ARM Convention 1978 - Updated

The 1978 ARM Convention was held at IRM in August of that year. Many cars weren't running because we had suffered a serious flood on July 4th that year, and the North Shore cars were still out of service, among others. But we did the best we could and a good time was had by all.

I just received a great series of pictures of the convention taken by Alan Zelazo who was part of the Branford contingent. He has allowed us to see them here. For me, these really bring back old memories. Thanks, Al!

The 309 really looked wretched in those days. I just had no shame.

I'm probably up in the cab.

You will notice that there was no pavement anywhere.

Update: The Branford group also took a ride on the old IC MU cars on their way to IRM.

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309 Log Book

Here's another page from the log book, for Member's Day in September 1986. (The pages are too large for my flatbed scanner, so the dates are cut off.) Interior restoration was in progress, and only about half of the seats were installed. Note that Frank helped with sweeping the car and cleaning windows, and then helped as conductor while the car was running. He was four years old at the time.

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309 Log Book

I started keeping a log book of the restoration of the 309 in 1978, using a large ledger book. Frank suggested I post a sample page or two, so here goes. This book is still valuable; every so often I need to look up some forgotten detail. Starting in 1993 I kept the log in electronic form, and since 2008 this blog records our progress.

This page is from November 1979. Note that Andy Sunderland, John Andresen, and Carl Illwitzer were new (to me, at least) at the time. Hence "all spellings doubtful"!!

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"In order to survive as a Museum"

Bill Wulfert handed me this page from the annual report of 1961. Some things haven't changed much: the need for safe working habits and the need for work on the 1268, among others.

The baggage section of the 277 is about 8' square, so how much of a concessions department could there possibly have been? I believe they had a cooler for pop and some shelves with books and knick-knacks for sale.

The best part is the last paragraph: Mr. Mizerocki makes it sound like the Museum is on the verge of failure. It's easy to laugh now, but in fact it's only because people did assume their responsibilities that IRM was able to find a permanent location and expand into its present extent. He actually makes a good point: our future is never guaranteed.

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An Uncertain Fate

Here's another newspaper article in the Hicks Car Works archives, from the Tribune of November 1957. Most of the information is reasonably accurate. (The idea of adapting the cars for subway service by cutting in new doors is obviously impractical.) The company was valuing the cars at $10,000 apiece; of course, none of them were sold at that price. As you probably know, most of the cars sat outside for the next five years deteriorating, and we're lucky twenty of them were finally preserved.

And stop stealing the trolers, you thieves!

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May I Have the Envelope, Please?

Bob Kutella says:

I was taking in the mail today and noticed this envelope!!!

Actually, I just came into possession of well over 200 envelopes, representing a snapshot in time of railroad commerce in the USA. These are mostly from February 1955, give or take a month, and all are addressed to Union Refrigerator Transit.

So this may have double significance with the recent acquisition of CA&E cars and our well represented refrigerator cars from URTX.

Apparently, every month, every line that handled their private owner cars were required to report movements to the owner, and this collection has many examples of that correspondence from large and small railroads, and fallen flags abound. The North Shore, Illinois Terminal, Peidmont and Northern, Bamberger, and Portland Traction are there to name a few that the trolley fans should recognize.

We would hope to be able to assemble these into an exhibit for display later this year. Anyone interested in helping, or with any specific ideas as to format, etc, please contact me.

Bob Kutella

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