More Art from Zach Ehlers

Our friend Zach Ehlers provided us with his latest artistic creation, CA&E 451 on the trolley loop at IRM. Thanks Zach!

John Cloos

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of a good friend of the Hicks Car Works. John Cloos passed away on August 5. John was a good friend to both IRM and the Fox River Trolley Museum. He will certainly be missed by all that knew him.

Details about the Memorial Service can be found here:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=153002342

Steam Updates

Quick notes: Here is a picture by Tim Peters of a locomotive kit being delivered to IRM yesterday afternoon:



And here is a brief video by Tony Gura, one of our blog readers from California, from the recent Iowa Rail Festival:




Thanks!

Steam at IRM

It's official! The Leviathan will be coming to Union for several weekends soon! Since we haven't had operating steam lately, this will be a great experience, and it's certainly something new and different. Your duty as a loyal citizen is to show up early and often and bring your family and friends. And tell them to be as numerous as possible.

Dates are: Aug 7, 13, and 14; Sept. 3, 4, 5, 17, and 18.

(Amstein photo)

San Francisco Electric Cars

As most of you probably know, Muni's F line has a collection of PCC's which they have painted in various historic paint schemes from all around the country. Yes, I know either the doors or windows aren't always correct, but it's still a lot of fun to see and ride.

My favorite, of course, was the Chicago car. I'd say the colors are very good, although it may not look quite right on your screen.

And then there's Birmingham.

The city is crowded and busy, so I saw several I couldn't get a chance to photograph well.

And of course, there's an Illinois Terminal car.

The operators kept telling us the F line is a favorite location for pickpockets. So beware!

And for older standard equipment, there were a couple of cars from Milan, Italy in operation.

And for a change of pace, our train from Denver to SF had this Metroliner car on the rear end. It's being used to measure track geometry. It's unusual to see a car with a pan on the end of the train!

Going Green Gone

We've just returned from California, where "green" is very popular. Every business is proud of how green they are. Not me. I'm getting rid of this green paint as fast as I can, though in a green way, of course. I finished stripping the siding on car 36 below the belt rail on the south side, as seen here. But then I needed a platform to do the rest. Since I don't anticipate needing our portable scaffold in Barn 8 any time soon, and it's usually just in the way, I disassembled it and moved part of it to the center aisle of Barn 6. I was then able to start on the letterboard and the rest of the siding. But in weather like this, one sooner or later has an energy shortage.

I also checked with Bob Kutella and Rich Witt who are helping with refinishing the windows for the 36. Thanks! And I installed the second recovered seat cushion in the 308, and made sure everything's ready for operation this Saturday.

That reminds me: the wood cars will be operating this weekend. Update: We need another trainman for Saturday, and for Sunday there's only a conductor signed up so far. On Sunday I can be part of the crew if needed, but we still need another person, either motorman or trainman. And for next weekend, we need a full crew for Saturday. Help!

We're always encouraging people to donate to IRM, of course. So today two visitors came along and handed me two large plastic bags full of coins, a year's worth of spare change, I guess. Our office manager, Jan Núñez, graciously accepted this contribution and is hoping the bank will have an automatic change counting machine. Well, every little bit helps, but if it's all the same to you, we'd prefer checks.

And since I'd been away for a few weeks, it was time to make the trek out to 14 again to check on the 321, after all the rain. The tarp is basically OK, but I was disgusted to see that the tie-down straps I had installed about a month ago had already worn through and broken. Note to self: don't buy any more sale merchandise from Ace Hardware.

Finally: I didn't have anything to do with this, of course, but it's great to see that the Burlington express car is painted and lettered. And this means that now everything on track 54 along Central Avenue is nicely painted. The whole line of equipment looks great!

Visit to Georgetown Loop

While in Colorado we had to visit the Georgetown Loop railroad, which is running steam again on a very scenic narrow-gauge route. I wanted to ride, and we got there early in the morning, but tickets were sold out until 3pm that day, and we couldn't wait that long. Next time we'll plan ahead. So that was unfortunate, but it's good to see that the operation is very successful in attracting passengers. Here's a brief view of the operation.

Service is being provided by 2-6-2 #12. It's a long steep grade up the mountain, with many curves, so the engine really has to work.

The upper end of the line is at Silver Plume, where the shops are located. You can just see the barrel of the Shay inside the building, with the trucks sitting outside. The Shay is being reworked for operation, with extensive boiler work in progress. Here we see a brand-new superheater assembly which just arrived. The running gear is basically in good shape, with new brasses for the drive train planned.



The display building has three historic passenger cars. All of them ran on the C&S, and were displayed by the Burlington at the NY World's Fair and the Chicago Railroad Fair. They operated on the Black Hills Central from 1956 to 1988, and were then moved to Silver Plume for display. This business car was built in 1872 by the UP.

The coach was built for the C&S by ACF in 1900.

Finally, this narrow gauge RPO was built in 1880 (builder not specified).

And there are several pieces stored outside in the yard at Silver Plume. For luxurious accommodations, there's nothing quite like a narrow gauge box car made into a sleeper.

Nebraska Zephyr at Train Fest

Our friend Chuck Amstein just returned from the Train Fest at Rock Island, where the Nebraska Zephyr was one of the stars of the show, and has these pictures of the action. Enjoy!

Pictures copyright by Chuck Amstein and may not be reproduced, etc.

NZ backing in to pick up passengers.

This is IAIS CEO Henry Posner III greeting the attendees.

Getting the diner ready for lunch.








The conductor has to get tough with unruly passengers.








At Bureau.

Greetings from Pismo Beach

Near the entrance to popular Pismo Beach, California, is this Rock & Roll Diner in Oceano. It consists of two streamlined passenger cars: a smooth-side diner and a fluted Budd obs-lounge. The cars are still on trucks and seem to have most or all of their underbody equipment, but the interiors have been modified, of course.

I was unable to learn anything about the identities of these cars from the man running the restaurant. But food was good, the music is non-stop rock & roll, and you can watch trains roll by on the coast route across the street. What's not to like?