Electric Car Department

There has been a lot of interest in the return of Chicago Rapid Transit 1797 to operation.  From the archives, here is some penciled info taken down at the time.

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Many of you may be thirsting for information on our project to restore two Milwaukee Streetcars to operation.  The project moves steadily forward, limited only by the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day and only 7 days in a week.

First Truck

Shop work and painting has been completed on the first truck and it has now been moved to an assembly area at the east end of Barn 4!!  Stay tuned.

Second Truck

The second truck has been disassembled and power washed, and resides inside the shop.  Frank Sirinek (not shown) and Fred Zimmerman are repainting it.

It will be very exciting to see the assembly work proceed and that means then installing the motors and moving forward.  Many of you have been very generous in sending donations, but we are not out of the woods yet.  The restricted fund to designate your donation is RTMS and you might want to consider a donation as paying forward, your ticket for a ride!

STOP THE PRESSES!

Wheelsets

THE WHEELSETS HAVE RETURNED TO IRM!

Recall that the goal of this project is to restore two operating streetcars to service at IRM.  As they say on TV, do it big or go home.  The wheelsets are back at IRM with new steel tires applied, and they look spectacular.

Here is a short summary of the project to date.  New steel tires were ordered and custom made, enough to apply to both streetcars.  The trucks were removed from the TM 972 and extensively rebuilt.  One truck has had essentially a total rebuild as we found badly worn pins and bushings in the linkage, rods, levers and brake systems.  This was not something anticipated and was discovered after the trucks were being dismantled.

What is one to do, stop everything?  In the true IRM spirit we had to repair these items while the truck was out and disassembled.  Such is the life of a restorationist.  We could have had the needed parts custom made and waited until September for delivery and another six weeks to install them.  Instead we made these ourselves in the machine shop, and heat treated and hardened them on site.

This saved us months on the timeline and saved us about $4000 in costs.  See where this is going?  It also added up to about $8000 in unanticipated expenses, so money in the fund is running very low, about non existent.  We have spent money ahead on common parts for the CNS&M 354 to get the same treatment but need your support now to see the TM 972 running this season.

We are ready to begin final re-assembly of the trucks NOW and will keep you updated of any 'new' discoveries.  Please keep this major project on track and moving ahead with a donation to fund  RTMS.  We really need this and the money is not squandered.

Gerry Dettloff has submitted some images for you to pore over.  He is not too much for words, so with apologies, here we go.

The Car

Here is the car as of 2003.  This is an iconic but seldom preserved piece of electric railway work equipment.  Ours is from The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company, or TM for short.  It is known as a DUMP MOTOR since it is operational and self propelled and the pan between cabs could be dumped to the side, either left or right.  It was built in 1920.

Front

Gerry, has been helped for some years as he works on this, by Henry Vincent and John Faulhaber.  This series of pics focuses on the cab at one end of the car, as they strip the roof to bare framing and painstakingly make new wood parts.  Above focuses on the new front end of the roof and tack molding.

Letterboard

At the side of the cab was a wood letterboard extension that had no two square sides to it.

Almost Ready

Here is the new roof almost ready for new canvas, showing the trolley lead which will be mounted to the trolley base.

Cab Rear

Wood was repaired or replaced at the rear of the cab also.

Work Light

There is a five bulb series of lights  (5 x 120v = 600v) on the rear of the cab and this has been extensively rebuilt.

This is an active and ongoing project with the goal of restoring two cars to operation - TM 972 and CNS&M 354.

Assembly

Jeff Brady is assembling the many components of the truck.  This is a complex and intricate process involving many pieces and requires a level of expertise I do not share.

There are and have been many players in this project.  The recent focus has been to rebuild this truck from the 972.  As might be expected in a car which left service in 1958, and then may have been near the end of its useful life, we have uncovered many areas needing attention.  These are never known for sure until the disassembly and inspection is well along the way.

For example, the pedestal liners were missing in one case, or cracked and worn in bad repair.  We managed to get new liners fabricated - cost $2000.

Then we were on to the the pins and bushings used to connect the many moving parts in this truck, primarily but not exclusively associated with the braking system.  I have reported extensively on that process and progress. Over one hundred specialty bushings were manufactured in our shop and heat treated.  In the past we ordered these parts from outside vendors, but in today's world that would have been very costly to meet needed dimensions - none are 'standard' - and a delay of 3-4 months for delivery.  By making them ourselves we were able to complete them in about nine weeks at a savings of several thousand dollars.

Hardened pins are used in these bushings, and none of these were simple.  All of those involved a lot of machining, heat treating, and were made in our shop.  Again, savings in time and money.

The bottom line is that over $8000 in unanticipated costs were added to make these upgrades and the rebuild.  We will have a mechanically reliable and safe car to operate.  So, we again thank you all for your support but must again ask for help to continue the work and move forward.  The restricted fund is designated RTMS and donations can continue to be sent to

Illinois Railway Museum

Box 427

Union, IL 60180

We hope you can help on this and we all look forward to seeing this car roll down our line this year.

Trim Panels

Dick Cubbage and Dave Rogan are discussing methods to remove many layers of paint (and rust below that) for two trim panels that go over the last two side windows at the rear of the car.

Sparks Flying

Dick is not one much inclined to 'watching'.  In short order he was out in the barn and the sparks were flying!

A Tutorial

Simon Harrison watches as Dick gives a tutorial on the finer points of this work.  No, it is not simple grunt work!

It Takes Two

To Tango?  Maybe for the dance but more hands here make for fast work.  Simon and Dave were both in a sort of competition cleaning the sheet metal so it can be prime painted this weekend.

Glistening

These are barely recognizable compared to how they were a few hours ago.  See the first image in this entry.  These have almost a mirror finish and are typical to the ten items completely stripped today.  Not that I was counting - they may have done more than that.

This entry will be picture heavy - we accomplished something with the reinvigorated and larger project team that has been in the works for some time.  Inside the car body is a large sheet metal ceiling panel for the rear end of the car.  We have been tripping over it, moving it, and even cleaning and priming it.  But it is too large to remove from the car for storage elsewhere, so the logical step is to install it where it belongs.

Up in the Air

Here the so called 'clamshell' is already up in the air.  Shown is Frank Sirinek fastening new screws into the rear margin while Dave Rogan mans a brace to keep it in position.  The exciting part was getting six guys into a cramped space to do the heavy lifting and wrestle the ungainly piece into place.  Lorne Tweed, Dave Rogan, Frank Sirinek, Buzz Morisette, Victor Humphreys, and Bob Kutella helped.

Screwed

There are a precious few screws holding the rear edge into place, while Dave Rogan and Lorne Tweed try to align and place some fasteners along the front edge.

Advice

Lorne is adding more screws while Frank Sirinek offers advice.  Frank might justifiably be nicknamed "Mr PCC" on site and he cheerfully stopped what he was working on and joined the crew.

Almost There

I said I took too many pics, this one from the outside through a window while Frank, Lorne and Dave add more screws.

Priming

In the shop, Simon Harrison was applying new primer to some of the panels cleaned last weekend and is explaining the finer points to Dave Rogan.

Done

So here it is, looking for all the world like it has been there all along.  But a milestone nevertheless as the restoration moves forward.  NEXT?  There is another 'clamshell' waiting for attention, to be installed in the front end.