem.  Unfortunately the drip guard over the train door also got wrecked in the process.  

I plan to start fixing this in the next week or so.  I moved my platform over for easy access to the roof of the 460, and the hole will be patched up.  This should not take very long, barring unforeseen events.

Help!!!

For tomorrow, July 4th, neither Frank nor I will be out at IRM.  We would really appreciate photos and descriptions of what goes on for the exciting conclusion of our Independence Day weekend!

Traction Weekend, Day One

Our Traction Weekend celebration started off in fine style, with great weather, a good crowd, and lots of interesting activity to see and photograph.  Our staff photographer, Chuck Amstein, is on vacation, so I had to spend much of the day taking pictures.  But I'm willing to make this sacrifice for the sake of all you out there in internet land.  

Today featured several practical jokes, so to speak.  First, we have two IT passenger cars, coach 518 and business car 234, being pulled by a TM locomotive.  Not much has changed in the IT cars since I stopped working on them about five years ago.

Then, out by the station, dumbfounded visitors look on as the 1630 is coupled onto the Train of the Goddesses.  But no bolts fall from the empyrean; the gods must be asleep.

Be that as it may, the steam-powered Zephyr works well, running several trips, and everybody has a good time.  Lots of people want to get pictures of these unusual consists.

For the conductor, Jim West, it's apparently business as usual.

And then we have the Com Ed locomotive, built for hauling coal cars to a power plant, pulling the caboose train.  The caboose train, of course, is always popular.

Besides all the operating equipment, work continues in the shops.  Another fourth of the Electroliner has been moved elsewhere, and the 972 is now stored just beyond the inspection pit.   That's a good sign of things to come.

The Freight Car guys continue to work on the B&O wagon-top boxcar.  

The new Seattle trolleybus was running in service.

On the streetcar line, the Matchbox was in service today.

Followed by the Green Hornet.

Back in Barn 4, Tim has been putting final paint on the distinctive roof-mounted hardware...

and varnishing the newly-repainted sides.  This car will be absolutely stunning.

The Milwaukee Road dynamometer was on its way to permanent storage inside.

I believe this is the tender for the Burlington 4-6-0 #637.  It obviously needs work, but that will happen as time and money become available.  

Over in the Electroliner, Ed Oslowski goes to great lengths to sand down the heater covers.  Inch by inch, step by step, they're doing what needs to be done to finish this Herculean project.

Eric Lorenz is installing light fixtures in the Cleveland PCC.

And the Vera Cruz open car was pulled out later in the afternoon for service.  It's always a big hit.

While all this was going on, I spent some time checking oil in the compressors and main journals for the CA&E cars, arranging flags, cleaning, and so on.  And then working on various parts, and planning for reinstalling air tanks on the 36.  I also saw several old friends who aren't always around: Lynne Fleming from McKinney Avenue in Dallas, Randy Anderson, and Steve Iversen.

Tomorrow will be completely different.  We're all set for the CA&E re-enactment, and many other trains will be operating, so you won't want to miss it.  (Maybe I should promise that the CA&E cars will be pulled by the Joy locomotive, but no.....)   If you can't be there in person, be sure to tune in to this same station!

Sister LSE car

Our friend Laddie Vitek has sent us some photos taken recently at the Mad River & NKP  Railroad Museum in Bellevue, Ohio. All photos below are copyright Laddie Vitek - do not copy without permission.

These show a car that is normally off-limits to the public: Lake Shore Electric 46, a wooden freight motor built in 1906 by Niles as interurban coach 152. As built this car was identical to our own LSE 150 but in 1929 the railway rebuilt it as a freight motor.

Although it's a body, overall the car is not in terrible condition. The body seems quite straight and sturdy. Some restoration work was done on the car a number of years back but the car looks pretty much the same as it was when I saw it some 15 years ago.

Inside the car both its later freight motor number and earlier passenger car number can still be seen!

The car's interior is largely original and apparently it has even retained its original coal stove.

"Electric Railway Freight" lettering still visible on the outside. As can be seen, when the car was converted to freight service it acquired steel sheathing over virtually the entire exterior of the car. This is often a recipe for serious deterioration in the long term but car 46 seems to have fared pretty well.

Car 46 is one of no fewer than five LSE cars from the 140/150 series to survive including 141 (freight motor 42), 149, 150, 151, and 152 (freight motor 46). As built all were nearly identical but two ended up being rebuilt for freight service and a third, car 149, was lengthened by the railroad. Besides car 46 and our own 150 the other three are all at the Northern Ohio Railway Museum.