Here's another great photograph sent in by Phil Becker, taken June 27, 1957, a week before service ended. Car 460 is westbound at Weisbrook on the Aurora branch. This car, of course, was acquired by IRM as part of the Trolleyville collection and has been restored. Phil sent it along with a contribution to the Trolleyville fund. There's always plenty that needs to be done, so you can still help!
How many of us thought we'd never see this sight? Here is Chicago, Aurora & Elgin car number 409, repainted in authentic colors, at IRM. Photo taken July 4, 2010, while your blogging team, the CA&E wood car train crew for the day, awaited our turn in the IRM Trolley Pageant.
Charlie has already done quite a bit, of course, but Jim started today on surface prep for the next coats of paint. Here we see Jim (L) and his helper Cody (R) hard at work on the car, in spite of the brutal heat outside. (Sorry, I brought my camera but not the battery, so these are cell phone pictures. Anyway, it's proof that they're working hard!)
While CA&E 36 was in the RTA shops at Cleveland, all of the contactors were removed from the boxes, and three of them were sent by the Lake Shore Electric group to Redmond-Waltz, an electrical contracting firm, for analysis and quotes on rebuilding. However, Redmond-Waltz were never paid for their work and could no longer make contact with anybody. Fortunately, we were able to learn where the three missing contactors had gone and arrange for their return. Without them, we would be unable to complete the control system correctly.
It's the operating and fare schedule from the last season at Trolleyville, U.S.A. in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, a subtle reminder of the place these cars called home for over four decades. The next year the operation would be shut down and the 460 moved to dead storage in Cleveland along with the other cars.
And here is the 460 right behind it. As before, we had a large group of people on hand to help. I really didn't have much to do other than take pictures. So I did some odd jobs part of the time.
And these are our two forklift operators: our own Nick Kallas (L), and Richard from White Bros.
In other news, the heating/AC unit for the new shop extension arrived and was put on its pad. Here we see Dave Diamond running the Bobcat, as the two contractors watch.
After it's on both trucks, the Com Ed 4 pulls it away and moves it into Barn 8.
Then it was time for the 460.
Finally the 431 is coupled onto the 460 for the first time, and moves it over to Yard 8 for temporary storage. Julie Johnson was the motorman.
Here are the two cars as they were transported over the highway on dollies.
The 451 was unloaded first. Here one of the drivers is controlling the steerable rear dolly as the other driver backs the carbody into position. Silk Road has all the right tools for the job.
Here is a visual comparison of two types of trucks. The 409 (L) has a standard (for 1923) MCB-type truck with large GE 254 traction motors. The 451's truck (R) was built in 1945 and features a cast steel frame. The wheels are smaller and so are the motors.
After the unloading process was done, the 431 was brought up to act as a locomotive, since we don't have a good adapter coupler. Here we see IRM's first CA&E steel car train in motion!
Then it was time for the 409. I didn't take many pictures; it's pretty much the same operation. Chuck Amstein was there and taking a large number of pictures, so we'll post those when I get them.
I arrived early enough on Friday to do some sightseeing. There isn't much left at the old Trolleyville location; all of the track and line poles have been removed, except for this one by the office. The display track in the parking lot is gone. If you look closely, you'll see "Trolleyville" on the sign over the door.
Here's the 460 in the yard. This was the last car with a pantograph, so it was being used as a locomotive (and fan trip vehicle!)
Our friend Walt Stafa showed up on Saturday and was a great help, as always. Here he is helping with the 409.
Finally, here's a portrait of our three cars in the yard during a switch move.
Having a wonderful time, wish you were here!I've been getting periodic updates on the status of the steel cars at Cleveland. Due to various technical and weather-related difficulties, the cars still haven't moved from Central Rail shops, and probably won't until sometime next week. So we're still waiting.
They arrived at IRM about 1 PM on Tuesday, as seen here. We took the two drivers from Silk Road out to lunch. Don and Brian did a great job and can be very proud of their contributions to this project. We then spent another four or five hours until almost 8 PM switching trucks into the proper positions for the two cars. Due to various delays along the way, Nick had already decided to put off unloading the cars until 8 AM on Wednesday. Many of us stayed over at the Museum Tuesday night.
Well, you're not alone. Here we are discussing the proper procedures with Nick. We hired a large forklift from White Bros. in Wasco, and Nick ran our forklift. First, we lift one end off the dolly. Stan gives the signals to the operators.
Gerry, driving the Bobcat, pulls the dolly out of the way, then the truck is pushed under the car.
Then we do the same thing at the other end, and the 36 is once again a railroad car. I was busy working and wasn't able to take as many pictures as I'd like. Many others were taking pictures, so we welcome any submissions to fill out the sequence!
Actually, after wasting all this time and money, we realized that the easiest way was just to have two strong young men lift the car by brute force. It's not as heavy as it looks. You should try this at home, kids!
Finally, the cars were stored safely in Barn 8. Here we see the 36 on 83, later joined by the 319.
