Trolley Bus Department

Saturday morning started out at the post office, mailing out a bunch of Snowflake tickets.  Don’t forget, less than 3 weeks left to get your tickets soon!  Proceeds go toward acquiring a pair of CTA 2200s once they are retired from service.

Upon returning to the property I had a long talk with DC Line Superintendent Max Tyms regarding our ongoing planning to build the long awaited loop on the west end of the trolley bus line.  His attitude is exactly the same as ours, “let’s do it!”  He had some excellent observations and suggestions.  Former DC Line Superintendent Bob Rayunec also visited.  Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to talk with him, but he had a lengthy conversation with Max about the loop.

I then returned to the Andersen Garage where Gary Andersen was already taking more measurements in preparation of his work with the front of the Dayton Flyer 960, which he will be making ready to be an interactive display.  Once he finished, Richard pulled out the Edmonton 181 so we could get to the Chicago Marmon 9553.  The Chicago Marmons have the longest turning radius, so after looking that number up in the book, we decided to do our own test.  After turning the coach 180 degrees, we measured outside bumper to outside bumper.  We figured that we need a loop measuring an absolute minimum of 99 feet.  Fortunately we have a little over 120 feet from Railroad Ave. by the present wye to the evergreen tree line at the parking lot fence.  Plenty of room for our loop.

Next step is to see what stock of overhead parts are squirreled away in our many storage containers, which we will continue to do over the next few weekends.  We will also continue to work with Dave Diamond on the exact placement of the loop for pavement, and with Max for placement of poles and overhead needs.

With commodity prices at record highs, the copper overhead wire is expected to be one of our biggest expenses.  If you would like to help, please consider a donation to the Trolley Bus Department.  If all goes well, we all can enjoy trolley bus service free of backing moves in the very near future.