Another Season on the Trans-Siberian

At least that's what it sometimes may seem like. It was extremely cold today with strong winds. At least there's no wind chill inside the barn. Here we see the 321 and 4001 now stored behind Barn 8 under their tarps. The only reason I went out back at all was because I realized I had left my lettering enamel in the 321 and had to retrieve it.

And I'll add some nice winter scenes to the scenery page.

Here's the result of all the switching that was done last weekend. We now have three open slots in Barn 8. One of them is currently occupied by three pairs of trucks, for the 319, 1100, and 141. And in the center aisle, we see the pilots and steps from the 321, and the Hicks Chair of Mathematics.

I decided one feasible project for a cold day was to finish lettering the 309, actually. The #2 vestibule had never gotten the warning on the train door for some reason. A space heater can easily bring the little vestibule up to a nice warm temperature, so it's a good place to work. As seen to the right, I applied a matrix of masking tape as a guide for lettering the door. Getting the heater and extension cord installed, making the measurements, getting the paint from the 321 and warming everything up took more time than the actual lettering.

So here I am part way through. I'm a little out of practice and decided to start over after the first two words. The second time went better after warming the paint some more. If you flub up, it's easy to just wipe it off with mineral spirits and redo.

And the final result.

The next winter project should be to letter the interior of the 308; in several places it's supposed to say "Please keep your feet off seats." But heating up an entire compartment is harder, so it can't be quite so cold outside.

Dave's Depots -- Deatsville, Kentucky

While Randy and the other IRM volunteers were working away in Cleveland in November, Katy and I visited my parents in my hometown of Bardstown, Kentucky. Bardstown, as you may know, is the center of the bourbon-making industry.

On Sunday, as we headed out of town, we stopped at the town of Deatsville, Kentucky. The town sits on the former L&N Bardstown branch, now operated by RJ Corman as his Bardstown Line. The line was and is known as a supplier for the bourbon-making industry. Deatsville was home of the T.W. Samuels Distillery. The distillery closed in the 1950s, another distillery owns the trademarks. The facility is still used for storage and for a while hosted a spring water company. The Samuels family went on to bigger and better things, namely founding Makers Mark in nearby Loreto.

The Depot at Deatsville is one of 3 depots on the line still in existence. The other two are at Bardstown, and the depot/distillery office at the old Jim Beam distillery. The depot is in good shape, and was used for many years as a antique shop. It sits empty now. It is of standard L&N design.

I've rolled past this depot twice on a train, once on an L&N 152 excursion on the branch sponsored by the Kentucky Railway Museum, and another time on RJ Corman's dinner train.

Test Post

Do not be alarmed. This is only a test. If this had been an actual blog posting, I would have come up with a picture of a full-sized trestle.

We're just trying to see how the RSS feed works.

Update: OK, it seems to be working. Tom Gears has put together a bundle here for railway preservation blogs, so you can easily see the latest doings all over the place.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Today marks the sixty eighth anniversary of the entry of the United States into the World War II. As you know, the war began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This past October, Katy and I visited Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial during our honeymoon. For both of us, it was a "must see" on the trip. The memorial is a solemn reminder of those who perished on the Arizona that day. The visit that day reminded me of the epitaph Kohmia 2nd Division Memorial, commemorating the dead of the British and Commonwealth Armies who repulsed the Japanese invasion of India in 1944. The epitaph reads:

"When You Go Home, Tell Them of Us and Say,

For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today"

Recreational Switching

What with two major impending events - the arrival of the CA&E cars from Trolleyville and the approval for occupancy of Barn 11 - there has been a LOT of switching going on. I was able to make it out to IRM Sunday for the first time in a month and a half and was immediately put to work on a switch move down at the south end of the property. The job was to dig out Union Pacific McKeen trailer T8, which will be going into Barn 11; of course the T8 was near the west end of track 142 so quite a bit of equipment had to be dug out. Jeff Obarek ran Joy 2 for the entire day; Joe Stupar served to direct and coordinate moves as well as run errands like procuring chains, throwing switches and bringing over flashlights when it got dark; and several others helped as ground men at various times including Mark E, Stan Wdowikowski, and Greg "The New Guy" Kepka. At left, Jeff shoves CTA work motor S373 west while Mark watches from the ground.

At one point it was decided to conduct a quick repair of C&LE freight motor 640, which had had its coupler fall off the end of the circle iron during a previous switch move. Joe was able to dragoon Warren Lloyd into bringing the forklift over, and in short order the coupler was back in place and the switching continued. At right, Joe serves as ground man while Warren runs the forklift; note the coupler hanging at an unintended angle. Finally, when the shuffling in Yard 14 was done, we moved CSL 4001 off the connector track and Jeff and Warren put the engine away. Just another day at IRM!

The Good, The Bad, and the Really Ugly

On Saturday, a huge switch job was accomplished by the Car Department. We had two switch engines (the Joy and the Com Ed) in continuous operation; most of 73 and nearly all of 81, 82, and 84 were switched out. I've been around a long time, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen so many pieces of equipment being switched in one day. Stan did the coördination and much of the work, with Rod Turner providing overall supervision. Other people included Charlie, Joe, Joel, Warren, Greg K., Greg C., and I'm probably forgetting some people. Sorry!

The whole process went extremely well. It was needed to facilitate both the anticipated opening of Barn 11, switching of Barn 10, and the arrival of the Trolleyville collection.

In between carrying drawbars hither and yon, watching flanges, throwing switches, and so on, I had a chance to take pictures of many pieces of equipment, some of which haven't seen the light of day for twenty years or more. This is TM snow sweeper B48. Dave Diamond started a beautiful restoration job on this sweeper before he was kicked upstairs to manage the entire property.

IT Birney 170 started life in Galesburg, and wound up as a yard office underground in the St. Louis subway. It was one of the earliest pieces IRM acquired.

Here's our Indiana Railroad collection: lightweight interurban #65 (L) and suburban car #205 (R). IRM was organized to preserve one car, the 65, but the mission statement somehow expanded.

Knoxville streetcar #419, one of the few surviving Cincinnati curvedsiders.

CSL #1467, the "skeleton." Let me just say that this item is a subject of controversy.

Fort Wayne and Lima interurban car #91.

An ex-chicken coop.







CTA 4321

Lake Shore Electric 150

By this time the sun was sinking rapidly in the west.

North Shore 253

CRT 1797

Thank You For Waiting....

....your call is important to us. Sorry, we're still on hold at Cleveland, so all we can do is have patience. I can, however, give you a more detailed explanation of why we're waiting. The CA&E cars have to be moved to the Brook Park shops, as mentioned earlier. The GCRTA system, however, runs entirely on cab signals. The CA&E cars don't have cab signals (duh!) and there is nothing available to pull them with, so they will have to run under their own power. Evidently, then, the only way they can move is if the rest of the railroad is shut down, and that only happens between 1:00 and 3:30 AM, and any other project such as track or signals has priority over Tim O'Donnell and his antiques. He was hoping to move the cars this week but was shoved aside; he's now hoping for next week. So we wait. At least we won't make you listen to Muzak.


As I arrived today, Gerry Detloff was moving trucks in the material yard to make room for the installation of the big EMD sign, which will be another noticeable improvement to the property. I offered to help, but as soon as I had walked away to change into work clothes, he found that the big fork lift was stuck in the mud. The only solution was to call Diamond Towing Service, so nothing more got done today.

A lot of switching has already been done, and there's plenty more. Here we see that the portable sub has been moved outside. Some of this is due to the imminent arrival of the Trolleyville collection, and more to the completion of Barn 11. The hope is to get everything that doesn't either look presentable or is being worked on out of Barns 6, 7, and 8.


My daughter Esther has made a prototype Illinois Terminal antimacassar, and here it is in the 277. It hasn't been lettered yet, but silk-screening can be done easily by a commercial establishment. We will need about 40 of these to equip the 277. Anyone in this area who could help with the sewing and would be willing to make some of these should contact me via email. Thanks!

Next, here are some pictures of our new Q Havelock baggage car #993. Ted's crew are working on cleaning it up for use as a library storage facility.

Finally, I can't tell you about it yet, but there's an exciting new (electric car) acquisition in the works. So stay tuned!

Trip Report/Dave's Depots - Bowling Green, Kentucky

On Saturday, November 28, 2009, Katy and I visited Bowling Green Kentucky. Bowling Green is home to the Bowling Green Historic Railpark and L&N Depot. The facility is housed in the former L&N depot. The purpose of my visit was for me to talk about the 728th Railway Operating Battalion, a unit sponsored by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad during World War II. The Bowling Green Daily News covered the event.

As you can see here, the station building is a grand structure. When originally built, the facility contained offices for the L&N, a ticket office, waiting rooms, a restaurant, and space for baggage and express operations.

The depot was vacated with the end of Amtrak service in the area in the late 1970s, and over the years succumbed to neglect and vandalism. I remember seeing the depot in 1995 and it was in deplorable shape. All of the windows were broken out, major portions of the tile roof were missing, and vagrants were living inside the structure. At that time members of the Bowling Green community came together and begun to raise money to renovate the structure. After CSX Transportation donated the depot and platform structure, the restoration work begun. By the time I graduated college in 2002, the major restoration work was completed. In addition to leasing some space for use by a local business, the depot houses a nice museum on the L&N in Bowling Green, a community room for events, some nicely-restored and maintained pieces of equipment.

Since then, the group has acquired 6 pieces of rolling stock, and has displayed them at the depot. As one drives to the depot, it looks as if the Memphis section of the L&N’s crack passenger train The Pan American is about ready to depart the station. Heading up the display train is “L&N” E8 number 796. This unit, a shell is restored from a former CN&W unit. Following the locomotive is a former L&N RPO car, completely restored inside and out, a former L&N 6-4-6 (6 sections, 4 double bedrooms, and 6 roomettes) sleeper Towering Pine, a former SP diner painted as an L&N dining car and a steel-sheathed business car, L&N number 353. Also in the collection is a Chessie System caboose painted as an L&N caboose.

All of the equipment is maintained in very good condition, and restoration work is actively going on. Most recently, restoration volunteers have replaced much of the steel in the sides of the Pullman car. Longer range plans are to cover and enclose the equipment in a glass structure, and continue the restoration work.

Happy Thanksgiving From the Hicks Car Works Staff

From all of us at the Hicks Car Works blog, we wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving!



For those of you who are traveling, please do be careful.

Planning Ahead

Today I did a little more work on the motors; one of them had to be slotted, so I was able to do that during a lull in the rain, using the car mover again. And I cleaned out the air vents.

The barn is still leaking in a couple of places over the 277, so I need to empty out the buckets on the roof every so often. And then there was more sorting and cleaning in the IT cars.

There's no word yet on when the CA&E cars will move, but there's still advance planning to be done.

One project we'll want to start on soon is making new third rail beams for the cars from Trolleyville. The third rail equipments were never installed on any of the cars while they were at Trolleyville, but most of them were saved, and we got 11 sets. The wood is rotted out and unusable, but can be replaced. It's the metal parts that are important. We have a complete set of four beams with the 321's trucks, so they will go under the 319.

A close-up of (L to R) the air-powered sleet scraper, the shoe itself, the 700A fuse, and the cable. Note that the beam has a notch on the back to clear the leaf spring.

I made one replacement beam for the 308 about four years ago, from white oak. It took about a month, but I was doing other things at the same time. Making them in production mode four at a time should be more efficient. The dimensions are 3 1/2" x 5 3/4" x 6' (there's some difference in length depending on the truck.) So they're big and heavy, and it may be a challenge finding a place in the wood shop to store them. Oak isn't available in that thickness, so the replacement beam was made with two 8/4 pieces glued together. There are enough bolts through the wood that the joint can't possibly delaminate.

If you do the math, you'll see that we're five beams short. One car can have beams with no sleet scrapers. During the summer, the CA&E would swap out a set of third rail beams to have the scrapers rebuilt, so sometimes you'll see pictures of a car without sleet scrapers, such as the 321 here. CTA third rail shoes will be close enough.

Finally, here's a sheet from an old Rail & Wire I found while sorting parts. Bruneau used it as scratch paper to list stations for an IT roll sign, but it's an interesting look at the very beginning of the Museum back in 1965. (Note: Franches Crossing is now known as Karsten's.) We really started out with absolutely nothing.

But wait, there's more! You too can be a world-renowned and published author. Just use this handy form! Directors are standing by to take your article!

319 Progress

It's time for a new label, because progress on the 319 is really what we're talking about.

The weather was just perfect today, so I was able to move both motor trucks out of the barn for lubrication and cleaning. The car mover, shown leaning against the truck, makes quick work of moving it by hand. I oiled up all the pins and bushings I could reach for both the suspension and brake rigging.

I also cleaned the commutators with Carbosol, so they look much better. The slots are good. By moving the truck a foot or two, the armatures are rotated 90 degrees so the entire commutator can be inspected and cleaned.

I also meggered the motors. Here's a view of the Car Dept. megger, which we've been using for at least the last 35 years. It tests insulation by generating high voltage (if the resistance is high) to make sure there won't be any breakdowns when 600 volts is applied to the motors. The black lead is grounded to the motor frame, and finding a reliable ground is often the most challenging part. The red lead can be placed right on the commutator, or as in this case, to a brush holder lead (if the brushes are in place.) You also need to check the field connections. If the resistance is much less than 1 megohm, there's a problem. All of the motors for the 319 are OK.

Finally, we had to wye one of the trucks. They were both pointing the same way after being removed from the 321, but when the 319 arrives, it won't be possible to wye the car while one end is on a truck and the other end is on rubber tires. Tom Hunter and Adam Robillard, some of our friends in the Track Dept., volunteered to bring the Burro crane over to move the truck around. So that went well. Now we're all set for whenever the 319 arrives on the property. Thanks, guys!!!

In other news, here's a view of our new light tower in the parking lot. This tower is made of Bates expanded poles., and was originally at 40th and Halsted, near the stockyards. As I understand it, the original tower had three sections and was 90' high, but we're using just two to make it 60' high. But even so, it's a nice addition to the property.

Frank Sirinek was heading up an effort to clean out the new Shaker PCC. And Buzz lettered the east end of the 972; here's a view of the work in progress. The drop light is mostly there to warm up the work surface.









Finally, we must report that Nick has bought the farm. The Siegel farm, that is. On behalf of the Museum. More details here. We are now the proud owners of 89 more acres, including this homestead. I must say it's not obvious whether it's currently occupied. In any case, it's great that we will be able to keep this property in use as farmland.