IRM Blogs

This weekend was another very productive one for us.  Jerry and I spent Saturday doing more cleaning and organizing.  Dave Diamond was able to get us a good deal on a couple fireproof cabinets for storing paint, etc.  One for the Hoffman Garage and one for the Andersen Garage.  Thanks Dave!  We also got the majority of the motor bus collection outside for a couple days and Jerry pressure washed the floor of the Hoffman Garage.  Thanks again to Dave for lending us the power washer.

Max Tyms makes repairs on the Trolley Bus overhead Sunday morning.

On Sunday Max Tyms was able to repair the lightning damaged section for trolley bus overhead – a BIG thanks to Max for taking care of this right away!!  We wasted no time after his repairs were completed and brought out our oldest coach (CSL Brill-American 84) for a little exercise and our newest (Seattle MAN 4020) to provide some unscheduled service for our visitors.  At 4:15 we received a call from our White Bros. trucker Mel, who was transporting the first of the coaches that we are getting from the OERM collection – Seattle Twin 633.  We went to the back gate, let him in, and directed him to the Andersen Garage.  There we proceeded to unload the coach.  As always, Mel delivered the goods undamaged – thanks Mel!

Seattle 633 arrives at its new home, the Andersen Garage.

As with any new arrival, it immediately saw attention.  Having lived out in the California desert for 25 years, you can imagine the spider webs, dust, dirt, dust, grime, and did I mention dust?  Jerry and Richard went to work inspecting, adjusting, cleaning – basically giving the coach a good going over.  By 9:15pm, a short 5 hours after its arrival, we were able to run the coach into the Andersen Garage under its own power!!!  There are still some issues that will keep it out of the operating fleet for a little while, bad trolley bases, some low-voltage issues, and it DEFINITELY needs a thorough cleaning, but we will be doing our best to get our newest acquisition out onto Central Avenue for everyone to enjoy.

Seattle Twin 633 joins Seattle MAN 4020. Although they missed being in service together in Seattle by just a couple years, they will have a chance to serve together here at IRM shortly.

Coming up Saturday, we plan on operating Chicago Marmon 9553 as supplemental service while the trolley pageant is taking place on the main line.  We are looking forward to a good show from the Car Department and love the “can do” attitude that we see over there lately.  Keep it up guys!!!!

Ah the best laid plans...We were planning on operating Chicago Marmon 9553 for Chicago Day and were right on track until Friday morning.  That's when nature decided to throw a monkey wrench into the works.  Lightning struck the trolley bus overhead right in front of the Diner.  It burned up a hanger and a support wire.  Max Tyms was right there to get the wire temporarily back into place, and of course, put the trolley bus line out of service.  He and Jerry Saunders worked on the permanent fix Friday, getting it partially done.  We still needed another part to finish the job.  Knowing Glen Andersen probably had the foresight to squirrel some away for future use, Jerry, Max, Charlie Strong and I searched all our storage locations, finally coming up with the necessary part around lunch time (thank God for Glen!).  Max then cleaned, re-tapped and painted it, making it look like new.  Later in the afternoon Max positioned the new bucket truck and got all the necessary tools and span wire in place to make the fix.  As he started to raise the boom, the truck burst a hydraulic hose.  That put an end to our hope of getting in a few runs late in the day for all the CTA guys that were there for Chicago Day.  Hopefully Dave Diamond and his crew will be able to fix the truck and Max will be able to make the repair so we can provide service on our next scheduled day, July 4th.  Thanks to everyone who jumped into this project on a moment's notice.  We really appreciate the support.