Recreational Switching

...at least that's what my father used to facetiously call the incessant switch moves that are necessary at a place as big, and as active, as IRM. On Saturday, there was a switch move in Yard 6. Bill Wulfert was there to document the action, and he sent us these photos. Thanks, Bill!

Here, ComEd 4 has towed the Illinois Central MU cars out to the tail track.

These cars are operational, but the wire in the yards is definitely not pantograph-friendly, so they get towed in and out of the building. In this case, there was no need to power them up.

There are several IC MU trailers preserved, but 1198 is the only preserved MU motor car.

Next to emerge was South Shore line car 1100. This, too, is operational, but uses a pantograph. It was being towed by CCW 300, which was only recently made operational again after its air compressor armature was rewound.

And here's another shot of the 1100.

Next was C&NW baggage-RPO car 1304, a 1901 car which is our second-oldest Pullman passenger car after the "Ely" (though Northwestern Elevated 24 is older, of course!).

Here's the 1304 and 1100 both hanging out in Yard 6.

And this is a rarely seen view: track 61 entirely empty except for North Shore caboose 1003 at the far west end. You'll note one of our favorite interurban cars there on the left.

And finally, this isn't part of the switch move, but it's exciting progress nonetheless. The gantry over the east doorway on Track 41 has been erected! Volunteers were working on fitting everything together. This gantry will support the flip-up "wire bridge" that will allow the trolley wire to span the doorway when the roll-up door is open.

News from Green Bay

Gregg Wolfersheim sends us another update on the Green Bay car (GB&W 109, built as KGB&W 64).  This is much better than letting me or Frank describe it, since he knows what he's talking about:

Some more of the north side of the 109 got some green applied around the oval toilet window.

The east door is done with the hardware all shined up. Next is the west door.

Some of the trim over the windows was never refinished. This is some of it. Jack is slowly stripping it layer by layer. So far it looks like 4 coats of paint were put over the varnish! Yellow, green and tan have been exposed.

On the north side of the car, Jack is finishing the panel that was applied where the bay window was. He's been experimenting with various stains, and found a mix that is pretty close to the original wood and stain. Soon he will transform this area to more closely match the posts.

In other news: The uncoupling mechanism is missing a part that connects the lock with the pull rod. I've set the rod up to about where it should be. Visible is a horizontal pin that I believe is the pivot point for the missing lever that connects everything. We're looking for information on this type of drawbar so we can make it complete and functional. It's a Simplex type.

Here's the setup with the pull rod still in red.

The Threshold of Pain

On Monday I started working on a train door for the 460, which has come apart in service, as you can see here.  There's a metal plate on the outside which covers up the extent of the damage, but the bottom rail has come loose and is hanging down.  This will take some work to fix.  Evidently the door has been rubbing on the threshold, and this should have been reported.

To check the threshold of pain, I took a large try-square from the shop and checked the position of the threshold relative to the location of the hinges.  The threshold casting has heaved up on the hinge side.  I was able to remove the four screws that hold it in place, but could not get it free.  That will have to wait until next time.

The stile on the hinge side was badly broken; it has been trimmed and I made a ship lap to attach a patch piece, as seen here.

New wood for the bottom rail was taken home, as I can work on it in my shop.

Let's see what else was happening in the shop.

Tim continues work on the 1268, of course.  Here are two nicely repainted doors.

The Michigan Electric 28 crew -- Fritz, Phil, Pete, and others -- continue on installing the ceiling in the baggage compartment.

And Fred continued stripping the side of the car.

Wiring the controllers on the 306 is progressing.  John was working on the east end; this is the west end.

Finally, all of the third rail beams have been moved into the barn to provide working space for the door.

I was able to paint the rest of beam #4 black.  

Please put the stakes back in before moving the cart.  Thanks!

Sunday Miscellany

Frank writes...

It was a busy day in the car shop on Sunday, and it seemed like a lot got accomplished.

My first task after arriving was to put green paint on the rest of the air compressor wagon, as shown here. This included touching up some spots like the safety chains, but did not include the wheels. Hope springs eternal that enough donations will come in to fund replacement of the solid rubber tires, and if that happens, the paint job will be messed up anyway. So, out of an abundance of optimism, we're putting off painting the wheels green. Want to help? Send a check to IRM with "RCAR - for AX545 wheels" on the memo line - and thank you!

I also put a coat of green on some components that had been removed from the AX545, including the two halves of the commutator cover and the two parts of the air strainer (plus the pipe to the air strainer, which was hung in the spray booth). Appeal to whoever removed these parts: can you please reinstall them? Not having removed them myself, I'm not exactly sure how everything goes back. Thank you! Once everything is put back together, the air compressor wagon should be ready to move out of the shop.

After that, I went over and spent some time in the 18. After we confirmed last week that the heat contactor worked, the next step was to test the thermostat itself by letting the car warm up and seeing whether the heat shut off. Rather than sit idly in the car for an hour or two, I figured I may as well paint a couple more seat backs. Above is the "before" view...

...and here's "after." With this, I only have two more seat backs in the back half of the car to paint, and then we can proceed to the front half of the car. The bad news was that the car got quite toasty and the heat never shut off until I manually turned it off, so it looks like the thermostat is not working. At some point, we can remove it and either repair or, if necessary, possibly replace it. It looks like the same kind of thermostat that's on the CA&E curve-siders, and in fact probably dates to very nearly the same era, given that the 18 only acquired electric heat in the mid-1940s.

After dinner, Nick, Joel, and I moved the two third rail beams that have just been completed (or nearly so) onto the "third rail beam cart" out in the barn. Astute viewer that you are, you'll notice that one still needs some black paint, which is why it was left facing outward. These four beams will go onto the 460.

In other exciting news, Zach and the Electroliner crew were able to get the electric markers lit. This is a sight that hasn't been seen in some 60 years! When the 'Liners were built, they used the same kerosene markers as the rest of the fleet. But the North Shore found out that something about the airflow over the train tended to extinguish the markers, so the trains acquired electric markers like the ones shown. When sold to the Red Arrow, they used these markers briefly, but then that line installed permanent markers in steel boxes over the end windows. The 'Liner crew has painstakingly recreated the correct electric markers and they're now wired in. We don't tend to report much on Electroliner happenings, but Zach reports that the restoration team has completed 90% of the work restoring the interior of the A1 car, including seats now reinstalled in the smoker section; they're currently painting the ceiling in the cafe car; and repainting work in the A car is now beginning.

Yet more exciting news: the "mechanical crew" of Jimmy, Will, and Ashtin, with some help at various times (I believe) from Greg and Dan, was able to remove the last wheel from New Jersey Transit 4. Some of the bolts were pretty well stuck, but heating them and then letting them cool did just enough to break the rust that the guys were able to get the bolts out. Once the last full-width tread wheel is installed, the car will be rolled over the pit and the other three traction motors will be tested (the only motor tested so far was, unfortunately, grounded).

Thanks to Brian LaKemper for sending the above and below photos of yet more progress that was made on Sunday. The D13 towed the IT Class B out of the barn so that the replacement air tank could be hoisted into the locomotive, as shown below.

In other news, Richard was making more progress on the rail display; Brian was working on rebuilding feed valves, one of which is intended to go into the 319 (thanks, Brian!!); Greg, Jimmy, and Good Nick were out on the railroad for most of the day doing DC line work that included moving all the hardware from a failing pole near the west end over to the replacement pole; and the "mechanical crew" mentioned earlier, with help from Joel, worked on removing bad bushings from brake beams (say that eight times fast) off the 3142. New bushings are on order. And, of course, Joel was doing various things to organize and rearrange the shop.

Besides all that, there was also a nifty switch move on Saturday. Our hardworking freelance photographer, Bill Wulfert, was on the scene and sent us some photos. We'll have those posted shortly.

2025 Mileage Report

Joel has assembled his mileage report for 2025, listing out all the revenue mileage run by equipment in the Electric Car Department.

2,189 - CA&E 460

1,892 - CNS&M 749

1,624 - CNS&M 714

1,279 - CA&E 431

1,156 - CTA 3142

376 - CTA 4410

376 - CTA 4412

365 - CA&E 319

362 - CTA 4391

324 - CSL 1374

301 - CA&E 309

264 - CE 4

241 - CRT 1754

237 - CRT 1797

223 - CSL 144

146 - IT 101

136 - IT 1565

134 - IT 234

134 - IT 518

128 - CNS&M 251

122 - VC 19

94 - NWERR 24

90 - IT 277

60 - CA&E 308

22 - CTA 2243-2244

16 - CNS&M 229

11 - IT 415

5 - IC 1198/1380

12,309 - TOTAL

It's great to see that the 460 was first on the list this year! Those new seats are seeing plenty of use, just as we had hoped - thanks again to everyone who donated to the "Take a Seat" fundraiser. Work to improve the 460's condition continues, of course, with the ongoing construction of a new set of third rail beams for the car. This report doesn't list out every mile run during the year, of course; non-revenue mileage like switching and the occasional test trip generally aren't included.

Intriguingly, compared with last year's mileage report, it looks like we ran exactly the same number of cars in service - 30 - despite there being several changes. The 1268, 141, 18, 65, 4290, and 1702 did not run in revenue service this year for various reasons, while the 229, 251, 1198-1380 and 2243-2244 were additions.

Wednesday Excitement

We'll start with some interesting property news -- repurposing the south half of the office building.

For many years it's been used as the Signal Dept. workshop and storehouse.  But they're planning to convert this into additional office space, so all the signal department property is being moved to the new Southwest Storage building.  

When I joined IRM, this was the only heated space on the property, and served as a workshop, meeting room, storage, office, and break room -- all at once.  It was pretty crowded!  Eventually this building will be replaced, but for now this is another step forward.

And in Car Dept. news, on Wednesday I started by putting a coat of black on the bottom surface of both third rail beams, and on the front of #4.

But a more important issue with the 460 is that both train doors need serious repair, as seen here.  This is the #2 door, and the bottom rail and the inner stile have come apart and need replacement.

I unscrewed the hinges, and Fritz and Rich helped me get the door down the steps and into the shop for rebuilding.

So that's my next project.  I started on making a new bottom rail for the door.

Meanwhile, several other projects were going on.  Jon Fenlaciki was making a new toolbox and set of wrecking tools for the IR 65.

They look brand new!  Actually, all of our cars that still have their tools (that haven't been stolen by railfans) look almost new also.  I have to wonder if these tools ever got used back in the old days.

And then several people are working on the Michigan car.  Here we see Rich and Fritz working on the ceiling of the front compartment.  

And work continues on the Green Bay car.  I hadn't noticed the fancy door plate before:

Tim continues to restore the 1268:

And finally, here's what a CA&E sleet scraper actually looks like.  You can see how worn down it is, and like many of them, it had new pieces of steel welded on, rather than making a new casting.

And I'm sure there were other things going on elsewhere on the property.  Even in the middle of winter, IRM is always a busy place!

The Latest on KGB&W 64

You'll be just as thrilled as the rest of us to know that restoration work on Kewaunee Green Bay & Western 64 is continuing in the Electric Car Shop! Many thanks go out to our intrepid cub reporter, Gregg Wolfersheim, who sends along this report of progress on our favorite railroad passenger coach.

Lots of progress has been made on the Green Bay car. Here, the grab irons are about to get primed on the east end of the car.

The end beam is in paint, ready for attachment to the car.

The north steps are painted and the grabs are in gray primer.

The beam is now fitted. Trying to line up the bolts with the holes in the wood and steel was a real challenge. But, we got it!

The large piece is the buffer plate. Smaller is a shim for the platform deck. Both in damp proof red primer.

The diamond plate deck is being needle chipped by Jack.

The old deck was rotted out so we made a new one out of leftover siding scraps. Here it is up side down awaiting primer.

The wood deck is now in paint, as well as the diamond plate in the background.

The doorway is green and the beam with buffer is done.

Where the south side step box is attached to the car, we had some rotten wood around the holes. Lag bolts are used to hold the steps up. Jack started to carve out the area trying to find solid wood. He found it, three hours later!

Using mostly hand wood chisels, about an inch and a half was removed. This area is only about16 inches by 6 inches. 4 wood dowels were glued into the old holes. When the new lag bolts are applied, we will drill part way into these dowels. Next, a new piece of hard wood was fitted in this area.

After the block was applied, new siding was nailed in place. Most of this won't be visible once the step box is installed.

Once again, Jack was needle chipping and then wire wheeling the other step box.

The platform deck is now carriage bolted down.

The steps are in primer.

The deck is freshly painted. Also, the left handrail with the hand brake wheel/shaft is getting painted in the foreground. Next will be installing all of this on the east end of the car.

The door has been prepped for painting.