Out of sheer curiosity and seeing the amazing progress on the wooden El cars, I wondered what is the mechanical condition and general prognosis for the future of CRT 1024? This is not one of those " why isn't this the focus of your efforts " or armchair criticisms of what gets attention in the car shop, just simple curiosity.....thanks in advance
The 1024 is I think our oldest wooden rapid transit car, dating before the turn of the century (the 20th century!). It has problems structurally with severely rotten wood framing beams, and one platform was in danger of separating itself from the car body, before Tim Peters made some emergency repairs. The good news is that there are plans to restore it, and if I am not mistaken it did operate under its own power at IRM about 40 years ago. We have already purchased some large timbers necessary for the structural repairs, but the mechanical and electrical is always a question, especially for something sitting 4 decades. The immediate plan is to complete the 1797, including the mechanical and electrical when the weather warms up next season.
Ben,
NWERR24 (CRT1024) is very much on the radar for restoration. It is next on my list of projects. Once 1797 is finished and we have a 2 car wood L train in service (with 1268) I will start on restoring 1024 back to its 1913/1914 configuration. That will represent the era which saw the consolidation of the original companies into the Chicago Elevated Railways and the beginning of through routing. The car will be Pullman green and will carry Northwestern Elevated on the letterboard along with its roof mounted marker lights and sign boxes. If anyone has any of that hardware it would REALLY be appreciated. Rumor is that some of that stuff was still laying around the Skokie storeroom in the late 60's, early 70's.