Trolley Bus Department

After spending the morning filling the last of the Snowflake Special ticket orders, Richard and I decided that we would make some inaugural runs for 2010.  We took the Edmonton 181, the Seattle 4020 and CTA 9553 out for a couple trips each.  Mike and Tom Morrow were in from Michigan and Ohio respectively for the Snowflake trip tomorrow, so they rode along.  Tom runs trolleybuses.net and has been very complimentary in his treatment of IRM in the world of trolleybuses and Mike has been a great supporter of us for many years.  It was great to see them again and to have them along on the first trips of the year.  Next weekend Richard and I plan to finish up measurements of the last few pieces for the roster, then video our overhaul of a retriever.  This will give us a permanent record of the procedure for our archives,  and we will be able to share this info with Sandtoft (England – home of another Edmonton BBC) and perhaps other museums.  Sorry no pictures, I just shot video today.

We have endured some fairly serious health issues these past few months.  A majority of the department was hit with appendicitis (and you thought it wasn’t contagious).  First Jerry in late December, then Richard, less than two months later.  Jerry’s burst so his recovery will take quite a while, but Richard caught it early and he is already back to 100%.  I’m keeping a close watch for pains down there!

 

Over the last 15 years, after struggling with those that act up, we must have said a hundred times, “we need to have a retriever day” to fix them.  Well, retriever “day” has turned into retriever winter.  Wally, Richard and I have been tearing apart, cleaning, oiling, identifying parts needing replacement, and putting back together retrievers all winter long.  Until the weather warms up enough to start working on the LA Brill, we will continue to do this.  We just about have the entire operating fleet ready to go with newly refurbished retrievers.  Thanks to Richard’s expert oversight, no one has lost any fingers in the process!  A HUGE thanks also to the Car Department for letting us invade their shop to take advantage of their tools, parts washer, and most importantly, their building heat.  I know that Saturday there were people looking for painter’s tape, dust masks and small scrapers.  As a small token of our appreciation, a supply of those items will be brought out and donated to your department next weekend.  Thanks guys!!!

 

Richard and I have also spent some time working on the roster (almost ready to go!) and, working with Bob Heinlein, filling Snowflake Special ticket orders.  We are around half sold-out already so you may want to get your tickets ASAP to avoid disappointment.

Today saw the last of our coach deliveries for a while.  The LA Brill 8002, the only remaining LA trolley coach, arrived from Orange Empire Railway Museum.  This is the coach that we are restoring as our part of the trade with OERM that will see 4 coaches added to our collection.

It took about 2 hours to get it completely unloaded and to get our ever reliable trucker Mel back on his way.  The hard part was getting it into the Hoffman Garage.  After much pulling, pushing, and rearranging of material in the garage, it was around 6:00pm by the time we finally were able to get the coach positioned to where it is going to live during the restoration.  A HUGE thanks to Richard Schauer who spent his entire Sunday helping out, directing the operation from start to finish.

The last few weeks were spent cleaning and organizing.  Specifically, myself, Ricahrd Schauer and Wally Unglaub have worked to clean, organize and put away "stuff" strewn about after a summer of work from around the Andersen Garage.  We also worked on cleaning the interiors of the ETS 181 and started tackling the interior of the SF 614 - moving out the spare parts and embarking on the daunting task of removing decades of accumulated desert dust.

We did more work on the Edmonton BBC 181 today.

Richard Schauer reinstalled the suspension levelers and with Warren Lloyd’s help, the spare parts sent along with the coach were unloaded and stored.

We also did a few shake-down runs and the coach performed wonderfully!

You tube video of the coach traveling westbound on Central Avenue is available via this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_QxXyHSH-E

Edmonton BBC 181 for the first time under its own power at IRM - 10/24/2009

Another exciting day in the Trolley Bus Department.  By the time I arrived today, Richard Schauer and Wally Unglaub were already taking the roof equipment out of our Edmonton BBC coach 181.  The roof equipment had to be removed by Edmonton due to height restrictions for shipment and was stored inside the coach.  We continued emptying out the coach and hauled the stuff onto the roof.  We were able to get everything up there except one very heavy item.  Luckily Warren Lloyd stopped by so we “Nicked” him into helping.  Actually he was glad to lend a hand (as usual).

Ready for its first trip west down Central Avenue - 10/24/2009

Once everything was on the roof, we proceeded to attach everything, tie the ropes to the poles, and at exactly 5:00pm, Richard had the honor of operating the coach for the first time at IRM.  We traveled around the loop in front of the Andersen Garage once, then two trips down Central Avenue.  The coach performed flawlessly and is in unbelievable condition!  Although we have don an inspection, there will surely be a break-in period when we will discover and work out any bugs, but if today was any indication, we have a fantastic addition to our fleet.

There are a couple YouTube videos of the first trip around the loop (links below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpmThH96zG0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=357o1TguDE0

Monday afternoon was the magic day.  About 2:30pm the truck rolled up with Edmonton Transit 181 on its bed.  Richard, Jerry and I were there to greet it.  As we got ready to start unloading it, unfortunately I had to leave for a previous engagement, so Richard and Jerry did the honors.  It was unloaded and pushed into the garage without a hitch.  This one won't be a 5 hour special to get it running as the poles and bases had to be removed for transport, so it may be a couple weeks.  Thanks so much to Richard and Jerry for doing the unloading - it KILLED me not being there for it.