Trolley Bus Department

The West Loop, freshly paved on 07/02/2011

The paving for the trolley bus west loop was completed on Friday, July 01!  It was part of the larger Depot Street project which rehabbed pavement that was up to 30 years old.  Dave Diamond and the B&G crew worked tirelessly over the past couple months to get this project done on time, by the 4^th of July weekend.  Although not yet open, we were allowed to carefully drive over the Central & Depot intersection to provide scheduled service on Saturday, July 02.  We are currently working with Max Tyms on procuring affordable line poles.  If all goes well, we will be able to start setting them shortly after Thomas.  Then the final step is to string the overhead.  Our hope is to have everything complete in time for scheduled service next season.

The last few weeks have been spent gathering, organizing, and consolidating overhead parts in preparation for the West Loop project.  Dave Diamond and the B&G crew are just about ready to start the paving phase of the project, and DC Line Superintendant Max Tyms has a line on trolley wire and is working on procuring poles.  Saturday, newly elected museum Director and department Asst. Superintendant Richard Schauer and I did an inspection on the Edmonton BBC 181 as it will be in service for attendees to the IT convention at the museum this Saturday.

Edmonton BBC 181 sits in front of the Andersen Garage as IT 518 occupies the carline 04/23/2011

Museum Director Richard Schauer works on getting Edmonton BBC 181 ready for 2011 service 04/23/2011

A few years ago, the drag link on Chicago Marmon 9553 failed.  At the time we decided to swap the remaining good on from Chicago Marmon 9631 to keep 9553 in service until we could fabricate repairs.  During this past week, Richard Schauer and I decided that it was time to get this done.  We weren’t sure how long this project would take, but it might be a significant amount of time.  So, to prevent the 9553 from blocking service coaches during this period, we began the day by doing a switch move, swapping the Dayton Flyer 925 with the 9553.  To accomplish this we had to move the two coaches in front of them, Seattle Twin 633 and Edmonton BBC 181.

181, 9553, 925 and 633 all outside during the switch move 03/12/2011

We then got to work removing the good drag link from the 9553.  After easily removing the front part (under the driver’s seat), the back section (behind the front wheels) gave us real difficulty.  With limited space and leverage under the coach, we decided that turning the front wheels a little would give us a better angle at loosening the connection.  Since the coach was stationary, turning the wheels puts a big strain on the drag link.  Unfortunately it proved a little too much and the good drag link began to fail.  To prevent a total failure we immediately stopped and returned to removing the rear section.  With the help of Warren Lloyd, we finally accomplished the task.

We brought it over to the Car Shop to remove all the parts and clean it up.  Luckily Car Dept. Superintendent Rod Turner was there and took a look at it.  He came up with a couple ideas on how it and the second one could be repaired.  No time like the present, so we set out to make the repairs on the “good” one.  Rod and Diesel Dept. Superintendent Jamie Kolanowski gave us a good deal of their time and expertise, and by the evening the job was done!  We’ll need to do some additional work to get the second one fixed, but a job that might have taken a very long time and possible be very costly, is well on its way toward completion.

Another great example of departments working together.  Rod and Jamie, we owe you guys big time for this one – THANKS!!!!!

On another front, preliminary work on the west loop project continues.  B&G Superintendent Dave Diamond has a quote for paving and DC Line Superintendent Max Tyms has a quote for trolley wire and is working on one for poles.  We spent some time discussing the project with Dave and we decided that we will start staking out the road once the weather and ground condition permits.

Don’t forget about the Snowflake Special coming up on March 27^th.  Tickets sales are brisk so don’t be left out!  Click on the link from the IRM home page and buy your tickets online now!!!

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.

We had a big crew yesterday and accomplished a ton of work.  Glenn Andersen’s nephew Gary is heading up the project to stabilize, make safe and presentable the front of the Dayton Flyer 960, which is currently in the front of the Andersen Garage.  He brought along his construction expert and neighbor Gary, along with high school art teacher Penny.  Gary took measurements and made some preliminary plans for getting the display “visitor-ready”.  Penny took pictures inside one of our other Dayton Flyers (925) and will commission some of her students to paint a mural depicting the inside of coach to be placed behind the 960’s front end.

Wally getting down and dirty, removing decades of crud from the wheel well

Meanwhile, Richard Schauer, Wally Unglaub, Bill Moran and I got to work on tire mounting.  Over the past several weeks, we have been working on removing the tires from Seattle Twin 633 and SF Fageol 614.  They were delivered to our tire guy where the rims were rehabbed, painted, and brand new tires mounted.  They came back a couple weeks ago and of course we were eager to get them back on.  With today’s crew, we were able to just about finish the project.  The hubs were very rusty and the wheel wells were coated in crud.  We cleaned out all the wheel wells and were able to prime and/or paint all but one hub.  We mounted one set of rears on the 614 and with the additional help from Warren and Steve from the Diesel shop, we completed the 633!  At the end of the day, we took the 633 out for a couple fantrips to test out the new tires.  They make a BIG difference!!!  Since we had to pull the Edmonton BBC 181 out to access the 633, we exercised it as well.  It performed flawlessly as usual.

Bill Moran wire-wheeling the rust off the curb-side rear hub

Edmonton BBC 181 getting a little sun to make room for us to work on the 633

Those two sets of tires consist of a discontinued size and have to be special ordered.  Needless to say they were not cheap.  I’d like to thank EVERYONE who has supported us with donations.  YOU made this purchase possible.  It is reassuring to know that we will never have to purchase tires for these two coaches again!!!  Over the past decade, we have outfitted over a third of the fleet with new tires, and several others have come to us with tires that are in good shape.

Working on mounting the street-side rear

Warren squeezes between the 633 and the wall to carefully mount the curb-side front

Getting ready to fantrip the new tires

Also visiting during the day was Bob Heinlein.  He and Richard continue planning for the March 27th Snowflake Special trip.  Tickets are NOW ON SALE in the online store.  We are planning on a six-car train and due to logistics, this is the maximum size train for this trip.  No additional cars will be added, so get your tickets early before they sell out!

Bob Heinlein and Richard Schauer discuss details of the March 27^th Snowflake Special

Next weekend our goal is to get the remaining tires mounted onto the 614.  Once the tires are done, we will turn our attention to cutting the wood carlines and starting to install the wood part of the roof of the LA Brill 8002.  In addition to tire duty, Wally loaded all the milled lumber for the roof into the coach in preparation for that next job.

Thanks to everyone who worked with us today.  We could not have accomplished as much as we did without each and every one of you.  THANKS!!!

We completed a big step in our work with the LA coach. Richard Schauer and I spent the day running the roof wood through the planer, twice, creating the tongue and groove necessary before installation. A BIG thank you to Rich Witt, Tim Peters, Bill Moran and Dave Fullarton. We could not have accomplished the entire job today without their help. Next step is installation. We need to cut and install the carlines, then the roof.