Wrapping things up

On Sunday I was able to spend the afternoon finishing up prep on several areas of the 205, defined as completing Bondo and sanding work and priming them with Rustoleum. This included the car's southwest corner post (see right); the bottom ends of all of the recently-installed post caps (below right); two-thirds of the angled dash panel at the east end of the car (below right); and the remaining portions of the letterboard at the east end of the car.











This work is more time-consuming than it looks, but the end result is acceptable, particularly given how badly rusted-through many of these components were to begin with. I also reinstalled a wooden spacer that holds one of the west end windows in place and went through the car putting away tools and closing everything up before my job largely takes me away from IRM for the next few months.

In other news, more fresh paint has shown up on the Cleveland PCC, and there was a large crew of Car Department workers including Jeff, Dan, Greg, Frank, and Joe working on North Shore streetcar 354 just a few feet down the aisle from the 205 in Barn 7. They were able to check over much of the car's complicated electrical control and interlock system with the intention of testing the car's overall electrical/mechanical condition as well as its ability to navigate the museum's trackwork with its compromise-profile wheels. At left, Jeff and Frank are looking over the car's controller while Joe looks on.

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Bondo, James Bondo

...and yes, I'm running out of puns involving Bondo. I spent most of Saturday working on Bondo-ing and sanding the 205. Most of the work was on the bottoms of the window posts that were installed last weekend; I sanded these down and smoothed out the joints between the new post caps and the car's belt rail (see right).

I also worked on the wooden spacer over one of the car's west end windows, in which I drilled out and doweled the rotted-out holes for the screws that hold it to the letterboard. And I worked on the angled dash panel at the east end of the car. As seen below, the angled panel was reattached to the vertical dash and I began Bondo-ing the joint between the dash and the dash. On the left, note that the angled panel has been completely detached by rust from the vertical dash underneath the headlight, and has "sunk" from its original location, noted with a black line; in center, my father and I have raised up the angled dash and screwed it into the vertical dash at the correct height; at right, I've begun applying Bondo to the joint.
Ironically, installation of the headlight a couple of weeks ago will make smoothing out the Bondo more challenging, but that's the price you pay for progress! Note too that the angled dasher at the east end of the car, which was replaced in Portland following an accident of some sort, is significantly more rusted than the Kuhlman-installed one at the west end of the car. Apparently Portland Traction used thinner steel in their wreck rebuild.

In the end I was able to complete the window posts and make progress on various other areas of the car that have seen deterioration. I also completed spray-painting the HL switch groups under the car black (right) and tied the pole at the west end of the car to the hook so that it won't unhook and swing around unbidden, which it had done due to the (intentionally) low spring tension on the trolley base.



There was a lot happening in the department. John Myhre was working with Frank and Mike on the West Towns car; Jon and Dan were working on the 65; Jeff and Norm were doing roof work on the Michigan car; and Ed and Eric were working on the Cleveland PCC. As seen below, the painter has begun putting finish color on the body, and already the traces of Cleveland Transit System's distinctive Raymond Loewy-designed livery are showing.

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Committing a Faux Post

I spent most of Saturday working on the 205 window post project. A while back we had had new window post caps made by R&B Metals in Woodstock; these would be installed directly over the existing window posts, most of which are badly deteriorated (see right).

So following advice on installation from Rod Turner, I was able to install all of the window posts on the 205 this weekend. This did not include the wider posts near the ends of the car, plus one of the original posts was not deteriorated and was not capped. The rest of the posts were badly rusted near the bottom and were capped. While not structural, these new "faux post" caps dramatically improve the appearance of the car. Below left, one of the caps is clamped in place; below right, the appearance of the car following installation of the post caps.










There was also the test trip with the 319 mentioned in the next post down; the car is seen below on the tail track before heading out onto the main line. Everything seemed to work fine. I think it's a keeper!

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The truck is ready

Yesterday when I arrived at the museum, Norm Krentel was hard at work on the motor truck for the 36. You'll recall that this is the car's original motor truck which was obtained in trade from the Connecticut Trolley Museum earlier this year. Over the last month or so Norm, Jeff Brady and Ray Schmid have been working to re-pack all of the motor armature bearings and axle cap bearings, which will be more difficult to access once the truck is under the car. They also replaced a damaged brush holder with a spare from stock. I helped Norm make a few final waste bundles for the last axle cap, after which we oiled all of the axle caps, topped off the motor armature bearings, and cleaned up our tools. "Doodlebug Dan" Mulvihill helped with the oiling job. The truck (seen at right) is now ready to go under the car!

After this was completed I headed over to Barn 7 and the 205, which hadn't seen much activity in a while. I was able to unscrew and move aside the interior wall panel under the center window at the east end of the car, allowing me to access the back of the car's exterior dash sheet. Rod Turner had drilled a large hole in the dash a few weeks back for the headlight, and with the help of Greg Kepka I was able to bolt the headlight to the east end dash. At left, Greg is seen with the newly-installed Golden Glow headlight that had been provided to the project some time back by Bob Bruneau. The final backdating step at this end of the car will be installation of the MU jumper socket, which is also on hand.

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Thomas Weekend

I was out at IRM on Sunday but since it was the second Day Out With Thomas weekend I was in operations and not working in the Car Department. I worked as conductor on our Chicago PCC car, the 4391, with Paul Sprenger as motorman. Paul is always a consummate professional when operating, never seen without a complete CTA uniform including necktie.
Note that, since I forgot to bring my camera, this is a Krambles-Peterson Archive photo of the 4391 from irm.org and was not, in fact, taken during Day Out With Thomas.

I did have a few minutes at the end of the day to goof around with the 205, though. Rod had cut the hole for the headlight at the east end of the car, leaving only a few thin strips of metal holding the blank in place, as seen in the cell phone camera shot below. I cut these in a few minutes and we're now ready to clean up the edge and install that headlight!

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205 Progress

I was traveling on business this past weekend, but the prior weekend some progress was made on the 205. I laid out the location on the east end of the car for the hole for the headlight, and on Sunday Rod Turner cut the hole using a 6-1/2" hole saw that he researched and purchased specifically for this project. A giant "thank you" to Rod for his work on this! The 205 had streetcar-style headlights mounted in the dash while it was on the Indiana Railroad, but when it went to Portland these were removed, the holes plated over, and hang-on headlights were used. At some point in Portland it must have gotten into an accident because the end sheet at one end was replaced - hence the need to cut the hole back into the car. A bit more work is necessary to complete the hole, after which the headlight will be installed. Next step after that will be installation of the MU jumper socket at the east end of the car. Below, the last photo of the car's east end dash in its Portland configuration sans headlight.

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Back to the 205

For those who were wondering, the 205 cosmetic restoration hasn't been abandoned - it has just taken a back seat to the work on the new Trolleyville cars. On Sunday I got a chance to move work on the 205 a bit further along. I brought out the new window post caps that had been made for the car last fall (below left) and had been primed at my house. After some discussion, Rod Turner recommended using epoxy to assist with affixing these to the car, so I used a wire-wheel to clean up spots on the backs of the post caps and on the car's original window posts (below right). The next step will be to actually install the post caps, after which prep work will move to another area of the car. The 205 is getting fairly close; the only areas still needing attention are a couple of wide window piers towards the ends of the car, the letterboards at the ends, and the east end dash, which needs the headlight and MU socket installed.









Afterwards I went back to working on CA&E cars. The Baldwin MCB truck we acquired from Connecticut had been missing one of the axle cap lids, so I went out to container row and removed one from one of our spare GE 66 motors and installed it (before and after, below). I also checked the waste in the axle caps - one will need to be re-packed, the others are likely fine - and removed a bit of water from one of the axle caps.









The main event of the weekend was Diesel Days; unfortunately I managed to miss the "Parade of Power" but I did snap a photo of this unusual (for IRM) creature spotted on the west wye. I suppose it's only a matter of time before this unit, or one like it, graces our rails as a legitimate member of the collection.

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Preparing for new arrivals

With the war over, attention turned to the home front - and the acquisitions we expect to be arriving shortly. Most of my time Sunday was spent working on preparations for the new Brookins acquisitions. These cars are in very good shape and will be put indoors as soon as they arrive - which means something else needs to go outside. The chosen candidates are the three THI&E bodies, two of which are still tarped from their 1996-2002 stints of outdoor storage; CA&E 321, which will make way for identical sister car 319; and CSL 4001, which has the advantage of being built entirely of aluminum and hence is largely immune to weather damage. The latter two cars had been conveniently stored right behind the 308 and 309, and swapped places with the blue cars Sunday so as to be right at the barn door. The next step will be to empty any needed parts out of these cars (321 has been the workshop car, as regular blog readers may know) and then tarp them. This was the first time the 4001 had seen daylight in over 10 years and the first time the 321 had been outside since 2006.

Thanks to Joe Stupar, Andy Sunderland, Stan Wdowikowski and Greg somebody for working on the switch move. See video of the switch move here.

Afterwards, everyone trooped over to Barn 10 to replace the tarp on THI&E 50, the "Clinton." This interurban car had been the brief focus of some intended cosmetic work a few years ago until it became obvious that the car's structure was in such bad shape, it was impossible to attach any siding or plywood to the car's window posts. A gang of people including the aforementioned Joe, Andy, Stan and Greg plus Dan Mulvhill and Jeff Obarek were able to get the 50's original (1996-2002) tarp back onto the car. (At left, Andy and Stan hoist a ladder while Dan and Joe look on in the background.) It will be tied down in the coming weeks before the car goes outside to make way for a CA&E steel car from Ohio.

Finally, during breaks in the action I was able to successfully test-fit the new window post caps for the 205 (see photo at right). These will dramatically improve the appearance of the car and eliminate - or, rather, cover over - most of the remaining rusted metal. I took the post caps home with me to spray with primer; I'll only have a few more days out at IRM before my job takes over my weekends for the winter, and I plan on spending those days working on preparation for the Brookins move!

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Structural repairs

I spent much of today making structural repairs to the 205 with Bondo - or, at least, they might be called structural repairs considering how much Bondo is holding the car together these days! I did Bondo and sanding work on the second wide window post from the west end as well as the letterboard at the east end and southwest corner post. I got enough done on the wide window post that by the end of the day it was ready to prime, as show at right. I also primed half of the letterboard at the east end of the car, which is a marked improvement in appearance. (Unfortunately the east end still doesn't look "right" because the MU jumper receptacle and headlight have yet to be installed.)

In other news, I spray-painted one and a half of the HL switch group boxes under the car with a first coat of black paint before running out (below left). I also figured out that there is enough room at each end of the 205 to allow the poles to be hooked down - when the 205 was switched back into Barn 8 the poles were swung off to the side since they stick out past the end of the car a few feet. I hung a block reading "look up" at approximate coupler/floor level from the trolley wheel at the east end of the car to ensure any switch move ground personnel won't miss seeing the trolley wheel (below right, block circled). For the information of anyone who might be doing switching in Barn 8, the 205's pole can simply be unhooked and moved off to the side if needed.

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Beehive of Activity

There was a lot happening today, much of it in preparation for Members Day - ahem, Museum Showcase Weekend. One thing that had nothing to do with Members Day was the revenue operation of the 308 and 309. The cars seemed to run fine all weekend with nary a problem, today operated by our illustrious crew caller, Jim West.


I spent most of my day working on the 205. The first order of business was to sand down the rough spots in the paint and re-spray them. As seen at right, these were pretty numerous due to my lack of skill in spray-painting, but by the end of the day the situation had been rectified and the car not only had a nice smooth coat of primer, but had lost that unsightly newspaper masking.

I did some work on other areas of the 205 as well. I cleaned off and spray-primed the switch group covers under the car, as seen at left. At some point coming up I can spray-paint these black, which will help the appearance of the car considerably. On this side of the 205 the switch group boxes are the only really obvious under-floor equipment besides the trucks, on which I haven't decided exactly what to do. They'll need to get painted black one way or another though.

I also did some Bondo work - at left is seen the impressive amount of Bondo applied today to the bottom of the second window post from the west end left-side door - and some wire-wheeling. The corner post at the northeast corner of the car was wire-wheeled, as was some more of the anticlimber at the west end.

Late in the day, an exciting development occurred - the Return of the Tangerine Flyer! The 277 made its return to the high iron today after some inspection work by crew of Car Department workers, but with an improvement over its previous appearance last October: this time observation car 234 was in tow! The three-car train made quite a striking appearance on the railroad; two car line trips and one main line trip were made. The latter was the first time the 234 has ever been on the museum's main line east of Seeman Road, as the railroad was extended to its current terminus since the last time the 234 had operated on the main! Weather permitting, this train will be operating this coming Saturday, the 19th - so don't miss it!

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Moving along

I was able to get a good deal done on the 205 over the past couple of days. Tuesday night I spent some time going through the car and removing objects that were obviously not needed - pieces of wooden blocking, plywood, old coffee cans and even a decrepit wooden door whose origins are unknown. Wednesday I spent some time helping switch the 205 around to aid with the 3142 motor work and also got to do some more needle-chipping. As seen in the Kirk Warner photo at right, taken of me sitting down on the job, I needle-chipped the car's two HL switch group boxes; these can now be primed and painted black.

I was also able to paint the roof ladder green to match the rest of the roof and painted the lower half of the east end anti-climber green as well. The photo at left shows the car at the Electric Park trolley bus turnaround on a "rare mileage" run courtesy of ComEd 4 and Henry Vincent; the newspaper masking is obvious, and will be left in place for the next week or two to allow me to (I hope) do some more primer spraying after a bit of touch sanding rough spots.

Overall, the 205 project is getting quite a bit closer to completion. Once the small amount of required re-spraying is done the car will be ready to spray paint orange, though at the moment I'd like to put that off until next spring so that the window post caps now on order can be sprayed at the same time. Some of the tasks I was hoping to get to this week, like cutting holes in the east end dash for the headlight, did not get done - but those can be accomplished in Barn 8. Measurements were taken for the wooden inserts over the end windows, which will not only allow for final installation of those windows but will also allow completion of Bondo work on the letterboard at the ends and priming of those areas. Roof work has been completed with the painting of the roof ladder, which is quite a milestone. The end is in sight! Thanks to all who helped out with switching and other work this week!

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More Miscellaneous Maintenance

Frank finished up his current round of painting on the 205 today, over by the pit. The good side and most of the ends are now nearly ready for finish paint. Here are some details. It will look great in Indiana Railroad orange!

The interior will be left as is.

The lower half of the anticlimber was green, the upper half orange.

Meanwhile, several of the guys were hard at work installing the repaired traction motor for the 3142 in its truck. The car was then reassembled, and successfully tested later in the day.

Note that these are outside-hung motors (on the outer side of the axles.) This allows a shorter wheelbase for the sharp curves on streetcar track. Interurban trucks always have the motors between the axles, for a longer wheelbase and better stability at high speeds.

I spent some time repairing seats in the 308 and 309 which had gotten out of whack. Frank and I then spent most of the afternoon switching cars in Barn 8. This turned out to be harder than it looks, but everything is safely arranged back on track 84, with the 277 and 518 at the door.

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Sand and Paint, Sand and Paint...

Today was Day Two of the 205 "Work Party" and Day One of "Frank's Boss Is Wondering Where He Is." It was a pretty quiet day on the property, with Tim Peters' work on "L" car 1268 the only other obvious activity. I sanded down yesterday's paint job and then sprayed a coat of primer on the car. Overall the surface finish thus produced is quite satisfactory, I think; there are a number of runs (nobody ever accused me of being a good spray painter) and some other spots I want to touch-sand tomorrow, but overall the side sheets of the car are a good deal smoother than when I started. Success!

In other news, I also primed the roof ladder, which will later be painted dark green, and attached the trolley retrievers that had been primed back in early May. The trolley ropes look a lot better cleated to the retrievers and not hanging slack. The photo accompanying this post is a cell phone photo; note the newspaper masking festooning the car for spraying on primer.

Know anyone with experience spraying Centari who would be willing to turn this car orange?

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Paint & Poles

The plan for today was to bring the 205 over to the inspection pit lead outside the Barn 4 car shop, where compressed air and multiple tools close at hand would make some of the work needed on the car easier. When I arrived the New York subway cars were in the way, but Jerry Saunders moved them out of the way and Joe Stupar ran the ComEd steeplecab to tow the 205 over to the pit lead.

I was able to spend virtually the entire day working on the car. Most of my time was spent sanding the car's side sheets and letterboard using a pneumatic DA sander and a pad sander (photo at left by Gwyn Stupar). Following this, at Gwyn's suggestion I used a roller to put another coat of primer on the side of the car, touching up rivet heads and corners with a brush. The sanding today was done with 60-80 grit sandpaper; tomorrow I'll go over today's prime job with 150 grit sandpaper and then put a coat of primer on the side sheets and letterboard with spray cans. Once that's done, the car should be ready to spray paint orange! I anticipate this happening in the spring.

One of the goals I had set for this week was to mount the trolley poles on the car. The poles had been sitting on the roof for the past couple of months, ready to go on, but without sufficient "head room" in the rafters of Barn 8. Joe Stupar was of invaluable help in getting these mounted today; at right, in another photo by Gwyn, he holds the east pole while I straighten it with a pipe wrench. The second pole had a kink right at the end that made it necessary to "heat and beat" it straight. Nick Kallas ran the torch for this operation assisted by Jon and Dan Fenlaciki, who are usually found working on that "other" Indiana Railroad car. Thanks to everyone who lent a hand! The 205 is now officially a "trolley car" for the first time in probably 50 years. The plan is to continue work on the car over the next couple of days on various fronts before its inevitable return to Barn 8. Stay tuned!

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Labor Day Holiday

Today was a holiday for me, at least. My wife and I went to the Labor Day parade, walked around the new Pingree Grove forest preserve, and had lunch. Then we turned up at IRM.

The blue cars were in operation, with Dan Buck (L) the motorman and Chris Buck (R) the conductor. We noticed that there's another seat in the 308 that needs to be fixed and a window shade to be adjusted, but really everything seemed to be going quite well. There was a good crowd out, and the Zephyr and the bilevels were running. And the West End Jazz Band was playing, what more could you want?

It wasn't a holiday for everybody, though. Frank was hard at work on the 205 over by Barn 4. Here we see that he sanded down the entire side of the car in preparation for painting with primer. Shortly after this picture was taken, the poles were installed with the help of Joe Stupar and others (see above.)

Finally, our latest acquisition has arrived on the interchange track. Santa Fe Diesel #543 was sitting on its 16-wheel flatcar, with a Winton prime mover as a bonus. It's a Fairbanks-Morse H12-44TS, whatever that means, but it is very historic: it used to switch Dearborn Station. It's also as close as we'll ever come to having an FM Train Master.

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