Another exciting weekend in the Trolley Bus Department. On Friday, Jerry Saunders moved an entire row of motor coaches out of the Hoffman Garage to facilitate the unloading and garaging of the SF Fageol-Twin 614. I arrived in the afternoon to help move some parts from the back of the garage. On Saturday, Jerry and I chased our new coach through the bustling streets of downtown Union, IL, taking videos.
Upon arrival, we found that unloading it was very simple. After all these years, the handbrake still worked great, so we tipped the trailer back, and with Jerry at the wheel, we let gravity do all the work. We then towed it into the Hoffman garage with the department Dodge Ram locomotive. After lunch we pushed it back out on Central Avenue and went to work on the initial cleaning and inspection. We found the coach to be in a bit rougher shape than our last OERM coach, the Seattle Twin 633 – which took us 5 hours to get running, so we expected the Fageol to take us more time. We turned out to be correct as it took 5 and a half hours to get the Fageol to run itself back into the Hoffman Garage under its own power.
To be fair, we had much more help Saturday. A big thank you to the usual suspects, Richard Schauer and Jerry Saunders as well as Warren Lloyd, Charlie Strong, Al Reinschmidt, and Nick Kallas (yes, you read that correctly). This crew gave us a big hand in the unloading and initial cleaning of the coach. As always, our trucker Mel came through with his usual professional job and transported the coach across the country without incident.
Naturally there are some issues with the 614. Unfortunately the seats did not fare as well as the 633 – most are split, sun baked and/or downright torn up. Although the windows were covered, this coach lived out in the desert longer than the 633, and I suspect whoever came up with the great idea of covering the windows didn’t think of it until several years after the 614 arrived at OERM. As we experienced with the 633, there are some wiring issues which have to be tracked down. And dirty!!!! It took a month of weekends to get the 633 looking as nice as it does today; I suspect it will take at least twice as long with the 614.
On Sunday, Jerry and I did some paint touch-ups on the NY Cars and worked on the insulation for the power cables on the roof of one of the cars. We are planning on washing the interior of the cars on Friday for their first day of revenue service on Member’s Day this Saturday. We are also planning on some nighttime runs after dinner.
Yesterday we trotted out the Sand Springs 68, and we went over to the Barn 4 pit area for maintenance and inspection duties. Two relatively minor defects were noted (not real serious) along with the more routine oiling around, etc. That completed, we continued around the car line loop and back to Barn 4.
Since the car first became operational at IRM after 4 decades of restoration work, I have kept a log of when and how much mileage was run. (Maybe this is a sign of age, or worse yet, obsessive compulsive disorder.)
As of yesterday the Sand Springs 68 has traveled at IRM under its own power for 68 miles!
Comments
Wed, 04-11-2018 11:28
You mention in the header that you would like to have the Electroliner operational by its birthday. Was it?
Sun, 04-08-2018 20:03
As a child, IRM was always my favorite place to visit. Well, other than grandma's house next to the Geneva Sub. It's been many years since I now [...]
Wed, 04-04-2018 16:01
Those temporary walls could be constructed in a way that allows their reuse after the phase is done to close off the new phases.
Tue, 03-27-2018 03:08
Why did the smoke box cover on the shay need to be replace Do?
Mon, 03-26-2018 16:29
It never ceases to amaze me of the diligence and passion of the current mix of volunteers associated with IRM in 2018. Back when I was a active [...]
Mon, 03-26-2018 11:10
Awesome paint job Jamie!!! I never would of thought with the Rock Island history this locomotive in this scheme would of been preserved. Thanks for [...]
Sun, 03-25-2018 23:56
The Hick's blog lists it as Fruit Grower's Express FGEX #55407. Arrived in Union June 2016.
Sun, 03-25-2018 20:51
Good job on the diesel update 2018. Sincere, Ethan A.
Sun, 03-25-2018 20:45
Good job on the steam update 2018. Sincere, Ethan A.
Sun, 03-25-2018 00:12
Bill, The 1990 Roster has the PFE #68428; this may be the reefer that we saw moved. It is a rare car and deserves a paint job. Ted Miles, [...]
Fri, 03-16-2018 11:10
It would be rather difficult to operate an 11,000 Volt AC locomotive on our 600 Volt DC wire.
Thu, 03-15-2018 05:57
Good job steam update. Sincerely, Ethan A.