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.

Between the Dodge locomotive and the forklift, the coach was unloaded without incident

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.

Ready to go into the Hoffman Garage where the restoration work will begin shortly