Doodlebug Update

Here are some pictures from Gregg Wolfersheim about recent work on the UP doodlebug.  He writes:

Progress on UP gas-electric, M-35, has been sporadic the last 4 months. But, some progress has been made. A bracket was fabricated to hold the engine tachometer. Also, a more permanent solution to the "Run" switch was created. This controls the magneto ignition system on the Roiline engine. In the background of this picture, you can see one of 12 ignition coils that are mounted on 4 brackets alongside of the engine block. Some of the clamps that hold each coil had gotten rusted over the years. I removed them, and refurbished them with new gray paint.

In another area of M-35, I've been stripping paint off of the firewall behind the engine compartment. To the left of the picture is the bare metal. The right side has the silver paint applied. That is the entrance door to the engine compartment.

Looking down thru the missing roof, we can see some of the firewall and door. The large door without paint is the maintenance door, which is larger. In the extreme left of the pic can be seen the Peter Smith hot water heater, which heats the car and engine block, when the car is not running.

Another view of the heater room and firewall area. It's not much bigger than a phone booth! Hence, very hard to work in, and take pictures of. Hopefully in the near future, some more work will be done to get the roof components installed.

Many Projects

Today we have a lot of different projects to report on.  Things at IRM never stay still for long, unless the snow is impossibly deep.  

First, I installed the hinged clerestory window in Lake Shore Electric 150, which I had made a while back.  As viewed from the inside, it's hinged at the left, and opens and closes using the nice brass handle seen here.  All the others were nailed shut long ago, and that's the way they'll stay.   But having one you can adjust is mildly entertaining.

When the weather warms up, I'll paint the outside.

Half of the windows are hinged, and the rest are held in place with two metal plates as seen here. 

The other frame needs to be trimmed slightly, and then I'll install the glass.

And this subject came up at breakfast this morning, so here is the 150's retriever.   "Eclipse" was a railway equipment manufacturer based in Cleveland, so they provided much of the LSE's hardware.  You don't see these much on Illinois-area cars.

Now that CA&E 451 is in Barn 6, we're planning to resume work to make it operational.   The car got a new canvas roof several years ago, but it needs saddles and trolley boards next.   Joel made a pattern for the saddles, which will be white oak.   I counted the saddles on the 460 so I can get the right amount of wood.   Gerry helped me by holding the ladder.

Eventually I'll have to determine the curvature of the bottom edge.

A few months ago, I made a new window frame for the 1218, aka 18.  For some reason, several windows were removed at North Olmsted and lost, and we have replacements in place.  I wanted to check that the measurements were OK.   These are drop sash.

We'll need to make some more brass castings for the lifts.  But the dimensions are correct.   Note that these windows have no mortises or tenons; they are held together by brass channels at each side, screwed into the rails.

They don't drop very far, it appears.

The young guys have been cleaning up the interior, so it looks pretty nice.

Buzz is making good progress on new doors for the Marengo Depot.

Later, the door seen above was glued up and placed in the big clamping frame:

But I'll have to ask you to not even look at this next project, whatever it is:

Work on Michigan Electric 28 continues:  Jeff was knocking out old rivets, and pointed out newly installed steel.

And our Museum president, Norm Krentel, is making sparks fly in more ways than one:

New carlines for the doodlebug have been made and are being painted.   They are placed in several places around the shop, so it looks like they probably have enough for the whole car finished.

And Tim's doors for the 1754 are nearing completion:

Finally, I went back to work on painting the vestibule in the 319.  Fresh red paint on several places: 

And some of the hardware was stripped in the shop.

 And some of these parts were then taken home for work in the basement.  

Sunday in winter

Frank writes...

I was able to make it out to IRM on Sunday afternoon. The property wasn't terribly busy but there were a few people working. To start with, Joel needed some help installing a replacement headlight resistor in the Commonwealth Edison steeplecab. These are located in a fairly difficult-to-access location inside one of the hoods, shown below. To the left is an air tank, while in the foreground are resistance grids. The resistors are mounted to the far wall of the hood; the second from the right is the one that failed and had already been removed.

Quarters were cramped. Joel snapped a photo - note the new resistor in place.

And voila, the headlight works!

Then I headed over to Barn 13 with Joel and Richard Schauer to take another look at Shaker Heights 18. We did a little bit more tidying up, took an inventory of extra seat cushions, and examined the trolley pole that came with the car. It will need some straightening but after Richard cut some rubber tubing off of it we determined that it's in very good shape. Then Joel, assisted by Richard, was able to get the rear door back onto its track so that it opens and closes smoothly. This was more involved than it sounds but it's done now. Below, Joel at work - both doors (other than the motorman's cab door, the car only has two) open into a pocket between them, and here the window on the inside of this pocket is swung open towards the camera. On its exterior the window still wears the bright yellow that these cars wore along their windows in the 1950s.

And that was about it for the day for me. But Norm and Jeff were hard at work on cutting, drilling, and forming more steel parts for the front end of the Michigan car. Here, Jeff is holding a piece of steel which will go between two of the main framing members and will hold up a steel "pan" that will itself support the insulation under the floor of the car. There's a lot that goes into a project like this that most people will never see.

Tucson Streetcar

We just got back from vacation in Arizona.  I have over 500 pictures, but relatively few have anything to do with railroading.  I also have some updates about the doodlebug to present, so we'll get back on track here soon.

In Tucson, we went for a sightseeing trip on the new streetcar system.  The cars are three-unit articulateds, as seen here, with two single-truckers connected by a center section.  There are no couplers.  They operate almost entirely in the middle of the street.

The cars are equipped with an elaborate system of stanchions, rods, and standee straps, and we saw several people using them as gym equipment during the trip.   I could only hope we can keep this from happening with our nice new straps in car 24!

We were waiting for a meet where the line goes down to single track, so I could get out for a picture.

Going around a curve. 

And surprisingly enough, the line goes right by the Hotel Congress:

This one is slightly smaller than the Congress Hotel, however.

And then, the Phoenix Art Museum has a nice collection of paintings, and other art of all sorts.  In the Western America section, I noticed this large photograph, labeled "Abandoned Railway Coach Car, Rodeo, New Mexico, 2010".  Calling Nick Kallas!

So the photographer doesn't know the difference between a coach and a combine.   That's why we have educational organizations like IRM.

Men! Change to Reis Scandals!

Another 1947 advertising card out of the St. Louis Public Service bus acquired in 2015. If you ever wonder why people preferred interurbans to buses, take a look at this and then recall that CA&E cars of the era were mostly filled with liquor and cigarette ads.

Time to Blue Your Whites

Here's another ad card out of the St. Louis Public Service bus that was retired in 1947 complete with its car cards (though many have completely fallen apart since - the bus was stored outdoors for several decades prior to acquisition by IRM). Blu-White makes clothes dazzling white! It blues and washes at the same time! Ideal for handkerchiefs, stockings, undies! I must confess I had to look up what "blueing" was when it comes to laundry; I guess it's just a way to make whites whiter.

At Leading Shoe Rebuilders Everywhere

This ad for Biltrite shoe soles - "BEST by any test!" - has seen better days. It dates to 1947, which we know because it is located in a St. Louis Public Service bus that was retired that year and benignly neglected until acquired by IRM in 2015. I'm actually not sure exactly what it says, other than the dark-colored lettering and "America's Standard of Quality" across the bottom. "BILTRITE will not something / something heels and soles" - any ideas? Just make sure you see a leading shoe rebuilder and not one of those knock-off shoe rebuilders.

A new year

Frank writes...

What better way to ring in the new year than with a trip out to IRM? I made it out to the museum around lunchtime to find that I was the only one in the car shop. You'd almost think people had been staying up late the previous night. But no matter; I spent a few minutes cleaning up some materials I had left around the 205 over in Barn 7, then adjourned to Barn 8 to spend some time on LSE 150. The weather was unseasonably warm Sunday so I took the opportunity to put some brown primer on the belt rail on the left side of the car. Requisite before-and-after shots:

These cars had a tile red stripe along the belt rail, so this primer will make it easier to paint that one once warmer weather comes. Then a second coat of orange, some touch-up, and the basic paint job on the left side of the car will be complete.

By the time I was done with this, Sunday regulars Greg Kepka and Richard Schauer had shown up. We wandered over to the Hoffman bus garage where they showed me recent progress on some of the buses and trolley buses, including the recent acquisitions from St. Louis. Several buses have been jacked up and put on blocks pending installation of new tires, giving the garage the look of a pretty disreputable part of town. However this will be a big step forward. Richard pointed out that one of the tires removed from Twin Coach Model 40, which was owned by St. Louis Public Service and retired way back in 1947, had a "AA War Tire" stamp which indicated that it was produced during rubber rationing in World War II.

Then it was over to Barn 13. A few weeks ago, someone removed the tarp from Shaker Heights Rapid Transit 18 (aka Shaker Heights 1218), so we decided to try and tidy the car up a bit. The cardboard covers that had been taped over all of the sharp corners and protuberances were removed and the interior was straightened. The car looks pretty good for having spent six years under a tarp.

Right now we're just hoping to reassemble the car to make sure no parts are lost. It's an interesting artifact. One thing we noticed was that the trolley retriever is an Eclipse, which I believe is the only example of that particular type in the IRM collection. Some cleanup was also done with the help of diesel department volunteer Jeron Glander.

So that was about it for the day. The only other interesting thing I noticed was that four rebuilt traction motors for the Electroliner have been delivered (above). Exciting times for the North Shore fans, no doubt about it!

The Scalzo History Collection

The Stephen Scalzo History Collection

Stephen M. Scalzo was a traction historian with a particular interest in Illinois electric railways. After his death in 2016, his wife Kimberly donated his collection of historic files and photographs to IRM. Also included were a number of unpublished manuscripts, short histories of many of the state's electric railways.

Some of the below articles were written using primary materials and notes from the Scalzo Collection; most were written by Stephen M. Scalzo and have been published here for the first time, together with photos, rosters, and route maps from his files.

If you are interested in donating historic photographs, records, or artifacts to IRM, click here.

Electric Railways Of Illinois

• The Alton Streetcar Story by Stephen Scalzo
• The Alton Jacksonville & Peoria by Stephen Scalzo
• Anna-Jonesboro: Fruit Growers Refrigeration & Power by Stephen Scalzo
• Aurora Plainfield & Joliet / Joliet & Eastern by Stephen Scalzo
• Bloomington and Normal Streetcars by Stephen Scalzo
• Bloomington Pontiac & Joliet by Stephen Scalzo
• Cairo Railway & Light by Stephen Scalzo
• Central Illinois Traction    (Mattoon to Charleston)
• Centralia and Central City Streetcars by Stephen Scalzo
• Champaign-Urbana Streetcars by Stephen Scalzo
• Chicago & Interurban Traction by Stephen Scalzo (Chicago to Kankakee)
• Chicago & Joliet Electric by Stephen Scalzo
• Chicago Aurora & DeKalb by Stephen Scalzo
• Chicago Harvard & Geneva Lake (Harvard to Fontana, WI)
• Chicago Heights Street Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Chicago Ottawa & Peoria Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Chillicothe - People's Street Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Coal Belt Electric Railway by Stephen Scalzo (Marion to Carterville)
• Danville Street Railway & Light by Stephen Scalzo
• Decatur Railway & Light by Stephen Scalzo
• DeKalb Sycamore & Interurban Traction by Stephen Scalzo
• Du Quoin Street Railroad by Stephen Scalzo
• East St. Louis & Suburban Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• East St. Louis Columbia & Waterloo by Stephen Scalzo
• Elgin & Belvidere by Stephen Scalzo
• Fox & Illinois Union by Stephen Scalzo (Yorkville to Morris)
• Freeport Railway & Light by Stephen Scalzo
• The Galesburg Streetcar Story by Stephen Scalzo'
• Harvey Transit by Stephen Scalzo
• Hillsboro Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Illinois Central Electric Railway by Stephen Scalzo (Farmington, Canton, and Lewistown)
• Jacksonville Railway & Light by Stephen Scalzo
• Kankakee and Urbana Traction   (Urbana to Paxton)
• Kankakee Street Railways by Stephen Scalzo
• Kewanee & Galva by Stephen Scalzo
• Lee County Central Electric Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Lincoln Municipal Street Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Mt. Vernon - City Railway Company by Stephen Scalzo
• Murphysboro & Southern Illinois by Stephen Scalzo
• Ottawa Streetcars by Stephen Scalzo
• Paris Traction by Stephen Scalzo
• Pekin Municipal Street Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Peoria Railway Company by Stephen Scalzo
• Peoria Railway Terminal by Stephen Scalzo
• Quincy Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Rock Island Southern    (Rock Island to Monmouth to Galesburg)
• Rockford Public Service by Stephen Scalzo
• Southern Illinois Railway & Power by Stephen Scalzo (Harrisburg)
• Springfield Clear Lake & Rochester by Stephen Scalzo
• Springfield Consolidated Railway by Stephen Scalzo
• Sterling Dixon & Eastern by Stephen Scalzo
• Streator Streetcars by Stephen Scalzo
• Taylorville Railway Light Heat & Power by Stephen Scalzo
• Tri-City Railway Company    (Rock Island, Moline, and Bettendorf)
• Woodstock & Sycamore by Stephen Scalzo

Click here for a Google map of electric railways in Illinois created from the above articles

Click here for a catalog of 4x6s and small prints included in the Scalzo Photo Collection

Click here for a catalog of 5x7 prints included in the Scalzo Photo Collection

Click here for a catalog of 8x10 prints included in the Scalzo Photo Collection

To find slides from the Scalzo Collection that have been scanned by Ray and Julie Piesciuk, visit www.irm-cta.org

Rock Island Southern Timetables

The Scalzo collection includes two RIS timetables.   The first is #24, in effect May 11, 1919.  This was probably the last timetable issued while the Northern Division was still running electric cars.

The second is a typewritten sheet issued by the USRA effective Feb. 9, 1920 when they were trying to get the road back into operation after the shutdown.