Showcase Success

Updated - scroll down

The Museum Showcase weekend got off to a great start on Saturday, an unqualified success.

As usual, we were at the mercy of the weather. It started by raining from 9 to 10 or so, and we were beginning to worry it might be a washout, as it was two years ago. The rain stopped, but the skies continued to threaten throughout the day.

We had planned to run the three CA&E wood cars all day, but instead decided to take out the North Shore train. Greg Ceurvorst and I ran the 749 and 714, while my other two crewmen, Frank and David, served on the CA&E steel cars. This was the first time I had gotten to run the 749 in service.

It's a beautiful car -- at least until the motorman gets in the way.

The Veracruz open car #19 was running, and is always a crowd pleaser.

And here is the silver train coming in on track two.

Train Time At Wheaton

We started the day running the CA&E cars 409 and 431. That's David Wilkins in the doorway, changing poles. Then the 460 was brought out from the shop to make up a three-car train for the express run to Chicago.

One of the shop men at Wheaton brings out the necessary jumper cables.

The cables are hung over the fence between the tracks for easy access once the train is coupled together.

Another shop man (Joe Stupar) brings the 460 up to the 431, carefully watching the couplers.

Another shop man (Stan W.) installs the jumper cables over the door; one for the 600V bus, one for the buzzer circuit.

And the conductor (Frank) starts loading passengers at Wheaton for the run to Chicago.

By 3 I decided it had cleared up enough, and the three wood cars were brought out. Here are six CA&E cars lined up in front of the Wheaton station: 309, 308, 319, 460, 431, 409.

We put in a lot of money, time, and hard work to make scenes like this possible, but the results make it all worthwhile.

At supper time we had a barbeque at the Central Ave. pavilion and were entertained by the ever-popular West End Jazz Band. Good food and fellowship were had by all. Then it was time for our annual night runs.

Night Trains

The CA&E steel cars, the North Shore cars, two 4000s, the Zephyr, and the silver cars were running, as well as the VC 19. The South Shore sign and the signal display are especially effective after dark. I should have brought a tripod but didn't, so these photos aren't the best. As always, I'm counting on our friend Chuck Amstein to supply me with better pictures.

In any case, we all had a great time!

Update: I should mention that, as usual, there were many visitors from various places, including Orange Empire and Rio Vista. Tim O'Donnell and Alex Bruchac were visiting from Cleveland and were very helpful. We met Lee Wells, a CA&E enthusiast. Long-time member Pete Schmidt was there, and several more! And of course it's always nice to hear words of encouragement from the onlookers.

Frank adds...

I spent most of the day working as Julie Johnson's conductor on the CA&E steel train. We started out with two cars (right) but after the first trip the 409 and 431 were brought onto Station Track 1 where they were joined by the 460, fresh from having its numbers painted on over in Barn 4 (below left). The three-car steel train (below right) made quite an impression on the crowd. We made two more trips, both of them packed to the gills. If only the CA&E itself had been this busy in the '50's!













After the first trip, the steel cars were joined on Station Track 1 by the three-car wood train. Here the woods are seen speeding west past the depot. Click here to see a video of the woods coming into the station with the Zephyr passing by in the background.

After the day's operations were through, we ate at the members' dinner and took a look at a couple of the other restoration projects on display. Below left, Chicago Rapid Transit 1797 is showing tremendous progress courtesy of Tim Peters. Below right, while the rest of us enjoyed BBQ under the pavilion, David - as befitting his profession - dined on steak in the posh Boston & Maine diner being restored by our good friend and "Project 308" alum Jack Biesterfeld.












And finally we ended the evening with night operations. I was conductor on the first trip of the steel train, after which I bowed out for the remainder of the evening. A great time was had by all!

David adds.....

No photos. I left my camera at Randy's house. However, had I brought it, I wouldn't have had any time for photos. I managed to be conductor on 4 trains during the course of the day, as I got shifted around to meet operational needs. The four trains I worked on over the course of the day were the North Shore train Randy ran in the morning, the CA&E steel train, the CA&E wood train, and the Vera Cruz streetcar at night (complete with butchered Spanish announcements). During the course of the day, I punched a lot of tickets, walked the aisles many many times, chatted with passenger, changed poles, and whatever needed to be done. Joe, Stan, and Nick said I had the perfect "serious" conductor persona for the era. My feet are still a bit sore from all of the standing. Also a big thanks to Henry Vincent and Chris Buck who helped me man the 3 car wood CA&E train for their run.

I did, however, meet some IRM members from the St. Louis area, including a family who drove up specifically for the weekend. I also met a gentlement who reads the blog, who currently lives in Chesterfield, MO. If he's reading, please contact me off-blog! Overall, it was a great day. My one "joy ride" of the day was a ride in the Zephyr for a night run.

Read more »

North Shore 749 Celebration This Saturday!

On June 19, 2010, the Illinois Railway Museum in Union (McHenry County), Illinois will celebrate the return to service of Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railway Car No. 749, following completion of a 23 year restoration. Eighty-two years young and looking as good as the day it was new, Car No. 749 beckons to riders who want a taste of classic electric rail transportation—and beginning June 19, you can take a ride on it into the past. This historic interurban car served the Chicago to Milwaukee route—downtown to downtown—for more than 30 years. The car will be open for public viewing at noon; a ceremony and ribbon cutting will follow at 1 pm. After the ceremony, the car will make its first trips for invited guests boarding from the restored CTA 50th Avenue Station. It will continue in service for the afternoon. Additional Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railway equipment will be on display, including the historic 1941 Electroliner, which will be open for tours.

Built in 1928 at the Pullman Company's south side Chicago factory, Car No. 749 was acquired by the Illinois Railway Museum from scrappers after the abandonment of Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railway service in 1963. The 749 restoration is the first complete restoration of an interurban car attempted by the museum. Executive Director Nick Kallas describes the restoration as an excellent example of the quality and thoroughness of this all-volunteer museum, stating “While there was a core group of volunteers led by the late Roger Hewett who worked constantly on the car, we have identified almost 30 volunteers who at one time or another applied a special skill or just an extra pair of hands to a large project. Whether it was locating a mill in England that could still replicate the upholstery fabric, or fabricating a mold for an obsolete part, our volunteers applied their talents to overcome every obstacle.” Among those 30 volunteers are several youthful workers who were not even born when the railway line quit operation in 1963. Volunteer Scott Greig pointed out that new and unfamiliar skills were learned for the project—everything from metalworking to carpentry and wiring.

Executive Director Kallas also commented that without the financial support of friends and members of the museum, this restoration could not have taken place. The project volunteers also drew on their own financial resources to see the project through.

Museum Librarian Barbara Lanphier, who grew up riding the North Shore Line on an almost daily basis, reminds us that each year finds that fewer and fewer former riders and employees remain. The museum has contacted surviving employees of the long-defunct railroad, and has confirmed that they will be on board to relive a long-past part of their lives.

The Illinois Railway Museum is the nation’s premier museum dedicated to transportation history, featuring steam, diesel and electric rail transportation, motor buses, plus trolley buses from the United States and Canada. For more information on museum operations, visit the museum’s website at www.irm.org or call 1-800-BIG-RAIL (800-244-7245)—recorded information only.

Photo by Gwyn Stupar

Read more »

Spring is here, spring is here...

...life is skittles and life is beer! Okay, so spring may be a couple of weeks away but nobody told Joel Ahrendt, who has gotten an early jump on annual inspections. He, Greg Kepka and "Doodlebug Dan" Mulvihill were working on getting North Shore 714 ready for service, and although I was only able to make it out to the museum briefly I spent some time helping with the easy parts of the inspection, namely checking windows, doors and seats. At left, Joel is seen on the roof of the 714 while Jeff Obarek offers pointers on how he might be able to get down.

Meanwhile, I spoke briefly with the executive director on a possible grant application for the CA&E cars, visited Barn 2 to see the impressive progress on the 451 and 319, and got a chance to examine an interesting relic that was brought into the shop. Seen below, it appears to be one of the original interior stained-glass windows out of the 321! These windows had been removed and sold around the time the car was acquired by IRM and were apparently spread to the four winds by various collectors and sellers over the years. The Jewetts were the only cars that featured this particular design, and the only Jewett whose windows aren't either currently installed or - in the case of the 318 - safely stored at IRM in the 321.

Update: Per a request in the comments, here's a photo of interior windows from the 318, now installed in the 321. The design is identical, but the colors look somewhat different. Not sure how significant that is.

Read more »

North Shore Mementos

While cleaning up the 277, I came across a couple of interesting items. (L) A tag for a "Prepaid Emergency Shipment" on the North Shore. This one is somehow stamped for IRM on Sep. 23, 1973. Perhaps this was for some sort of observance of the tenth anniversary of abandonment, but that's a little before my time.

(R) A fragment of a CERA bulletin from 1948. Mopst of the news is about the North Shore. It is still a going concern and has just purchased new freight locomotives, although streetcar service is rapidly being phased out.

Read more »

The Blue Brothers

Today was the first day of public operation for the two-car blue train this year; the train was made up last night and both cars operated successfully for five trips today with Jim Nauer operating and myself as conductor. The day was not without incident, though. The 308 had some issues with a finicky triple valve that did not always release when a light brake application was taken (there were no problems with heavier applications). Other than a few hard stops there were no real issues, but this will be addressed. Fortunately we currently have a functional spare M3A triple on hand and will probably swap this in until the problems with the triple valve on the car can be fixed.

The other issue was that one of the springs on the 308's #2 end trolley base broke, as shown at right. This didn't affect operations at all; since the two-car train is bused together we simply used the poles on the 309 all day. This should be a straightforward and, hopefully, fairly simple fix.

After the end of operations I changed into work clothes and went over to Barn 4, where Joel Ahrendt, Joe Stupar and Stan Wdowikowski, with help from Dan Mulvihill, were working on reassembling rebuilt components for North Shore 757's type DH-25 air compressor. I mostly just sat around and watched (and took photos) though I did lend a hand for a few minutes.
Shown here, L-R: Joel and Stan tighten down the crankshaft; Joe, Joel and Stan working on lining up the reconditioned armature (foreground); and Joe replaces the top cover after installation of the field coil assembly (foreground, around the armature).

Read more »

757 Roof Work Complete - For Now

Today I installed the replacement roof board on the 757. It's caulked and fastened with screws. I'll let it dry over the winter, and it will be painted when the rest of the roof is done in the spring. Here is a view of the completed installation.

I also finished tacking down the new tar paper along the side of the car. So my part of the 757 project is complete for now.

Then I started work on Illinois Terminal 277. The trolley hook is bolted to trolley boards which are barely attached, and indeed sort of floating in the air. (L) I began by taking a series of photographs of the roof for documentation purposes, some of which are seen here. Later I'll take measurements and create some engineering drawings. But before the car can be operated, the trolley hook, at least, needs to be fixed. Fortunately the base seems to be securely mounted.

Since the bolts were frozen, I had to remove the hook by chopping out part of the ends of the rotten roof boards with a hammer and chisel. If we want to run the car this year, I believe the only secure way to attach it is with lag screws that will go down into the saddle, since the trolley boards are pretty weak. This is not, of course, what one would do normally, but it will be sufficient for a few trips. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the right size lag screws, so I'll buy a couple and do it next time.

Here's an interesting aspect of the 277. There's a trolley base and pole located near the front of the car, but this is not a spare or for back up movements. It's only for sleet scraping; the pole has a special sleet-scraper trolley shoe. The metal plate has a bracket for holding a retriever, which presumably the shops would have mounted in the winter. It's a little late in the day, but I decided to back off the tension on the base, since we'll never use this thing. It's held to the hook with a bolt so it can't come loose.

Here's a view of the 518's roof from the 277. The 518 is a trailer with no controls, but it has one trolley pole for back up movements. The IT had turning facilities at every end of the line, but since we don't, the 277 can only be operated with the 518 along so we can back up! As I mentioned before, the trailer is in good condition. Yes, I can see there's a hole in the roof, but we'll patch it up. The cars will not be cleared to run in the rain, that's for sure.

And in the other direction, the roof of the 205 looks pretty good from up here! This, of course, is only a cosmetic job.

I also went to the container to check on our spare parts storage, and spent some more time straightening up in the 321.

Lots of people were busy cleaning up after Thomas. I was tempted to take a picture of the abandoned right-of-way of the kiddie car track. Sort of like Rails to Trails.

Instead, on a more serious note, here's a view of the War Memorial.

Read more »