The Tri-Motor!

David writes...

My trip to IRM on Saturday was part of our return trip from our vacation/family reunion we attended the previous week.  Katy's family is from Ohio, and her cousin hosted a family reunion at their home in Port Clinton, Ohio.  They live literally right on Lake Erie.  Besides the nice weather and good times, I managed to cross off one of the items on my "bucket list," flying in a Fort Tri-Motor.  On July 4th, I was in the front yard of their home in Port Clinton when I heard an airplane overhead.  Looking up, I saw a Ford Tri-Motor flying overhead.  Using Google, I learned that the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association was hosting this plane, usually based out of the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, for rides.  I quickly drove to the airport, paid my fare and within an hour was soaring over Port Clinton in style!  Granted, I did not get an upgrade to first class, the leg room was horrible, and no drinks were served on the flight, but it was still a very neat way to see the area.  The local chapter is also building a replica of a Ford Tri-Motor, using the remains of a fusilage as a pattern. 

What a great way to celebrate July 4th!  Combined with the trolley pagent on the 7th, it was a vintage transportation week for me!

Electrifying Pageantry

Today was the annual IRM Trolley Pageant, and everything went very well in spite of the inclement heat. As one of the participants, I was unable to take many pictures, but I'm hoping I'll get some good ones submitted from other people. I don't yet know how many cars were operated for the pageant, but it's got to be over 30.

CA&E wood cars 308, 309, and 319 ran in the pageant, and we also provided revenue service before and after. Thanks to Randy Allegrezza and Ray Bellock who were the trainmen.

We were parked for a few minutes at the Springfield Ave. curve before the review started. The three-car train was popular with visitors.

And our friend Ted Miles from Rio Vista has been asking about the 460, so here are some pictures of it.

Frank and David were running the open car today, so they'll be posting separately. If you have some good pictures of the proceedings, send them to me to be posted. Thanks!

Frank adds...

 David and I were working on the Veracruz open car for the day.  We did a couple of trips before the Pageant then a few afterward as well.  As always, the open car was quite popular - especially on such a hot day!  At left, volunteers swarm over Sand Springs 68 and CRT 1797 at the west end of Barn 4 prior to the pageant getting both cars ready.  Today was the public debut of the 1797; Tim Peters and Frank Kehoe are nearly complete with the car's exterior restoration and are now concentrating on the interior.

At right, David at the controls of the open car at Electric Park while staging for the Pageant.  Behind us, bringing up the rear of the parade, was the 1797.

 And in front of us was the 68, preceded by a gaggle of Chicago streetcars.  At right, CRT 1797 rounds the curve at South Junction.  What a beauty!

The other debutante was the museum's pair of CTA 2000s, 2153-2154, shown at left at 50th Avenue following the Pageant.  These cars were recently made operational by a crew of volunteers led by David Fullarton.  At right, the CA&E woods are seen at the main depot before being put to bed for the day.

David adds....

I really do not have much to add, other than it was HOT at IRM on Saturday.  Many thanks to the hearty volunteers and visitors who braved the heat for the parade and other IRM activites.  During the parade, my wife Katy visited, along with our friends Crystal, Kyle and their daughter Paige.  They live in Plainfield, and came up to see me in the parade and ride along. 

More Pageant

You can't have too much of a good thing. As requested, we received some really great shots of yesterday's pageant from Stephen Scalzo - thanks!!! As usual, these are copyright by the photographer and may not be reproduced, etc.

Note: the original files were all about 1.5MB apiece, so I've compressed them for easier downloading, but no other changes were made. If anybody wants the originals, let us know.

Finally, let's take a main-line ride on Indiana Railroad #65, the Museum's first car, seen above.

Dan Fenlaciki is our motorman.

And Laddie Vitek sent us this nice shot of the three-car wood train pulling back into the yards at the end of the day.  Thank you!

Help Wanted

For this Saturday, July 7th: The three car train will be in the Pageant, but I need a trainman for revenue service before and after. Anybody who has a job for the pageant but is otherwise free could help.

For Saturday, July 14th: We need a complete crew. I'll take whatever position nobody else signs up for. Help!

For Sunday, July 15th: We have a motorman and conductor - thanks! Trainman still open.

Benefits include fresh air, cold water, no heavy lifting, and free publicity. Sign up now!

110 in the Shade

"110 in the Shade" is a slight exaggeration, but the weather today certainly made me think of an old musical we did in high school. The 308 and 319 were running in service, and everything seemed to be going well. Dan Buck, Chris Buck, and Henry Vincent were the crew, and they passed on the opportunity for a picture. I went for a ride, along with my old friends Bob Olsen and John Naglich, who were likewise trying to escape the oppressive heat. So that was fun.

We now have nice new 48-star flags for the cars, too. Don't miss the Trolley Pageant this Saturday!

Ray Pieschuk made a sign for the LSE 150, and the only real thing I accomplished today was to make the wood frame to mount the sign on the car. It looks good -- thanks, Ray! I also spent some time sorting parts and cleaning up the car, since I have a fan, but that didn't last long.

Speaking of the pageant, we will have two more cars running for the first time under their own power! Cars 2153 and 2154 were running around the loop for testing and training, using their newly-installed trolley pole.

It sure is hot out here. Let's step into the Art Train display car, where it's nice and cool, and see what they have on display.

On the left, we see a section on RPO's and mail clerks, including a streaming video in the upper left. Have a seat and watch it for a while.

On the other wall, there's a large collection of builder's plates, from many different locomotive manufacturers.




Under development is a section about Chicago railroad stations. Here's a lighted departure board from Union Stattion, showing trains such as the Broadway Limited.

And there's more information about the many stations in the city.

Work on other projects continues, mostly in the air-conditioned shop. Here we have a quilting party: it looks like the guys are making sweaters to keep everybody warm. Actually, they're making up waste bundles for the axle caps and armature bearings on the 1797. You might have thought that the lubrication was provided by just stuffing random handfuls of waste into the available space, but not so! It works much better if the yarn is carefully stretched, cut to length, and tied up into nice neat bundles. Then you don't get waste grabs, and the bearing surfaces are lubricated evenly and reliably. Come on out and join the party!

South Shore Ideal Section Catenary (updated)

The South Shore is in the process of completely replacing its catenary, and this includes the famous "Ideal Section" near Miller. The bridges will be scrapped in about a week unless we can come up with the money to save them. Here's a link to a good picture of what they look like.

So our friend Andy Sunderland writes:

To anyone who is interested: Bob Harris is scrapping South Shore catenary bridges from the ideal section near Miller IN. IRM has no money to buy them. Bob will sell them for an estimated scrap value of $500 each. Now is your chance to help IRM to preserve a portion of history. Contact me so I can tell Bob to save them. We need to know in about one week. Andrew Sunderland

You can email Andy directly; his email address is trolleyman1100 at yahoo dot com. Thanks!

The Carousel House

Here are Chuck Amstein's pictures from the Carousel House at the Sanfilippo Estate. This is only a sample, by the way. And the moral of this story is that if you haven't been there before, you should make plans to attend the Benefit next year. The Calendine brothers are already scheming how to make this event even bigger and better!

As before, all these photos are copyright by Chuck Amstein and may not be reproduced....

The carousel moves, and people got to ride it, but videotaping is not allowed. So you have to use your imagination.

Chuck Amstein himself.

This little 2-6-0 (R) was built in 1888 by Grant as a narrow-gauge engine. It passed through several hands and was standard-gauged at some point. It belonged at one time to the Hicks Locomotive and Car Works in Chicago Heights!

And there's a nicely-restored wooden caboose.

Finally, here's one Chuck didn't take. Kids of all ages like to ride the big carousel!

(Photo by Margaret Miller)