Weekday Report

On Wednesday, among other things, I dropped off the items recently donated and shown in a previous post.

During the most recent operation of the 319, we noticed that a metal strip on the floor had come loose and was sticking up, like a miniature "snakehead" from the early days of railroading.  This wouldn't kill anybody, but people with open-toed shoes might get hurt.  Anyway, I fixed it.  And we'll have to keep an eye on it.

And on Thursday morning, the machinist finished reboring the final motor bearing for the 309.  I finally thought of taking a brief picture of the machine in operation.

All this work was done by Gabriel's Machine Shop in Oswego, not too far from where I live.  Gabriel is a good guy to work with, and an interesting person.  He's from Argentina, and an inventor.  He markets a machine he designed for making food packets for things like soy sauce.  I personally have no use for soy sauce, but more to the point, he also does a lot of work on engines for race cars and antique automobiles.  They're certainly interesting to look at.  And much more complex than the motor bearings we needed to have machined.

Back at the Museum, John and Gerry were working on parts for the 306, but I was busy putting the bearing into the oven and didn't get a picture of them at work.  Gerry was painting these parts, among other things.

Out in the barn, two guys I hadn't met before were working on installing windows in the 109. Their names are Ralph Durham and Ray Amash.  This car is really going to be a great addition to the collection when it's finished.

I put the newly-machined bearing into the big oven in order to break the epoxy holding the two halves together.  After a few hours it was up to 500F but still didn't come apart.  So I have left it in the oven and will try again when I get a chance.

The Very Early Days at Trolleyville

The Very Early Days at Trolleyville

All photos from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

Many thanks to Art Peterson, who has sent us a trove of terrific color images depicting the very earliest days of Trolleyville. (Almost all of the below photos predate the ones in our Early Days of Trolleyville post, also courtesy of Art, from 2016.) Enjoy!

It's February 1955 and Columbia Park is in its infancy. The quartet of ex-Fox River Electric lightweights have been on the property less than a year, and they comprise the entire electric collection. It looks like the building at the front of the trailer park is under construction. Car 302 would end up getting scrapped in the 1980s; the car in the background is unidentified. JWV photo.

Later that year, on August 6, 1955, the same scene looks quite different. The parking lot is now paved and car 306 is on display at the end of track, lettered Columbia Park & Southwestern - "The Mobile Home Route." The sign on the end reads "Trailer Mart, Inc. and Columbia Park Welcomes [sic] the Kroger Co." The destination sign reads Columbia Park Limited. Note that there is no trolley wire up yet. HMS photo.

Fast-forward seven years to August 18, 1962, and Columbia Park is now a real trolley museum, complete with 600V overhead. Here we see the two ex-Shaker Heights center-door cars that had arrived the previous year, 18 nearest the camera and 1225 behind it, with 303 (restored to Fox River Electric livery) in the distance. This is the same location as the earlier photos, just looking northwest instead of northeast.

The size of Gerald Brookins' trolley museum increased substantially in the early 1960s. Between 1961 and 1964 he acquired the two Shaker center-door cars, two Veracruz open cars, one car each from Cincinnati and Toledo, and of course an octet of CA&E cars. Here, we see half the CA&E fleet on a siding off the NYC main: 451 followed by 36, 319, and another curve-sider, likely 453 or 458.

Fox River/Shaker Heights car 303 is out on the Columbia Park line in August 1963 in this JWV photo. This is near the east end of the line: the building visible behind the van is the same building at the front of the trailer park shown in the first couple of photos above. Note the double overhead - I'm not sure what the story is with that.

We're back up front on October 12, 1963, with a view of recently painted CA&E 319. For many years, several of the CA&E cars at Trolleyville wore "loose" interpretations of past CA&E paint schemes. At far right is car 36, which briefly wore this olive green paint before acquiring the "Christmas color" dark green and red livery it wore until IRM repainted it in the 2010s.

On the same day, CA&E 460 is spotted outside the new carbarn. Gerald Brookins planned for the future and built a sturdy barn for his collection at a time when many museums were hard-pressed simply to build track. Around this time IRM was planning to evacuate its rented space at the Chicago Hardware Foundry - buildings would have seemed to be in the distant future for our organization.

Here we are inside the Brookins barn on August 22, 1964, in a Tom Desnoyers photo. Car 303 was beautifully preserved in end-of-service condition up until a "restoration" of questionable veracity was done around the early 1990s. At far left the 302 is peeking into the frame, then 453 (with "Sold to Museum - CP&SW Ry" chalked on the end window); behind the 303 is the 451, then the 306 and the 319 at the door; on the right track the 18 is closest to the camera followed by the 1225 and 304.

Here's a September 1964 JWV view of CA&E 36 in its fanciful CP&SW paint scheme at the end of track at the front of the trailer park.

Here's another JWV shot taken on the same day.

It's October 3, 1964, and car 319 is out on the "railroad" in this William C. Janssen photo.

As far as I can tell, as varied as have been the liveries worn by CA&E cars in preservation (and some have been pretty odd), only two cars were ever painted in color schemes that didn't even mildly resemble an authentic CA&E livery. One was the 318, painted orange by Westport; the other was 451, shown here on May 30, 1965, which Brookins painted in Cleveland & Southwestern colors.

It's August 28, 1965, and car 409 is spotted in the usual location at the end of track. Like 36 and 319, this car wore a variation of an actual CA&E livery, in this case a loose interpretation of the 1930s coffee-with-cream color scheme. Unlike the two wood cars, though, it was lettered for the CA&E, albeit with "Mobile Home Route" stickers next to the doors complete with a Conestoga wagon image.

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Donations

We have just received a generous donation from an anonymous donor of several electric railway artifacts as seen here.

First, there's an interior window from one of CA&E Niles cars like the 308.  Then a gong which is labeled C&WT in chalk.  A CA&E whistle, a roll sign mechanism, and two roll signs in good condition, one from West Towns and one, I think, from Gary Rys.  And then some paper items I haven't gone through yet.  I'll be dropping all of this off at the Museum tomorrow.  I probably don't have to point out how grateful we are for donations like this, that help keep the trains running and provide informative displays for our visitors.  And if you, the viewer, have railroad-related items of almost any sort that you would be willing to donate, let's talk!

The Masked Streetcar

Frank writes...

I didn't do a very good job of getting photos on Sunday. The wood train was out, but I didn't get any photos of it. I spent a good portion of the afternoon disassembling the grid box we took off the 319 a few weeks ago (this is the one originally off the 321). It was in pretty bad shape, with a few broken or spalling grid elements. But the usable grid elements went into storage with our other grid components, while the box frame I kept on hand - I'd like to clean it up and have it available for the next time we want to build a grid box in a hurry. Then, both before and after dinner, my attention turned to the Shaker Heights PCC.

The next step is adding the maroon striping. The car gets two maroon stripes on the belt rail, bordering the ivory stripe; one along the edge of the roof; and one below the standee windows, which is formed by the drip rail. I figured I'd start with the belt rail stripes. Above, masking; below, primer.

I also started priming the drip rail but ran out of time. I really think that adding these stripes will make a huge difference in how this color scheme looks. Also, I noticed that someone had replaced the window in the second door leaf with one of the new Lexan windows that John and Joel sourced. Thanks to whoever has started working on this! The very top of the door still needs to be worked into the gasket, but the old (and fogged to the point of opacity) Lexan window had fallen out of this door, so this is a big improvement. We custom-ordered enough of these tall Lexan panes to replace the windows in all eight doors, leaving the standee windows and front roll sign window as the only remaining "fogged" Lexan windows on the car.

From the Mailbag

Saturday was supposed to be another RPO Days exhibition, but the Burlington RPO had a bearing problem, as I understand, and so it could not be used in service.  It was, however, parked on the west wye so people could go in, look around, and talk to the crew.  

For mainline service we had the 309 and 319 running all day.  Things went smoothly.

And you knew this was coming: we have to have a picture of the crew.

The conductor was another new member, Curtis Fay-Wolf, who has mostly been working in the Diesel Department, and recently passed the rules test.  So he was lucky enough to get me as a motorman.  He did a good job and we got along well.

The Shay was pulling the mixed train.  It's always fun to watch.

And I should mention that Zach was the dispatcher and kept everything moving efficiently.  The Buck brothers ran the 4391, but I didn't get a chance to photograph them.  And as usual, a good time was had by all!

Postcard from Barn 4

Gregg Wolfersheim has sent us a quick update of work that has taken place over the past week or so on Green Bay & Western 109...

The 109 has been brought into Barn 4 and work has resumed with the framing of the south side. The horizontal sill piece was added. The actual window sill will sit on top of this part.

Almost all of the vertical posts are in. Only the one where the bay window was is left to do. Then the rest of the sill can be filled in.

Thursday Activities

Quite a bit was happening on Thursday this week.  Among other things, new paving was put down in  the morning at the intersection of Central and Depot, as seen here.  This is real civic improvement.

And Track Dept. guys were working on various things, there was progress on the new buildings at the south edge of the property, and so on.

My main task was to lubricate the motor bearings on the 309 and then take it out for a test.  I was too busy to get any pictures, but you've seen these cars before.  The bearings were checked with the IR thermometer, and everything seems to be OK.  So we should be ready to run this weekend, if it isn't raining.

The 431 was running revenue service, with Paul as the one-man crew.  Here it is crossing Main St.

Anyway, let's take a look at what is happening in Barn 4.  The GB&W coach is being rebuilt.

This may look like a grade-crossing collision.  Luckily no one was hurt!

The 277 is now in Barn 4 for brake rigging repair.

And Tim just never stops.  The interior of the 1268 is steadily being finished.

Help Wanted

This Saturday we're planning to run the 309 and 319, and I need a conductor and would certainly like to have a trainman.  Don't let this opportunity pass you by!  It's going to be RPO Day, which is always a lot of fun.  Be prepared to catch any mail bags flying toward you!

IT Vestibule Signs

Art Peterson has come up with several interesting pictures of destination signs like the one we showed earlier, on both the CO&P (Illinois Valley Div.) and the main lines.  These signs were fastened to the sides of the car near the rear door, and there were separate signs for route and class.  

In the yard at Ottawa we see the 268, similar to our 277, built by Danville in 1911.  The date is Apr 18, 1912.  And it's 10:30 in the morning, if you want to set your watch!

And here's a closeup of the signs:  it's a Joliet-LaSalle local.

Here are some examples from the central Illinois lines:  232 signed as a Peoria-Bloomington Limited:

And the Bloomington at Cerro Gordo, signed (I think) Limited Decatur-Champaign c. 1909:

And finally, there's this marvelous picture of a group in Decatur boarding the 235 for an outing on a Limited to Bloomington.  The date is July 23, 1912.

Watch your step, ladies!!

Art says it appears that these signs were not used after about 1915.

Concrete Progress

Frank writes...

I was busy enough on Sunday, but the real news is all the progress being made by our indefatigable Buildings & Grounds Department.

Above, the contractor continues to make progress on Barn 15. Half the post footings are now in along the south side of the building and the other half are ready to be poured, with the sonotubes in place and the metal post risers at the ready.

A lot of concrete is being poured in East Union these days. Here we are standing in front of the car shop looking at the office, with new sidewalks and curbs along the west side of Depot Street.

Looking the other way, you can see the sidewalk and also the crosswalk that will support the bollards that go here on days we're open.

Across the intersection, there's new concrete both inside and outside this access door at the northwest corner of Barn 6.

And over in Barn 4, some damaged concrete on the inspection pit apron was dug out (as previously reported) and has now been replaced.

I worked on a variety of things. First, I took some measurements of original CA&E Futura lettering for reference; we're fortunate that Buzz has the tools and the talent to draw up and print vinyl lettering masks we can use to letter the 451 in as-delivered Futura. After that, Jimmy and Doodlebug Dan spent quite a while helping me switch the order of the wood cars. The 308 is now behind the 319 (at the door) and the 309, with those two cars made up as a train. We still need to top off the oil in the 309's axle caps and do a test trip with the thermometer to check those bearings, but we are cautiously optimistic. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any photos during the switch move.

After dinner, I did a little more work on the two Shaker Heights cars. On the 63, I completed my painting test as shown above; the left side is brown primer+maroon, while on the right is two coats of maroon sans primer. It's no huge surprise that using primer makes for a better end product, so the next step is to start masking the striping and applying brown primer.

And one issue with the 18 is that the rear coupler hangs too low because it's missing a couple of parts that hold the coupler shank up over the coupler carrier binder. One is this: a wear plate that sits atop the binder. I took this one off the front of the car, brought it into the shop, and made a drawing. We'll need to make a new one from 3/8" plate.

In other news, Green Bay & Western 109 has come into Barn 4 for a couple of weeks to expedite the woodwork being done on the car's structure.

And Joel (pictured) and Brian were working all day with the milling machine, end-milling and then reaming holes for bushings in the 277's new brake beams. I didn't get a photo, but at least one beam already had new bushings installed by the time I arrived. Once this work is complete, the 277 should be back in service.

There's always time to have a bit of fun! A generous donor just gave IRM a handcar; it's not an historic item, but was built within the last couple of decades with a steel frame and modern hardware, but it works just fine. As a piece of MOW equipment it falls under the purview of the Track Department, so before dinner Bob (standing in left background) let some of us take it for a spin on track 121. I've run a lot of things at IRM but, amazingly, this was my first time aboard a handcar! In the photo are Will, Jeron, Jimmy, and Greg.

STOP PRESS: Many thanks to our intrepid cub reporter Jeron Glander for sending a couple of photos taken today (Monday) of the concrete work along Depot Street following removal of the forms: