Entries by Ray Piesciuk

For the last two weekends, Richard Schauer and I, joined by Wally Unglaub Saturday, have been continuing to clean the interior of the SF 614.  The seats have received two passes with the vinyl cleaner/rejuvenator, the floors have been scrubbed, most of the gum has been scraped from the floor, the walls and heating ducts along the floor have been washed.  We still need to do the fixtures and step wells, but it is looking great inside.  Thanks guys!!!  We need to do just a little more work on the mechanical end – we hope to pull the coach out under its own power later this year.  It does need a set of tires, which we also hope to get by the end of the year.  The Seattle 633 is also scheduled to get tires this year.  Later on Saturday we were going to pull the five coaches out of the Andersen Garage for the model railroaders to set up for Thomas.  Unfortunately there was an issue with the Edmonton 181’s compressor.  Richard somehow squirmed his way underneath and into the bowels of the coach and made temporary repairs.  This pushed back the switch move to Sunday.

Richard literally INSIDE the Edmonton 181.  He can barely be seen right in the middle of the picture

Sunday saw us working outside the department for most of the day.  It was the 20^th Annual Vintage Transport Extravaganza, so we were geared up for a big crowd.  Richard took up position near the admission booth and fielded questions, problems, and generally helped out wherever and whenever needed (as usual).  I took pictures and videos in the morning and helped Julie Piesciuk with the CTA sign sales table in the afternoon.  We had a very good day, raising almost $1,000.  In the evening, Richard and I did the delayed movement of the coaches outside for Thomas.  The 181 and CTA 9553 went smoothly.  When we went to move the Seattle 4020, we discovered, much to our chagrin, that we left the battery on the last time we pulled it out.  It was stone dead.  Luckily Tom Hunter came by and graciously lent us the Track Department’s battery charger and the coach fired right up.  Thanks so much Tom!!!!  The rest (Seattle 633 and Dayton 925) moved with no issues.  All five coaches are now outside until the final day of Thomas.  Stop by and take a photo if you are in the neighborhood.

This weekend was dedicated to cleaning out the interior of LA Brill 8002.  Richard Schauer, Wally Unglaub and I worked a makeshift fireman’s line, lugging the stuff to the front of the coach, then moving it all out the front door to the staging area beside the coach, finally to the final storage place to await reinstallation onto the coach.  As with the other coaches from OERM, there was dust EVERYWHERE!!!  We not only battled this when removing the parts, but sweeping the coach out afterward was a new adventure in dustiness.

The newly cleaned out interior of the 8002 looking toward the back of the coach

The interior of the 8002 looking toward the front

For those of you have haven't already seen it, there is now a YouTube video available for viewing which features footage from inside one of the planes flying during the WWII reenactment Memorial Day weekend.  Here's the link.

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

This weekend was a FULL one to say the least.  We spent the previous week pulling seven coaches out of the Andersen Garage and readied/helped decorate it for the USO dance Saturday night.  The weekend itself was filled with troubleshooting (the Edmonton coach which gave us some minor problems), filming and even a little baseball.  In addition, we provided service to and from the dance starting at about 6pm until the end of the dance at around 10pm on Saturday night.  We were also able to clear out the garage and return the coaches to the building by 6pm today (Monday).  Richard Schauer was a HUGE part of making this weekend go as smoothly as it did for us.  Thanks so much Richard!!!!

The personal highlight for me had to be the opportunity I had on Sunday to fly with one of the WWII planes that were adding to the battle realism all weekend.  Here are a few of the photos.  (I’ll post video on YouTube as soon as my editing software starts cooperating).

The Zephyr on the Main Line

The Anzio Battle as seen from the Air

The C A and E Cars at Johnson Siding during the Battle

The Museum Looking South Easterly

The Museum Looking North

The Andersen and Hoffman Garages

Thanks to reenactors Phil and Rebecca who arranged the flight and pilots Steve and Randy who graciously offered to take me up to get photos and video to help promote the museum in print and on TV.

June is our target month to start on the restoration of the LA Brill.

Those of you who are members should be receiving your June issue of Rail & Wire shortly.  They went into the mail 05/18 - a week ago today.

Last Thursday, Richard Schauer and I moved 7 coaches out of the Andersen Garage so the WWII folks could start setting up for the USO dance that will be held there on Saturday, May 29.

7 Coaches Out in the Sun

We will join with the streetcar to provide service to and from the dance.  We also did some waterproofing on the Seattle 4020.  On Friday B&G came by to power wash the garage floor (thanks guys!).  Afterward, I swept out as much of the excess water as I could.  That night we had a table at the Rockford Riverhawks game promoting the WWII event.  Rebecca, one of the WWII reenactors, accompanied by the other "Rockford Peaches", represented (and promoted) IRM and threw out the first pitch.

Rebecca Throws Out the First Pitch

The girls promoted IRM and the WWII event and were a big hit with the fans

In addition, Ed Rosengren did an interview with the radio play-by-play guy during the third inning.

Ed Rosengren Promoting IRM During Play-by-Play

We spent all Saturday and Sunday working on some nagging little issues - cleaning, oiling, etc., as well as reattaching the motor compartment cover on the Seattle 633.  Yesterday (Monday) we had the Chicago Marmon running around for the WGN shoot.  We also had to move the Edmonton 181 to get the Marmon down to the west end.  Unfortunately when we went to put the coaches away, the 181 would not move.  Richard worked on it for about an hour, but no luck.  We ran out of daylight, so will be working on it again during the week and/or this weekend to try and get it going again.

The weekend's work:  Wally Unglaub continued cleaning the interior of the SF 614 while Howard Geier continued buffing the outside.  It's really starting to look nicer - thanks guys, the work is paying off!  I was filming for the June episode of IRM-TV, Richard Scahuer worked on the nagging problems plaguing the singles, and Jerry Saunders was involved with the massive switch move.  I have some videos of the switch move on You Tube.  Here are the links (hope they work).  Saturday's move video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKHKXjne8t8&layer_token=ed363534fe30966f and the video from Sunday can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNw1x8c0q1E&layer_token=20d3430210a4954e.  Sorry for the video quality, it seems the better the camera, the worse the video looks on You Tube.  Next weekend we plan on completing the maintenance of the overhead switches and getting the line back into service.  We may also try and tackle reattaching the poles to the 614.  Today I took the department truck (the Dodge Locomotive) into Tim's right in Union for some work.  The service was outstanding - he earns the TB Dept. "highly recommended" seal of approval.  Thanks Tim!!!

The Snowflake Special was today and it was great!  The equipment used was a 6 car train made up entirely of 2200s, the oldest in the fleet.  We traversed parts of every line, traveled in every subway and visited some rarely seen yard trackage.  We started at Rosemont northbound for our first photo stop at O’Hare, then headed back south.  We pulled into Foster middle track (former Jefferson Park yard) for photo run-bys at Jefferson Park and Addison.  Then into the loop and out to 63rd St. lower yard.  A rare opportunity for a passenger train.  At that point we headed back to the loop for our lunch stop.  After lunch we went on the Orange line for a photo opportunity at 35th/Archer.  Afterward we headed down into the State St. subway and up to Howard, then to Skokie Shops.  The CTA was kind enough to park a pair of 5000s for us to see as we entered the yard.  After some switching, we headed down the Skokie test track.  The CTA guys thought that this was the first passenger train to ever go down the test track.  Don’t know if that is true (there have been a LOT of fantrips dating way back), but it sure was a highlight for us.  We headed back to Howard for a restroom break and to do a few loops around Howard yard, then up to Linden to loop that yard also.  Then it was back down toward the loop, then over parts of the green, pink, and finally blue line for the trip back to Rosemont.  Of course the afternoon was littered with photo stops including a thrilling one where our train paced a revenue train southbound into Belmont.  Thanks to our CTA crew it came off without a hitch and the collection of photographers at the south end of the Belmont platform was incredible.  What a great way to spend a day as I’m sure the approx. 280 passengers will attest to.  David Harrison did a great job getting the ball rolling and working with Bob Heinlein and the CTA came up with a great routing plan.

The trip was a fundraiser to get the 2000s inside the next barn.  The good news is we are about half way there!  The challenge is that they still need donations.  Please consider donating to the “2000s Fund” as they are the only Chicago Rapid Transit equipment in the museum’s collection that is still stored outside.  Great job David, Bob, Richard Schauer coordinating ticket sales, today’s IRM volunteer car captains, our fantastic CTA crew who made sure the day went smoothly, and most of all those of you who supported this trip with such enthusiasm that we had to put an additional 2 cars on the train to accommodate everyone who wanted to ride.  The museum and the 2000s THANK YOU!!!!!

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.