More Photos from UP Day

As usual, our friend Chuck Amstein has sent along some great views of the action on Saturday. We'll start with the stills, then list links to the videos he has posted on YouTube. Most of these probably don't require much explanation. As always, thanks, Chuck!

And last but not least:
Videos:

309 and 319 departing eastbound at East Switch:

http://youtu.be/RCnx4sLTc9M

UP passenger special arriving westbound:

http://youtu.be/A7rxmRXkHVU

C&NW 411 commuter streamliner departing station eastbound:

http://youtu.be/eUck3hZs2oc

#63 Leviathan departing eastbound at East Switch:

http://youtu.be/tEi9CrY4yn4

#63 Leviathan arriving westbound at the station, CA&E cars in back:

http://youtu.be/f8MoXO0er-4

RPO mail pickup from outside:

http://youtu.be/dVpAcLtBKE0

RPO mail pickup from inside:

http://youtu.be/mWaTtb02exg

Another RPO mail pickup from inside:

http://youtu.be/Crn9WvZGYG8

Passing #63 Leviathan westbound at Johnson Siding, from CA&E 309:

http://youtu.be/A7_hwojjzEQ

UP passenger special returning to Chicago, Coach and RPO train, Leviathan in distance.
Not the greatest video but gives you an idea of all the action that took place today:

http://youtu.be/rYqQFb8EGn8

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

There was an extraordinary amount of variety in the operating equipment at IRM today. Among other things, we had something borrowed (the Leviathan and the UP executive train) and something blue (the 309!). And this weekend is RPO oriented, so the veteran clerks were demonstrating the RPO, and on and on....

Attendance was huge, due largely to UP Family Day, and the parking lot was packed to overflowing. That's always good to see!

Dan and Chris Buck and I were running the 319 and 309. As usual, we had a diverse crowd of passengers. I was too busy to take many pictures, so I'll wait for others to send in some good ones.

Here are our UP-heritage waycars lined up on the west wye for people to walk through. A good time was had by all, except perhaps Harold Krewer, who as chief dispatcher was constantly juggling several sharp objects at once. He kept his cool much better than I possibly could have, I must say!

The unusual aspects of all this were great. I'm standing by the 309 loading passengers, and people ask me "Is this the train to Belvidere?" I could think of several smart-aleck responses, but of course I politely explain that the Belvidere train is loading over on the next track. And that's for UP employees only.

So all in all we had a great time. Thanks to everyone who made this complicated operation possible!

Also today I tested out the latest Hicks Car Works invention, the idea for which was suggested by Joel Ahrendt. The trap doors on the 308 and 309 are difficult to lift, so in our secret underground laboratory we have developed a hook to lift the trap, demonstrated here by Dan Buck. The Errant Trap Door Hook seems to work as intended, and now just needs to be painted blue. And I'll make a second one for the 308. Ask for it by name!





As for the title of this post: betcha didn't see that coming! I will certainly not be out at IRM next Saturday: my daughter Esther is getting married, so I have higher priorities! And of course Frank will be there too. But after the excitement has faded away and the newlyweds are well on their way, we'll back to our usual hijinks. So wish us well!

Something Old, Something New

Now for something only slightly different: In the morning I was asked to help Rod with a switch move. Our main task was to get a dump car off the interchange track, since the UP Heritage units were due to arrive at any time. So as my patriotic duty I said yes.

It turned out to be harder than expected. Surprise! The hand brake was set tighter than tight, and the release mechanism was bent and almost unusable, so for a while we pounded, cursed, tried dragging the confounded thing, but finally we were able to release the brakes and start moving again.

Meanwhile, of course, revenue passenger service had started. Here's a nice picture of interurban railroading, I think: the local car is passing our freight train which has just come off the interchange track. I think the 415 must have put in more miles in passenger service at IRM than everything else combined.

For the rest of the day, Al Reinschmidt and I continued to work on the 36, with stripping, sanding, and painting.

Division of labor: Al is painting with brown primer, I'm doing white. By the end of the day, we found that we had completed the second coat of brown on the lower siding and the first coat of white along the windows. I just can't wait to start applying finish colors!

This Saturday will be UP Employee Family Day, and we're expecting a big crowd. So this huge tent is set up near the entrance. And that's why the UP Heritage units will be here. I guess I will have to pretend I never heard of the CB&Q for a day. Or something.

On a hot day like this it's hard not to think about air conditioning. The Car Department's youth hostel on wheels has AC, but it seems to need some support. This is possible only because the wheels don't turn very often!

And now for something completely different

Frank writes...

Back in mid-April I was out at the museum working on air leaks on the CA&E cars and noticed that something unusual was going on in the CTA "spam can" parked next to us on track 83.  It turned out that a group of young filmmakers and actors was filming an Internet feature called "World's Worst Musical" inside the car, obviously with museum approval.  They seemed like nice people but were quite busy with their work and I didn't bother them for a photo for the blog.  I just noticed that the bit they were filming has been put on YouTube (below) - it's a bit quirky but imaginatively done.  It may not end up being as famous as "A League of Their Own" but it has its moments.  You saw it here first!

Easier Than Expected

It's not often that fixing a problem turns out to be easier than expected, but once in a great while it happens, especially if like us you're devoted to clean living. ("We don't smoke and we don't chew, and we don't go with girls who do....")

Last Wednesday I said that the 308 probably wouldn't be running this year. I was wrong! Fixing the compressor turned out to be much simpler than we had thought, since the problem was traced to a short in the lower brush holder, not the field coils. Each brush holder is held to the frame by two bolts, which are insulated by a short rubber tube around the bolt, and some layers of mica and cardboard on each side, as perhaps you can see here. One of the tubes had a piece missing, which was enough to cause a short. This is a picture of a spare compressor in the field. We removed the lower brush holder to retrieve the insulators, and this enabled us to figure out how to replace the one in the 308.

Frank did most of the work. Here he is putting all the parts back together. It's a hard job, but it was easier and faster than dropping the compressor and taking it apart! After the brush holder was replaced, we meggered it again, and then tested it. It pumps up nicely. After cycling it a couple of times, we decided it was fixed and called it a day. After this miraculous cure, however, the patient still has to pay a visit to the doctor's office for a yearly checkup. So I'll have to schedule an inspection sometime soon. In the meantime, we'll continue to run the 309 and 319. So that was a very satisfying accomplishment!

Meanwhile, of course, lots of other projects are being advanced. Here Ray Schmid is painting the roof of the 28. By the way, Jeff loaned us a box wrench which helped a lot in fixing the 308.

And the playground is much more complete.

Nick, Mark, Dan Fenlaciki, and others were working on the trucks for the dome car, now that the wheelsets have arrived. They were having trouble removing this brake cylinder; the pins were frozen in place. If I had more time I could explain how all this works. Among other things, the chain connects to the hand brake

And Ed Oslowski is still hard at work on IT 277. He showed me the various aspects of the project he's currently working on. I know only too well how tedious this sort of thing can be, but Ed is doing a very thorough and careful job. So that's gratifying to see.

Frank adds...

Most of my time was spent working on the 308's compressor, as outlined above.  Afterward I headed up to the depot and went for a ride on the two-car CA&E steel train, which was in good hands with conductor Henry Vincent and motorman Dan Mulvihill (right).  Following this I wandered over to 50th Avenue, where a crew of people was working on the CTA 2000s.  Earlier I had seen a couple of the "L" car guys in the car shop drilling holes for new roof saddles.  By late afternoon there was a gaggle of workers mainly trying to figure out issues with the car's modern GE SCM control, a cam-operated controller which I can only guess is a distant descendent of PC control.  Below (L-R) are Greg Kepka, Richard Schauer (with laptop) and Jerry Saunders, with Dave Fullarton and Eric Zabelny also helping out.  Yikes, look at all those wires and interlocks!  I guess we're lucky; with Type M control, problems may not be any easier to fix but it seems like they must at least be easier to diagnose!

Help Needed

The wood cars are next scheduled to run on June 9 and 10, in conjunction with the Leviathan again and RPO Days, so that should be interesting. For Saturday we need another trainman, and for Sunday we need a motorman. Anyone who can sign up is encouraged to do so. Let me know via email if you have any questions.

And make no mistake. We're keeping track of who helps and who doesn't!

Cafe 20

We haven't had any new restaurant reviews for a while, so last week Frank and I visited Cafe 20 on the east side of Marengo, about four miles from the Museum. It's changed hands a couple of times over the years and is currently an Italian-themed restaurant. Wednesday happened to be German night, though, and Tuesday is tacos, etc. so there's some variety.

I had the Jägerschnitzel and Frank had the pork tenderloin sandwich. The food was very good and service was fine.

Sandwiches start at about $8 and entrées at $11 or so, going up to about $25 for steaks. And there's a full bar. So this establishment is currently recommended by our team of culinary experts.

Four for Four

It wasn't really planned this way, but attention was paid to all four of the CA&E wood cars today. At least those in the barn.

First up was the 319. There had always been a couple of minor problems with the so-called "trap door" at one corner. One of the bolts holding up this molding strip had broken off, so it hung down at an angle. It really doesn't have much structural function; there was no danger that the step would collapse or endanger anybody, but it looks like we don't care about appearances. And that's not true. After some work, I drilled a new hole and installed a screw to hold it in place.

Next was the trap itself. There's a coil spring which is supposed to lift the trap, but nothing was happening. You can lift the trap by brute force, but that annoys everybody, even me. (This is basically the same design as the North Shore cars or the CA&E steels.) Also, maybe you can see that the plate holding up the spring-loaded bearing is loose and falling away from the car. That's not good.


I was afraid that the spring was broken and would have to be replaced, but after some work I found that it was OK and just had to be adjusted. With some longer lag screws and new bolts, the plate is firmly attached to the car and the trap springs up as Jewett intended. Case closed, for now.

I meggered the compressor on the 308 and it still appears that the field coils are a dead short to ground. That's pretty grim. I really don't know where we go from here. So the 308 probably won't be in revenue service this year, although the rest of the brake system works and we could run it in the middle of a three-car train for the pageant and Members' Day.

And I spent some time disassembling the replacement seats for the 309 and sorting parts.

Like all of our wood cars, the window sills (aka belt rails) on the 36 have rotted-out places here and there. The section shown here was the worst, but the other cars have had far worse sections, so this is not bad at all. Bondo™ is the answer. I removed all of the window blanks on the (south) side, the one we're currently repainting, and filled all the cracks with body filler, and then sanded it all down. This could all be done from inside the car, which makes it much easier than dragging the scaffold or stairs back and forth. The entire sill now needs another coat of white primer, that'll happen next time.

Finally, during a break I caught Dave and Carl assembling more of the locomotive on Ray's new playground. Ray Bellock himself was supervising, as usual, but he must have moved out of the picture before I could snap. As you might have noticed, some of us are wanna-be celebrities, others aren't.

Happy Birthday, Frank!

Frank chose to spend his birthday running the 309 and 319, and here he is with his conductor, Joel Ahrendt. A good time was had by all! I'll let him post more about what went on, as I was only there for one trip.

Here the crew poses with an unidentified visitor who shoved his way into the picture.

But since it was also Memorial Day, of course, my wife and I went to the parade in Naperville in the morning.

And in the spirit of Decoration Day, we spent most of the day driving around to the various cemeteries to decorate the graves of my parents and grandparents.

In any case, now that Frank is no longer a young man, we'll keep his age a secret!

Frank adds...

A good time was indeed had by all.  The cars ran very well and many thanks to the Car Department workers who took care of the air leaks on the 319!  The crowd seemed decent and the weather was nice; despite 95 degree temperatures, a steady wind kept things quite pleasant.  I had a great time working with Joel and having my wife Bevin, who gamely joined us for the day, along for the ride.