The Frozen North

Frank writes...

It wasn't a terribly exciting day at the museum thanks to the weather. It was sunny all day, but the high was somewhere right around zero (that's -18C if your preferences run metric) and it was windy, so time outdoors - or, for that matter, in the barns - was pretty unpleasant.

I did snap a couple of photos taken at the west end of Barn 4 showing the results of the recent snowfalls. We all owe a big thank you to Dave and his B&G crew for clearing the roads on the property!

I spent a few minutes over in the Hoffman Garage helping Richard take length/width/height measurements of a bus to help flesh out the official roster, then it was back to the heated car shop. Gregg and Jane stopped by, and they helped Richard, David F and me flip the fender for the 28 over, which needed to be done so that painting work can continue.

Other than that, I worked on some website-related stuff and then spent a while helping to clean and straighten the shop. Notably, I put the Houdaille rotary shock absorber for the 460 (or is it for the 451?) into its own yellow bucket and marked it for the 460. The next time I'm out and the weather is a little more decent, I'll try and put it in the car's toilet compartment for storage. This thing has been sitting on the bench for several years, since we were unsuccessful in getting it apart to repair it (the first one was done but the second one didn't want to cooperate). Anyone know of a company that rebuilds these?

In other news, Tim was cleaning up brass castings that will anchor the standee straps in the 1808, Richard was working more on his display of historic rail, David F was working on organizing the shop, and Greg and Good Nick were working over in the substation on DC Line Department stuff. And I didn't spot it while I was there, but during the week the newly built air tank for the 451 arrived from the manufacturer. Greg snapped the below photo. One of the car's two main reservoir tanks is fine, and this will replace the other one that had a bad leak. This gets the car one step closer to being usable for service. Next up: repairing the air compressor!

Sunday Report

Frank writes...

Sunday was my first day at IRM of 2024, and the car shop was a beehive of activity. For my part, I spent much of my time on the fender for the 18. To keep the "fence" at the back of the fender from flopping down, it's held to the dash by a short piece of chain hooked to a little eye-bolt on the dash of the car. Trouble is, that was gone, so it had to be replaced. Joel found me the department's supply of hook-and-eye hardware, and lo and behold, one of them was pretty close to right! I was able to screw it in place and Richard helped by breaking out the torch to "heat and beat" it into a smaller loop so that it looks like what was originally there. Steven helped carry both pieces of the fender over to the car and test-fit them.

Voila! I may need to make a few adjustments so that the fender sits square, but right now I can't even step back a few feet to look at it because there's another car there, so the fine-tuning can wait until spring. We also need to replace the chains holding it up, because the chains in the photo, while original, are very rusty and I do not want one of them to break while in motion. Many thanks to Good Nick for helping to hunt down the correct hardware:

QUESTION: What we are looking for is supersized sash chain, with a link "frequency" of 1-3/8" (in other words, roughly 9 links per foot), material about 1/8" thick, link width 0.275", and link "length" (basically, the opening in each link) of about 0.84". This is roughly twice as big as the largest size McMaster-Carr offers, trade size #65. Anyone know of a source for large sash chain like this? Or is it extinct?

Anyway, here's the fender when held in the raised, or stowed, position. In other news about car 18, I inspected the air compressor for the first time since it flashed over in December. As hoped, there does not appear to be any damage, just a very small amount of copper spalling at the ends of the bars. We are going to see if we can raise the spring tension on the brushes slightly, in the hope that may reduce the arcing and ring fire, and we'll try it again when the weather warms up.

As I mentioned, there was a lot going on. Above, Richard is painting 4x4 posts that will hold up a display of historic rail he's been working on (more here). I believe this will go in the west end of Barn 8. Just past the posts are two replacement North Shore windows for the 749, which Zach and Steven were working on painting.

The weekday guys weren't out, but they've been hard at work building a new door for North Shore MD car 213. They built/rebuilt two doors for the car a couple of years ago, so now they're back to finish the job.

"Hey, bud! C'mere a minute... wanna paint a fender? All the cool kids are doin' it." The west end of the shop is now Fender Central, with the fender for Michigan Electric 28 - sitting upside down in the above photo - in the shop for a paint job while the "fence" for the 18's fender is leaned up against some stuff in the background.

Nathan and Good Nick were working on repairing the controller at the (currently) west end of the 3142, which had seen some reports of the line switch dropping out. This is mostly a standard K-35, but it has a ratchet device for opening the line switch as soon as the controller handle starts to be backed off. The ratchet, with its spring visible if you squint, is at the bottom of the controller drum next to Nathan's knee.

There were plenty of other things going on. Gregg, Brian, Mikey, Bob, and Jeron were working on the 1702, Joel was keeping busy stowing Christmas lights from the HHR event, Zach spent some time hunting down spare parts we need, and the Electroliner crew was hard at work over in Barn 7. A good time was had by all.

Let Me Show You the Door

Our fearless freelance photographer, Zach Ehlers, has sent along some photos taken this past weekend out at IRM. You may notice something is missing.

If you said "well, the title of the post is about doors, so it's probably a door"... you're right! The barn doors have been taken off the former east end of Barn 4, so the old portion of the barn is now open to the new portion. The above view is looking east.

And this view was taken standing in the new section of the barn looking west. The new section is pretty unmistakable because it has a metal ceiling.

Here's something pretty striking: Zach found the photo on the left, taken at the end of December 2022 while we were getting ready for North Shore Day. The photo on the right, taken at the end of December 2023, is the exact same location and perspective. What a difference a year makes!

And while we're at it, Zach sent along two nice shots of IT 1702, which has been shoved east a little ways to make it easier to access the car without all the "roof booth" scaffolding in the way.

It certainly is looking sharp!

The Latest on the Line Car

Thanks to Gregg Wolfersheim for sending along another update of progress on IT 1702!

Some more progress on the line car platform. Most of it is done. Shown slightly offset to the north.

This shows how the railings fold down for travel.

The car got moved east of the roofing station in barn 4. Now complete with the safety chains installed and the rope that goes down into the car for the signal whistle.

Work has shifted to rebuilding the contact group. Some of the covers have been stripped for rebuilding. Photos coming soon!

Line Car Update

 Sorry, these updates are about two weeks old, but I've been out of town most of the time.  Meanwhile, Gregg Wolfersheim has continued to finish up the line car's roof platform.

Progress is going slowly on the line car platform. Here are some of the railings recently created. Some of the old ones are visible being used as patterns. Hardware is reused when possible.

This is one of the old outer railings. Slightly warped and deteriorated near the hinge areas at the bottom.

This is one of the old outer railings. Slightly warped and deteriorated near the hinge areas at the bottom.

One of the short railings.

Here they are mounted on the platform in the raised position. All 6 should be in place by the end of the year.

Highlights of 2023

It's time once again to celebrate as we review the accomplishments of 2023.  As always, additions and corrections are welcome!

• Celebration of IRM's 70th anniversary, including the world's biggest trolley pageant ever.  We've come a long way!
• Commemoration of the 60th anniversary of end of service on the North Shore Line
• Acquisitions:

1. C&IM 30
2. Pullman "Palm Lane"
3. MBTA 4110

• First operation in regular service of the Shaker Heights 18.
• First operation of a four-car CA&E steel train, including car 451 in its first public operation.
• Operation of both the Decapod and the Shay several times this year.
• Special days such as Pumpkin, Thomas, Vintage Transport, and Happy Holiday all went well
• IRM hosted some important private events.
• Completion of track work in Yard 12.
• Initial construction of the Barn 4 extension and reconstruction of Yard 4 East.
• And as usual, operations proceeded smoothly and safely during the year, thanks to our operating department.
• We can't list all the restoration projects that were either completed or made significant progress this year.  Ones that come immediately to mind are the 306, 1702, and 441.
• Perhaps most importantly, we have several new active volunteers.  We are certainly grateful for their help, and hope they will stay with us for a long time!

And finally, a public service announcement:

There's plenty to celebrate, but don't let others talk you into overdoing things.  You might regret it.

In Memoriam - David Streeter

We are sad to report that longtime IRM Operating Department volunteer David Streeter died on Tuesday after a period of health issues. He had been a regular conductor and motorman at the museum for at least 10 or 15 years and was one of a core group of volunteers who helped hold down public service throughout each summer. He was also a Burlington fan, an HO scale model railroader, and he was active with the NRHS. Our condolences go out to David's family and friends. He will be sorely missed at IRM.

Test Fit

Frank writes...

I was able to make it out to IRM for a rare weekday appearance today, and as luck would have it, my father was able to be out there too. So, that was nice! When we arrived, we were greeted by Frank Kehoe's handiwork. Frank was out on Tuesday and made tremendous progress on the 18's fender: he cut, bent, drilled, painted, and installed all of the remaining metal straps that hold the basket to the fender. He also took the whole assembly apart just enough to thread new rubber air hose sections onto the front pipe, per Shaker Heights practice, effectively completing reassembly of the "basket." I can't thank Frank enough for all of this work!

My father and I spent a little while gathering hardware for the fender, which included new cotter pins to hold the body attachment brackets to the fender frame; bolts to go through those brackets; and a couple of S-hooks and some chain to hang it. Fortunately, the chain and spring for one side was intact, so we had a pattern to work from. We then carried the fender over to the car; used a grinder to cut off an intransigent bolt that needed replacing; and voila!

You'll notice that the "fence" is missing; this is held up by a short chain to a hook on the front dash of the car, but that hook is missing, so we'll need to figure out how to replace it. But we tested the fender in both its "deployed" and "stowed" positions, the latter shown below.

We are going to order some new chain and hardware, since the original chain and split links are pretty deteriorated and these are not components that we want to risk failing in service. So, after this test fitting, we removed the fender and took the hardware to be replaced back to the shop. After that, we headed over to the Jewell Road shelter. My father caulked up some spots around the door frame while I helped with a bit of straightening and cleaning inside the shelter.

And then it was time to consult our treasure maps - as Victor Humphreys had told me when I ran into him in the wood shop earlier in the day, X23 marks the spot! We made the short walk from Jewell Road's current location over to Barn 10, where Victor showed us progress on the Pennsylvania Railroad X23 boxcar-turned-tool car.

So far, the Freight Car Department has completely re-sided half of one side of the car, which you can see below. The car is being restored to its later (WWII-era) configuration as an MOW tool car and painted in battleship grey.

We even got a tour through the car, including a look at some of the original tool car equipment (like those wooden bins) and the piles of lumber that were cut years ago and have been stored safely inside the car awaiting volunteer time.

The siding needs to be replaced from inside the car, so that necessitates some disassembly and then reassembly of interior appointments. The next area to be restored will be the remainder of the south side of the car, as shown below; this is the wall visible on the right side of the above photo. Victor and the rest of the Freight Car Department crew were just recipients of a Heritage Rail Alliance achievement award for their restoration of the PRR "bobber" caboose, so it was nice to get an update of their next venture.

New Doors and Other Weekend Updates

Frank writes...

Many thanks to our intrepid cub reporter, Steven, who sent along several photos from this past weekend at IRM. Steven reports:

Friday was another wet day but saw good public turnout considering the weather.  Not many volunteers were at the museum outside of those needed for operations. CA&E 431 was being used out on the car line again, once again a fan favorite of the two cars out running. The only other notable event was the lights on the third box car on the Steam Lead display going out. Joel, Jeff, and I did some troubleshooting for a good 30 minutes but couldn't get the car to turn back on.

Saturday's photos: First, the final day of HHR 2023 went fairly smoothly.  Joel did a bit of work to get the box car from Saturday lit up again for Saturday's visitors. It looked stunning once again for the last day of Operations 2023.

Overall, HHR this year was an absolutely huge success from everything I saw. This was my first year of HHR and I can't wait to see how the event grows the next few years!

Progress on the barn 4 extension: New garage doors have been installed on all tracks and the new lean. Luckily there was an extension cord ran from the 41 tracks opener so we could get the door open for our next project of Saturday.

The IT Class B switch move: Greg and Nick started up the 25-tonner from Yard 4 and headed over to Barn 6 to start a quick switch move. The goal was to get the B out and get it moved over the pit for some work next weekend.  The first step was getting the North Shore duo out of the way. Along the way to Barn 6, Richard joined the switch crew. He moved the North Shore cars out of the way and back into the barn. Greg and Nick moved the B over to Barn 4 through the new extension and over the pit.

Happy Holidays and have a great new year!

Christmas Greetings

 

Madonna and Child

with Saints John the Baptist, Jerome, Laurence, and Dominic

Mariano di Ser Austerio da Perugia, c. 1493

(I wonder, has anybody discovered anything interesting recently?)

And as at every Christmas, greetings from the grandchildren:

(As an aside, the Mariano altarpiece above was restored due to a grant from a couple who are members of the California Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museum.  That's certainly a worthy endeavor!  But since I could never qualify as a restorer of medieval art, I guess I'll stick to trains.)