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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V.T. Pt. II: Meanwhile, Across Town...

I got to the museum kind of late on Vintage Transport Day but spent the afternoon helping out in the shop, where Norm Krentel is leading the charge on getting the 36's truck ready to put under the car. He removed a brush holder that had a bit of arcing damage and also took the brushes out of that holder. They had some damage of their own so we will likely order new ones. I helped out a bit with this and also packed the two motor armature bearings on the outboard motor (not the Evinrude kind!) including making up some new waste bundles. We'll need to make more waste bundles for the inboard motor and will also have to make some for one of the axle caps, but packing the latter can be done underneath the car if necessary. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of what we were doing, though in my defense it wasn't very photogenic. Instead, here are some more photos of the festivities up at the depot:









What, you mean you didn't know the CA&E ran to Dearborn Station? As I was arriving they were wyeing the coach train to put the side of the 92 with the repainted number towards the public, setting up the neat photo on the right.
Following all of this, I went for some training trips on our second-newest open car, Veracruz 19, and was qualified to operate it. It was running for much of the day and it looked like there was only rarely an empty seat - this will surely be a popular car with visitors! And in other exciting news, shown above is the first patch of Cleveland PCC 4223 to receive finish paint. I'm not certain whether this is the "final" finish paint or a test patch, but it's still a bit of a milestone for the car.

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More Motor Work

Most of the work I was involved with on Sunday concentrated on the motors for the 36. When I arrived Rod Turner had spotted the 36's truck over the pit and Norm Krentel was gathering tools for checking on the motor armature bearings. The motors in this truck were rebuilt in the 1990's, while the car was at Trolleyville, so they're in good condition. However we discovered one oddity with the armature bearings. The GE 66 motor has two separate cavities to access the armature bearing, one of which is packed with waste and the other of which serves as a sump - this side, connected to the waste cavity at the bottom, allows for oil to be pumped into the armature bearing and also allows use of a dip-stick to determine the oil level in the sump. However on these motors both cavities had been packed full of waste, making it impossible to properly oil the motor armature bearings. Norm and I extracted the waste and then I worked for a while with Frank Sirinek to make some new waste bundles; some of them are pictured below soaking in compressor oil. Norm used a pump to suck the old oil, and quite a bit of water, out of the motor armature bearing sumps.In the meantime, Jeff Brady and Ray Schmid took a break from working on Michigan Electric 28 to come over and work with Norm on one of the axle caps. We had discovered some rust on the axle at one of the motor bearing surfaces, so the axle cap was removed to allow for inspection of the axle. Ray and I used pinch bars to slowly move the truck while Norm and Jeff sanded down some pitted areas, cleaned off the surface and re-oiled them. When the car is made operational we'll want to monitor axle cap bearing temperatures, but we should be fine. Below (L-R) are Ray, Norm and Jeff inspecting the axle cap bearing, which is to the left of Norm's head.After this was done we reinstalled the axle cap and called it a day; next week we'll pack the motor armature bearings and that should complete substantial work on this truck prior to installation under the car. I did take a few breaks from this job to check on other things. I laid out the hole for the headlight at the east end of the 205; Rod is going to look into whether it's possible to obtain a 6-1/2" diameter hole saw to cut the hole for the headlight. And the 308 and 309 were operating. The latter car's governor is leaking and will have to be repaired or replaced but the cars ran well and, with the good weather, ran at capacity most trips due to the large crowd we had out at the museum. Below, passengers disembark under the watchful eyes of Joel Ahrendt and Jim West while a crowd waits on the platform to board for the next trip. If the CA&E had had this many passengers, they'd still be in business!
I also can't resist adding: the paint on the 308 is holding up pretty well, check out how shiny it still is!

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Get Your Kicks With a GE 66

We haven't forgotten about car 36,
Or the couple of things we need to fix,
And just as sure as our name is... OK, OK! I'll stop!!! I promise!

There are still a few minor issues that need to be addressed with the 36's motor truck. One brush holder is defective, so I found a replacement and removed it from one of our spare GE 66 motors from the 318, which we acquired back in 1977. Here it is on the bench, ready for inspection and installation.

I also went out to check on the 321's tarp; everything still appears to be fine.

I spent some time trying to adjust the governor on the 309, helped by Bob Heinlein's expert advice, but without much success. The adjustment screw doesn't seem to have any effect, and the governor is leaking worse than ever. I'm really not sure what to do next.

I went over to Barn 2, where Cody was working. He showed me how to mix some of the Centari paint used on the cars for brush painting, and I painted all of the handrails and the remaining folding steps as seen here. It's quite a bit different from the house-type paint I'm used to; once mixed, it's only good for a couple of hours before it starts to turn to goo, he says. On the other hand, it dries quickly, so I could put two coats on in less than two hours. Brushing it is not difficult with a little practice.

And Tim is making good progress on removing the rotten parts of both ends of Chicago Rapid Transit 1797, which is now in Barn 4. He already has a substantial load of new lumber inside the car, ready for making replacement pieces.

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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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A Tale of Two Trucks

For those interested in "the rest of the story" on the truck swap, below is something of a photo essay. I managed to take quite a few pictures during the process (at the expense of the work I was supposed to be doing!) and these are just some highlights.

Friday's activities for the IRM group commenced when we arrived at Warehouse Point at about 2pm, followed shortly by Jim Lillie's truck bearing the Pullman MCB truck destined for the 303 and a crate that held the body-bolster center bearing, some center bearing shims, and some abrasive brake shoes to take care of flat spots on the wheels of this truck. Unloading took place in the Connecticut Trolley Museum (CTM) parking lot.

At right, some of the crew goes over the game plan in the CTM parking lot. L-R: Jeff Brady (IRM), Norm Krentel (IRM), and Chris Chestnut (CTM), who was the de facto project manager for the entire operation.

At left, the beginning of the truck unloading project. The nose of the trailer has been detached and a front-end loader is being used to lift one end of the Pullman truck off of the flatbed.

At right, Jeff Hakner (Branford Electric Railway Association/IRM) on the left guides a CTM volunteer running a gigantic backhoe in picking up the other end of the Pullman truck to lift it off of the flatbed.

Following this, the Pullman MCB truck was towed over to the CTM shop where we packed the motor armature bearings with waste and oiled them. The motors in the Pullman truck were rebuilt 4-5 years ago in Cleveland but had not been run except in brief tests, so had not had their armature bearings packed. I don't have any photos of this phase because my forearms were covered in oil for most of the time. This work lasted until maybe 7pm, when we quite and headed for a terrific dinner at a local restaurant suggested by Chris.

The next morning, Randy Hicks (IRM) stands in front of the 303 before the commencement of activities. This photo was taken at 8am; little did we know we'd still be here 14 hours later!

The 303 was towed to a road crossing near the CTM shop where jacking commenced. Since we were using dissimilar jacks, a plumb bob was used to keep the car level. At left a coworker of Jim Lillie (both truckers were from the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton) watches the plumb bob as jacking commences.

At right, the car starts to go up. Chris Chestnut (back to camera) watches the plumb bob with a CTM volunteer inside the 303 while two more CTM volunteers (left) and Randy Hicks (right) work the jacks.

At left, Chris Chestnut (L) and Norm Krentel keep a close eye on the 303 as it is jacked clear of the Baldwin truck. In the left foreground is the car's center bearing, which had been unbolted from the car's body bolster before jacking commenced.

Following a lunch at the CTM food stand, the crew got back to work. With the car jacked up clear of the Baldwin truck, the truck was rolled partway out from under the car and the new center bearing (the one brought from IRM in the crate) was installed. At right, L-R, Norm Krentel, Randy Hicks and Chris Chestnut, with Jeff Hakner behind Chris, use a jack to hold the center bearing tentatively in place while it is bolted to the 303's bolster.

And with that, the truck was rolled free of the car!

CTM had a variety of heavy equipment on hand to do a variety of tasks. A combination front-end loader/backhoe was used for switching the trucks through the shop yard. At right, the Baldwin MCB truck destined for IRM and the 36 (left) is pulled away from the 303 while the Pullman MCB truck brought from Illinois (right) stands ready to be rolled underneath the 303.

Lowering the 303 onto the original Pullman truck it had been paired with for most of its service career went faster than jacking the car up but was not boring; at one point the carbody had to be steadied by a hand winch or come-along chained to a Caterpillar bulldozer. At left, Chris Chestnut (R) and another CTM volunteer work the jacks with the bulldozer blade in the foreground.

But finally, at about 5:30pm, the 303 was set down on the Pullman MCB truck and the jacks were pulled away. Seeing a car body weighing perhaps 50,000 lbs up on jacks is always a slightly unnerving site and it's always nice to see it back on trucks where it belongs!

Below, part of the group takes a breather and enjoys some of the cupcakes brought by Ray Bellock's daughter in honor of the 749 dedication being held back in Illinois that day. L-R in foreground: Jeff Brady, Norm Krentel, Randy Hicks and Chris Chestnut.

After this phase of the project was done, the 303 was towed over to the CTM pit where work started on making it operational - understandably a requirement of the truck swap, since it had been operational at CTM prior to the truck swap. Meanwhile the Baldwin MCB truck headed for IRM was towed to a spot near the CTM entrance where Jim Lillie's trailer could be lined up with the track, and the truck was towed up onto the trailer.

At right, Randy Hicks, Jeff Brady and Jim Lillie (back to camera) work on tying down the Baldwin truck before it heads to IRM.

Shortly after this work was done, the 303 was ready to test. The brake rods were reattached by Jeff Brady and Norm Krentel and Jeff Hakner reattached the motor leads. However after moving a few feet, the 303 wouldn't move any more. The motors worked but the car wouldn't budge. It took quite a bit of time but the problem was diagnosed to be one of the axle cap bearings, which had not seated properly and had become jammed in between the motor case and the axle.

This necessitated removal of the axle cap (not an easy job) and realignment of the bearing, which in turn meant jacking up the motor itself to free up the bearing. At left, Norm Krentel, Jeff

Hakner, Chris Chestnut and a CTM volunteer work on removing the bearing following removal of the axle cap.

After a lot of hard work on the part of Norm, Jeff and Chris, the axle cap bearing was correctly seated, the axle cap replaced and power put to the car once again. This time it rolled! After a couple of brief test trips, Chris ran it back into the CTM shop building under power at about 10:45pm as seen below.

The successful completion of this project means that both the 36 and the 303 will have the trucks correct to those cars. We can't thank Chris Chestnut and all of the CTM volunteers who helped on the project enough; they did nearly all of the heavy lifting and Chris himself coordinated every stage of the project, as well as having a hand in some of the toughest parts of the job. People from four museums - IRM, CTM, Branford and Electric City - had a part in this job and it was a tremendous example of the benefits of cooperation. Thanks to CTM and to everyone who worked on this project!

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