2015 year in review - foxtrolley.org · publish reviews of the end of 2012 and then reviews of 2013...

2015 YEAR IN REVIEW

RECENT FOX RIVER LINE HAPPENINGS

2015 Year in Review

F O X R I V E R L I N E S

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ADDRESS .. 361 S. LaFox St., P.O. Box 315, South Elgin, IL 60177PHONEPHONEPHONEPHONEPHONE .......... (847) 697-4676 WEBSITE ... www.foxtrolley.org

2015 � Year in Review

3 ... Museum Financials 20153 ... Track 2 Rehabilitation

13 ... Safety Regulations for Rail Museums14 ... Car Department Activity20 ... Rails to Victory24 ... Mabel the Killdeer25 ... Pumpkin Trolley26 ... Polar Express Potpourri32 ... Trees Down Again - Delay Operation

C O N T E N T S

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C. 2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORSMatt Del Giudice, Chuck Galitz,Edward Konecki, Luke Helm Jr. and Ralph Taylor

2015 OFFICERSPresident - Edward KoneckiVice President -Luke Helm Jr.Secretary - Matt Del GiudiceTreasurer - Chuck Galitz

2015 COMMITTEESManagement Committee -Chuck Galitz, Luke Helm Jr. and Edward KoneckiCollection Assessment Committee –Ralph Taylor chair, Joe Hazinski, Chuck Galitz

2015 MUSEUM DEPARTMENT LEADERSMUSEUM OPERATIONS:

Operations Superintendent - Douglas RundellTrainmaster - vacantAssistant Trainmasters - vacantMuseum Store Manager - Laura TaylorAssistant Store Manager - vacant

MUSEUM SERVICES DEPARTMENT:Membership Secretary - Laura TaylorMembership Activities

Coordinator - vacantMembership Development

Coordinator - vacantMUSEUM SERVICES DEPARTMENT:

Museum Services Manager - Edward KoneckiMedia Relations

Coordinator -Bob Breese-RodenkirkCurator - Edward KoneckiArchivist - Marty TuohyEducation Coordinator - vacantCapitol Development

Coordinator - Edward KoneckiInformation Technology - Luke Helm Jr.Publications Manager - Edward KoneckiCommunity Relations

Manager – Chuck Galitz (acting)MUSEUM SAFETY DEPARTMENT:

Safety Coordinator - Ralph Taylor (acting)CAR DEPARTMENT:

Car DepartmentCar DepartmentCar DepartmentCar DepartmentCar DepartmentSuperintendentSuperintendentSuperintendentSuperintendentSuperintendent - Joseph Hazinski

Car DepartmentCar DepartmentCar DepartmentCar DepartmentCar DepartmentAssistant SuperintendentAssistant SuperintendentAssistant SuperintendentAssistant SuperintendentAssistant Superintendent - vacant

Chief Mechanical Officer - vacantFIXED PLANT DEPARTMENT:

Chief Engineer - Ralph TaylorRoadmaster - Edward KoneckiAssistant Roadmaster – Chris NelsonChief Lineman - Chuck Galitz

Building and GroundsSuperintendent - Bill Minerly

Electrical Supply and Signals - Ralph Taylor

MISSIONTo preserve and interpret Chicago’s electric transport era that began in the

1890s and peaked before 1950. The electric transport era is significant becauseelectric railways, including interurban, rapid transit, and streetcars, helped theChicago region grow to be one of North America’s great metropolitan areas. TheMuseum strives to show that electric railways were more than convenient, theywere and are a way of life for generations of people from all walks of life.

The Museum fulfills this mission by preserving, interpreting, and operatinghistoric railway vehicles on its demonstration electric railway, over the Aurora,Elgin and Fox River Electric route at South Elgin, Illinois. Furthermore,the museum preserves, displays and interprets smaller artifacts, photos, oralhistories, and documents which help relate the importance of electric transportin and around the Chicago Metropolitan Area, putting them in context with theirsurroundings and era.

Well this is not where I want to be, three years behind in publishing the FoxRiver Lines, but that is where I am. Oh there are lots of explanations but that does notget the job done. At this point the plan is to publish a review of 2015 and hopefullypublish reviews of the end of 2012 and then reviews of 2013 and 2014 to meet thecommitment of recording the progress and activities at the museum. It takes a lot ofeffort to keep the museum running and I am afraid that the membership, the localcommunity and even our fellow museums, many whom share their newsletters withus, haven’t heard about what we have been up to. That is a shame considering theeffort it takes to manage and operate the museum. Several people have submitteddrafts of articles and I will be using them. Sometimes I wish I had more energy or atleast enough to keep up with a third of the ideas that come to me about the museum.The museum is in desperate need of more volunteer involvement to not only maintainbut improve the campus and insure its operation. The newsletter is but one way tospread the word. There is the web site www.foxtrolley.org and its link to ourFacebook page as well. Different people get their information in different ways and allthese means need to be used.

The one thing that keeps me going with my museum activities is our line’shistory. It has been operating in one form or another since 1896, from the heady daysof construction and expansion (Aurora and Elgin were not finally linked until 1900),into the decline after the Great War (WW I), the renaissance and modernization of the1920’s, the conversion to motor buses in the 1930’s, the mundane hauling of freightand coal, the conversion to diesel operation after WW II, the emergence of a heritagetrolley operation in the 1960’s, the development of the museum site (Castlemuir) inthe 1970’s, the construction of our first car barn in the 1980’s, the creation of thebicycle path, the extension into the Kane County Forest Preserve in 2002 and finallythe return of an actual AE&FR interurban to home rails in 2009. It seems to me thatwe have a duty to the people that came before us and also to the generations that willcome after us to keep this story going. Hopefully this issue of the Lines will helpinspire each of you to do what you can to keep this valuable community asset goingand developing.

Joseph Hazinski, Editor

E d i t o r’ s N o t e

On our Cover:Clockwise from top, left:Rails to Victory (page 20), Mabel the Killdeer (page 24),Polar Express Potpourri (page 26), Pumpkin Trolley (page 25).

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Fox River Trolley Museum2015 Operating Cash Budget

Accepted 3-8-15ExpensesDepartment AmountAdministration ......................... $ ..... 42,760.00Operations ................................ $ ..... 55,580.00Member Services ..................... $ ....... 1,025.00Museum Services ..................... $ ..... 19,000.00Car ........................................... $ ..... 12,365.00Fixed Plant ............................... $ ..... 15,790.00Other ........................................ $ .......... 20,950

$ ... 167,470.00FundingRevenue from Operations ........ $ ... 128.000.00Cash Donations ........................ $ ..... 20,000.00Transfer from Savings ............. $ ..... 19,470.00Miscellaneous Income ............. $ -------------

$ ... 167,470.00Difference ................................ $ -------------

Track 2 RehabilitationThe major museum site project for 2015 has been

the complete rehabilitation of the track structure at theloading area of Track 2 at Castlemuir. This track goesback to the RELIC days and was part of the secondmajor expansion of trackage on the museum’s site.The northern most area was laid in cinders from theElgin State Hospital’s boilers, the predominant type ofballast on our mainline dating back to the 1896 con-struction. In this area these cinders were used to coverthe ties to rail height to simulate early street trackageand in more recent decades this area has been thelocation of our popular Illinois Central caboose. Thetrack structure a little further south adjacent to the lowlevel brick platform had stone ballast applied and theties showing, a number of which were split and fail-ing. Your author remembers being stabbed in the backby these tie splinters when working under 715.

After the decision was made to completelyrebuild the track this season efforts started in earneston Sunday March 29th when Chuck Galitz and ChrisNelson moved all the electric cars stored on Track 2for the winter down the car barn lead as close as

possible to allow for the greatest flexibility. OnWednesday April 1st IC caboose 9648 was moved toTrack 3 North to be out of the way and the task ofcollecting and distributing replacement ties on the lowlevel platform was begun by Chuck and Chris usingthe tractor and AE&FR #5 with the ”steel” push car.On Friday April 3rd, Chris took the opportunity to addmending plates to the ends of the ties that did not havethem. These metal plates take the place of the old “S”irons that help the ends of the ties from splitting andare pretty much standard on railroad ties used by most

The Track 2 area with cinders showing just before work was to start.

The view from locomotive 5 pushing the steel work carwith new ties for distribution along the work area.

(Continued on page 4)

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railroads today, our AE&FR beingno exception. Saturday April 4th

had Chris continuing addingmending plates while Chuckchecked and recorded the existingrail height. Monday April 6th thefellows were back at it dropping offmore ties, putting the EZ dumperon the “steel” car and then gather-ing tie plates (it is our standard touse a tie plate on every new tieinstalled on the railroad).

Wednesday April 8th the pointof no return was reached as Chrisand Chuck broke the rail at thesouth end of the loading platformnorth of the car barn lead switch(Switch 23) and with the aid ofCasey, Chuck’s tractor, snakedeach set of rails to the east next tothe South Shore cars. The first ofseveral dump truck loads of newcrushed rock ballast was deliveredto the parking lot.

Old ties were pulled andplaced into a large dumpster onSaturday April 11th by Brain Drew,Chuck Galitz and Chris Nelson.

Chuck Galitz on his Case tractor using rail dogs to shift the railsto the east of the track zone. There is no turning back now.

One can see how bad the old ties were when compared to the new ties waiting on the platform.

Track 2 Rehabilitation

The bolts and joint bars removed from thewest rail. Now the spikes can be pulled.

Tie plates piled up for use on the new ties.

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The cinders that were removed from Track 2 were loaded into theEZ Dumper and where distributed along the original mainline.

It is April 20th and the grading is completed. The projectwas slowed from time to time by the spring rains.

Sunday the 12th the grading started with old rock fillfrom track 2 moved to the embankment near switch 54and the cinder ballast deposited at points along themain line to Coleman with the EZ dumper pulledbehind AE&FR 5 by Chuck Galitz, Chris Nelson andRalph Taylor. Chuck continued grading on tax dayand also on Friday April 17th with Switch 1 Westballasted with cinders by Brian Drew and Chuck Galitz.

On Saturday April 18th Chuck continued thegrading in the Track 2 area while Brian Drew, JimGonyo and Chris Nelson changed out three ties in themainline south of Switch 54 and finished the cinder

reballasting of Switch 1 West. On Sunday the 19th

Chuck and Chris moved CTA 4451 into position onTrack 2 South of the pedestrian crossing so it would beavailable as an air supply for future spiking. OnTuesday and Wednesday April 21st and 22nd Chuckcontinued using his Case tractor to grade the trackarea. With grading finished on Thursday April 23rd,the museum’s remaining geo textile underlayment wasrolled out and new ties placed on top of the mat by Chuckand Chris. Friday, April 24 saw Chuck finish placing theties and then position the rails.


The ties have been set and spaced and now the tractoris being used to put the rails back into place.

Jim Slattery setting a spike, Brian Drew buckingand Ed Konecki on the spiker nailing down a tie.

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On the weekend starting Saturday April 25th

tie plates were set and the west rail roughly alignedalong with readying the spiking tools inside of CTA4451 by a crew composed of Ed Konecki, FredLonnes, Chris Nelson and Jim Slattery. Sunday April26 saw air spiking started by Fred Lonnes, ChrisNelson and Ralph Taylor. Tuesday April 28th eight tieswere dropped off along Track 2, south of Switch 23 byBrian Drew and Chris Nelson. On Friday April 30th

Brian and Chris inserted five of the new ties into thisportion of Track 2.

On Saturday, May 2nd the air spiking wasfinished, the rails aligned precisely on the Track 2route and all the spiking tools put away by a big crew


composed of Brian Drew, Chuck Galitz, Ed Konecki, FredLonnes, Chris Nelson, Jim Slattery and Ralph Taylor.

Track 2 effort resumed on Saturday May 9th

with Chuck Galitz repairing the tamper generatorwhile lifting, leveling, ballasting and tamping wasdone by Damin Keenan, Ed Konecki, Fred Lonnes andChris Nelson. Museum operations started Sunday the10th with just enough space available on Track 2 forone car to clear the pedestrian crossing. Tuesday May12th saw Chris insert two more ties into Track 2 southof Switch 23 which he was able to spike on ThursdayMay 14th and then with the help of Brian Drew set outsix more ties along Track 2 South.

The next weekend, Saturday May 16th found

It is April 26th and the west rail has been spikedand work is now proceeding on the east rail.

Sometimes it take two to buck a tie. The gauge bar can be seen keeping the rails in gauge.

The west rail has all been spiked but there still is a lot of spiking to do toget the east rail gauged in place which will take place the next weekend.

Here we see the south end of the rebuilding project allspiked down and ready for stone ballast.

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Brian Drew, Chuck Galitz, Ed Konecki, Jim Minerlyand Chris Nelson lifting, leveling, ballasting andtamping the project area. Chris dressed the ballast onSunday May 17th, the second operating day of theseason. The large dumpster used for disposing usedties was topped off by Chuck Galitz and Chris Nelson onThursday May 21st.

One more Saturday, May 23rd was needed forfinal lifting, leveling, ballasting, tamping and dressingby Chuck Galitz, Ed Konecki, Art Lemke, FredLonnes, Chris Nelson and Jim Slattery. On Thursday

May 28th Chris Nelson finished ballast dressing, sweptthe platform off and raked spilled stone out of thelawn while Chuck Galitz, Bill Minerly and RalphTaylor moved the caboose back to its normal location.All rolling stock was put in position for the Rails toVictory operations on Saturday morning May 30th byChuck Galitz and Chris Nelson. The track structurewas essentially complete at this point in time butwork on drainage and resetting the Track 2 high levelplatform remained. Seven ties had been replaced on

One of the first scoops of ballast is dropped on the new track structure.

The EZ Dumper was repositioned on the steel push car, loaded withstone at the Track 2 pedestrian crossing and then moved by AE&FR 5into position so on this day Fred Lonnes could control the distributionof the ballast as the locomotive moved slowly ahead.

More ballast has been placed on the track and graded outby the tractor as the day’s work is closed on May 11th.

The ballast from the first truck load of stone as it was distributed on May 4th.You can see the puddles of water from the rain which slowed the process.

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Track 2, south of the reconstruction area and four tieswere replaced in the mainline as well up to this pointin time along with general brush cutting and removedtie pickup.

While the primary task was finished, workcontinued and on Tuesday June 9th Chris Nelsondropped off three treated timbers to extend the Track 2platform wall. On Saturday June 13th Chuck Galitz andChris Nelson once again reconfigured the EZ Dumper

on the steel push car. Sunday June 14th was spent doingemergency tree removal along the mainline after severaltrees came down blocking operation.

Saturday June 20th the work on Track 2 drain tileexcavation started in earnest with the EZ Dumperbeing used to dump the spoils along the right-of-waywith Chuck Galitz, Ed Konecki, Fred Lonnes, JimMinerly and Chris Nelson providing the labor. OnMonday June 22nd, Chris worked on grading out the

The next weekend finds Chris Nelson and EdKonecki using the tampers while Jim Minerlystands by to add more stone as the rail israised and tamped.

It is opening day May 17th and enough of Track 2is finished to allow CNS&M 715 to use Track 2.

By May 24th Track 2 was completely usable and theIC caboose is finally back in its normal location.

Here 715 is berthed on the usable portion of Track 2ready for another Mothers Day trip to Blackhawk.

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Chuck Galitz and Fred Lonnes measure depth ofthe end of the new drain line next to Track 2.

Here we see the new stonelanding next to the caboose. Luke Helm and Ed Konecki look on as Fred Lonnes monitors Chuck loading the EZ Dumper.

End of the drain hose sealed up placed onpermeable fabric all kept in place by newstone ballast after first day of installation.

The end drain and final topappearance from the south end.

mainline bank fill. The next work party was Saturday June 27th

with continued drain tile excavation, the start of drainhose installation along with ballasting by a crewcomposed of Luke Helm, Chuck Galitz, Ed Konecki,Fred Lonnes and Chris Nelson with Chris againcoming back on Monday June 29th to grade out thespoils deposited along the mainline.

The holiday weekend saw the process contin-

ued on Friday July 3rd as work proceeded from southto north with careful measurement to keep the pitchsloping towards the intended goal of the creek north ofthe driveway by Chuck Galitz, Ed Konecki, FredLonnes, Jim Minerly and Chris Nelson. Saturday July4th saw Chuck and Fred continue this process.Wednesday July 8th saw Chuck Galitz and FredLonnes continue the ballasting over the drain tile hose


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More drain hose has been attached and it is apparent that proper pitchis needed to keep the water flowing away from the track structure.

It is July 5th and the project has made it past the end of track. AE&FR 5can be seen with the EZ Dumper which was used to bring in the ballast.

July 20th and now it is timeto cross the drive way.

The ditching continues towardsthe driveway of July 18th.

Chuck has gotten half way across thedriveway as the Village inspector stopsby to talk. The pvc pipe and seconddrain cover can be seen in this view.

and Thursday the 9th, Chris Nelson again continuedgrading out the spoils deposited along the mainline.

The Saturday July 11th work party of ChuckGalitz and Chris Nelson moved the Track 2 high levelplatform, graded the area and applying ballast atground level northward along the caboose. Starting onSunday July 12th Chuck Galitz did the final prepara-tions for installing the pvc pipe through and under thedriveway which was done on Monday July 20th with

final ballasting over the trench and driveway doneFriday July 24th. As a result the erosion east of theportable toilets has been eased making for an easierwalk along the driveway from the parking lot to theCastlemuir depot site.

There was a lot of work done over the restof the operating season by Chuck Galitz and RalphTaylor to get the Track 2 high level platform in placeas the first plan and subsequent efforts had it too high

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for usage. After modifying the height of the platformand changing the level of the grade Chuck Galitzfinally had it usable by Polar Express when it wasused as access to the L car used for costume storagefor the volunteer servers on the train.

This project was a long haul but resulted in amajor improvement, especially in rain water run offwhich is not apparent to visitor and volunteer alike butpart of making our museum campus a better place.

It should also be noted that a total of 15 more tieswere changed out on Track 2 south of the replacementproject and 4 ties replaced in Coleman Yard fromSeptember to October along with some gauge adjust-ment on the Track 2 curve at Castlemuir. BesidesChris Nelson, Fred Lonnes, Chuck Galitz, Art Lemke,Brian Drew, Mike Gilles, Patrick Storm, Jim Minerlyand Jim Slattery participated in this work.

Later in the afternoon Chuck is pouring sand aroundthe pvc drain pipe before filling the trench in.

Almost finished with this phase on a hot and humid July 20th.

A little stone and the driveway is passable. The end of the drainage pipe has rocks that were recoveredduring the grading used to protect for erosion.


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In other right-of-way projectsEd Konecki piloted the annualweed spraying in July and bothJoe and Sandy Solinski did brushcutting to knock down the mostoffending branches striking the cars.

A special thanks to ChrisNelson who provided the chrono-logical notes that made this articlepossible and thanks to all whocontributed their efforts to com-plete this project with apologies toany whose name may have beenleft out.

Joseph Hazinski

The platform in use to access CTA 43 for use as the dressing room for the Polar Express volunteerswith platform at the level of the car floor, an improvement from being too high in the past.

The area behind the portable toilets isgraded out with crushed stone to finallyfinish this phase of the Track 2 project.

Finally modifications were made by Chuck and Ralph Taylor by July 27th

and the stone could finally dress the ground beneath platform to completethe project. Joe Hazinski Photo

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Are these railroad imagesfamiliar? Certified window glazingmaterial, toll-free emergencynumbers at rail crossings, andreflective tape on rail cars areexamples of many safety practicesmandated by the Federal RailroadAdministration (FRA), the agencyresponsible for developing andenforcing regulations related torailroad safety.

These regulations, publishedin the Code of Federal Regulations,are grouped into ‘Parts’. TheseParts tend to be very dense anddetailed, covering topics such asFreight Car Safety, Window Glaz-ing, Signal Systems, Noise Protec-tion, and Engineer Qualificationamong others. There are more thanthirty such Parts with potentialapplication to tourist railroads.

As a matter of policy (andpriority of resources), the FRAdoes not apply many of its Parts torailroads which are not part of thegeneral North American rail systemand are considered ‘insular’. TheFox River Trolley Museum is‘insular’: It doesn’t have an activehighway crossing, it doesn’t crossanother railroad at grade, it doesn’trun in the same corridor as anotherrailroad, and it doesn’t cross abridge over navigable waters. Thisclassification can be a bit complex;reconnecting the switch to the CNat Coleman for infrequent deliver-ies would not necessarily make theMuseum part of the general rail-road system. By contrast, theAlaska Railroad, although com-pletely isolated with no externalrail connections, is still consideredpart of the general system because

it interchanges traffic by barge.Insular tourist railroads are

currently subject to two key Parts:Hours of Service, and BridgeInspection. Operators are familiarwith the Hours of Service log, andthe Museum Board contracts with aprofessional engineer to inspectand report on the condition ofWard’s Bridge near Woodcliff aswell as the two cattle underpassesat Coleman.

The Museum reviews otherParts of FRA regulations, even ifthey don’t directly apply. Forexample, Part 240 details require-ments for railroads to qualify theirengineers. These requirementsinclude consideration of priorsafety conduct, hearing and visiontesting, knowledge and rulesexams, observation of anengineer’s skills for running theequipment, and continuing educa-tion. Even though the Museum isnot formally covered by Part 240,many of our practices (periodicrequalification, safety briefings, the

monthly operating safety newslet-ters) mirror those practiced bygeneral railroads.

Our primary awareness ofFRA regulations is provided byATRRM (Association of TouristRailroads and Railroad Museums).Bob Opal and others presentperiodic updates at the ATRRMconferences. ATRRM also partici-pates in working groups that adviseFRA, helping to develop realisticregulations that recognize thespecial circumstances and olderequipment of museums.

Even though its regulation oftourist railroads is lighter than thatfor conventional lines, the FRA hasthe authority to order any railroadto immediately halt operationswhen it deems it unsafe. Passen-gers riding on our trains expect asafe experience. Our knowledge ofgood safety practices, and rigorousadherence to them, are critical tothe Museum’s continued viability.

Doug Rundell,Superintendent of Operations

Federal Railroad Administration -Safety Regulations For Train Museums

FRA photos


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While sometimes it seems if notmuch progress was made the Car Depart-ment was quite active this year thanks tothe efforts of Chuck Galitz, Doug Rundell,Mike Gilles, Fred Lonnes, Joe Solinski,Ralph Taylor and others.

I will start with the backbone ofour operation, the CTA all-electric cars.

Car Department Activity

The brake rods during the change outdone by Doug Rundell on CTA car 43.

Fred Lonnes and Mike Gilles givingCTA 4103 1940’s-50’s paint job tomake it look more presentable.

All three cars had their traction motorsinspected, blown down and motor accesscovers cleaned and painted along withinspection and lubrication of their M-Gsets, inspection and watering of theirbatteries and lubrication of their parkingbrake mechanisms.

With car 40 the kingpin nut was

Photos by Joe Hazinski

finally attached to the #1 truck at the timeof the parking brake inspection and lubeat Ward’s bridge. Doug Rundell did thisdifficult job with the help of Chuck Galitz,Mike Gilles and Jim Tarbet. Unfortunatelyduring Polar Express the #3 traction motorsuffered a failure, apparently to a fieldinstead of the armature as there are notell-tale marks on the motor covers. Weare considering our options as to how todeal with this issue.

Through the efforts of Fred Lonnes,in April Kustom Seating Unlimited ofBellwood, recovered some damaged seatbacks in 43 and also provided the mu-seum with additional seat covers forfuture use. Joe Solinski once again tackledthe preparation, priming and paintingof ceiling paint defects in the car.

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One of the recovered seats in CTA 43 done by KustomSeating Unlimited through the efforts of Fred Lonnes.

Doug Rundell changed out a brake rod onthe #2 motor parking brake that would nolonger adjust and took the old rod andreworked it so it is now available as aspare. During the brake lube process a fewgrease fittings were found damaged andwill have to be replaced next season. Forthe last two years the car has seen limitedservice because its M-G was near failure.When the traction motor failed on 40 itwas swapped out but after one day’s PolarExpress service the M-G finally failed. Inboth cases with the insight of Fred andChuck we were able to continue operationusing the cars 40 and then 43 as controltrailers. Next season we will finally changeout the M-G set so the car can once againreturn to regular operation.

In September Chuck Galitz finallydetermined the electric coupler on thesouth end of 45 cannot be repaired.Fortunately we were able to obtain areplacement block from Kenosha but it isa time consuming task to transfer andreconnect every contact pin so in themeantime we cannot operate in MU fromthat end. During motor inspection Chuckwas able to remove the broken stud on the#3 motor that holds one of the covers onso we no longer have to zip-tie that coverto the motor case.

Continuing with our CTA collec-tion, L-202 finally got a functioning feedvalve, the air gauge needles reset and the

Here Ralph Taylor is finishing up the installation ofnew light bulb receptacles on CTA locomotive L-202.

Tracing out the light circuits on CA&E 20 was a task Chuck Galitztook on. Unfortunately one circuit is out of service.(Continued on page 16)


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sockets on the hood light replaced withnewer water proof fixtures through theefforts of Chuck Galitz and Ralph Taylor.The locomotive performed well duringour Caboose Days operations.

Car 4103, formerly known as the“ghost” first had its’ window plugsrepaired and replaced as needed by BobHillman and assisted by Mike Gilles andothers in July. August found Fred Lonnesand Mike giving it a cosmetic coat ofpaint in the form of the old CRT/CTAbrown and orange livery making it lookmore respectful.

CA&E 20 and 316 went throughtheir usual inspection and lubrication byRalph Taylor. In September Chuck Galitzdid a lot interior lighting tracing anddetermined that one circuit is unable tobe repaired as some, if not all the ceilingwould have to be removed to find thebroken wire. On July 5th 20 was MUed(Multiple Unit operation) with 316 for

In preparation for painting Joe Solinski,Fred Lonnes and Patrick Storm work toremove storm windows from CA&E 458.

operation. Unfortunately in Septemberone of 316’s main air reservoir tanks wasfound to be leaking at a bottom seam.The consensus is that we should have anew air tank fabricated and if the price isright have two made up to head off anyfuture failures. Detailed inspection needsto be done to determine the specificationsfor the replacement tanks and a vendorhas to be chosen.

In another effort to spruce up themuseum Fred Lonnes started work onCA&E 458 by removing the storm win-dows on August 23rd with the help of JoeSolinski and Patrick Storm. There wasmuch sanding and grinding done by Joeand Fred and after masking the windows,exterior priming was done by September6th and both red and gray paint sprayingcompleted on the 13th. Joe also did somebondo patching on the north end of thecar before final painting.

Jim Slattery has been slowlyworking on the CA&E Unit Crane with thenext step being removing the gasoline

engine for off site rebuilding. CNS&M 715 had its northwest trap

repaired by Doug Rundell on April 20 sothat it now functions properly. With sometrial and error he was finally able toreplace and adjust all torsion springs in allfour traps so that they now function asthey should, slowly springing up whenreleased. All four motors were inspectedand cleaned out through their bottomcovers. Motor #3 needs to be rebanded, atask that Ralph Taylor was unable to get tothis season. A spring in the top brushholder in the same motor was foundbroken and thus not working in May so abrush holder was borrowed from 756 sothat Ralph can have the spring replacedby a shop he works with. After a littlesearching Doug Rundell came up with aspring to replace the broken on in thelatch on the interior door to the southmotorman’s cab. Finally in September JoeSolinski started filling the rust out holes inthe west side of the car body. It is his


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This view is at the end of a day or priming CA&E 458 so a finish coat of red and gray can be applied.

CA&E 458 coming up the car barn lead after completion of its painting.


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After repairing the trap and spring on the northwest corner of CNS&M 715,Doug Rundell adjusted and/or renewed the springs on all the traps.

Joe Solinski is doing body work along CNS&M 715, filling inthe rusted out areas, a project he will continue next season.

intention to work his way around the carincluding the ends when the weatherpermits next spring. The long term goal isto repaint the green but it is desired torepair or replace all side doors andreplace all the standee windows as part ofthis task while keeping the car in serviceon operating days.

The efforts on AE&FR 304 havebeen many this year. Traction motorinspections, which are very hard to dobecause of limited underside clearancewere done early in the season. During thisinspection I found one of the compressorbrushes almost worn out. Not havingspares Chuck Galitz made a metal fillerpiece to keep the worn brush working.With the help of a drawing by DaveJohnston of the Western Railway Museum(Rio Vista) I was able to get new brushesmade so we now have a good supply. 304is used as one of the primary cars for ourRails to Victory operation and when itcame out of the barn a flash was observedby Fred Lonnes emanating from theresistance grids. Fortunately the carcontinued to operate but subsequentinspection revealed that the grids are inpoor shape with temporary repairs datingback to the car’s time at Trolleyville. InJune, Chuck and I did some detailedinspection of the grid boxes on severaloccasions and was able to come up withsome calculations as to the resistancevalues at the various taps. Chuck also didsome searching on line and discoveredthat the papers of Gerald Brookins, thelate owner and creator of Trolleyville hadbeen given to the library at ClevelandState University by his family. Going overan index of the holdings he noticed a filelabeled “Resister Grids-Fox River Cars303&304”. He contacted Steve Heister, ourfriend at the Northern Ohio RailwayMuseum with this information. It turnsout Steve already knew the library staffpeople at CSU and was aware that theBrookins papers where in their collection.He took time to research and scan thedocuments, forwarding them to us. As itturned out it was contemplated back in1984 to replace the plates in the grids butthis was never done. A GE engineeringdrawing of the plates was among thepapers but unfortunately the companywho made the grids no longer makes this


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particular style and has disposed of thepatterns. Since the car still runs properlywe are faced with either trying to getanother vendor to make the patterns andplates or substitute a more modern typeof resistance grid system. There is interestamong other museums to have theoriginal plates made but no action hasbeen taken at this time so this is still anopen question as to what we will ulti-mately do. Considering that the car couldfail on the line Chuck devised andinstalled a tow hook system to move thecar from the north end with AE&FR #5 ifthe need should arise as the original towsystem on that end of the car was dam-aged on the Shaker Heights Rapid Transitand is unusable. All this activity tookplace in June. I finally lapped the southend brake valve as that is where the mostair leaks from and discovered a brokenspring inside the valve. Doug Rundellfound some similar springs on line whileFred Lonnes gave me a contact at WABTECand eventually I was able to obtain theexact replacement spring. I also cleanedout the K-1 emergency valve and replacedsome of the gaskets with reproductionleather gaskets I bought some years ago. Iwas able to lap the north end brake valveon July 13th. While we were operating thecar on Members Day, July 18th the southwhistle valve would not close all the way

until we cleaned it out. It was a very smallparticle not allowing the valve to seatcompletely. In regularly service on SundayJuly 19th we caught a south end foldingstep on the Track 2 platform edge andthen figured out how to readjust themechanism to make it fold up properly.With much help from Mike Gilles weremoved a rotted section of roof walkwayboard and splice in a new piece on August17th. With the help of Walt Stoner of theNorthern Ohio Railway Museum, ownersof sister car 303, I obtained a Sherwin-Williams paint formula that is a match tothe roof color used when the cars were inCleveland. While I did some brushpainting on the roof most of the work wasdone by Mike using paint rollers startingon August 24th and finishing on August31st. Both Fred Lonnes and Mike did sometouch painting of the Shaker Heightsscheme on both dashes. The northretriever on the car failed and DougRundell was able to get a spare unitfunctioning which I painted so it could beinstalled. The car performed well for theATRRM visit charter on September 16th.The last mechanical task was to clean andreplace a pipe fitting on the south enddead man’s pilot valve on September 27th

but we will have to wait until next seasonto see if this also cuts down the air leakingfrom that end of the car.

Credit needs to be given to anumber of people for their Car Depart-ment efforts. First Doug Rundell has beenworking on understanding and rehabbingKnutson No.5B retrievers. Besides 304, allof our CA&E and North Shore rolling stockuse this retriever and we have beenhaving trouble with them over the last fewyears. Doug has studied the patents anddeveloped ways to safely work on them.Joe and Sandy Solinski, besides their usualsecurity patrols of the museum site andother efforts, do a wonderful job ofcleaning out our cars especially duringPolar Express. With a lead from BradPreston, the mechanic for the KenoshaStreetcar, I was able to procure what looksto be a better grade carbon insert for ourcars that use the Ohio Brass J type harps,and at a favorable price. Thanks alsoneeds to be given to Dave Kloke of LincolnFuneral Car and Leviathan locomotivefame and member Peter Orum forallowing us to store material on theirrespective properties. We appreciate theirpatience as we always seem to get boggeddown in some other museum project ormaking some emergency repair. I amafraid that I have forgotten someone orsome Car Department project but I doappreciate all efforts.

Joseph Hazinski – Car DepartmentSuperintendent

A project that has been waiting for years, Mike Gilles is painting the roof of AE&FR 304 in a colorthat matches what was used on Shaker Heights Rapid Transit and most likely the Fox River Line.


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The 2015 version of Rails toVictory was earlier in our seasoncompared to previous years, oper-ating on May 30th and 31st due todate conflicts with other re-enactoractivities. Because of the parkreconstruction in South Elgin theparkland to the north of our sitewas not available for the armycamps as in the past. Then on topof it all it rained Saturday when ourspecial trains were run. One wouldthink this would have been adisaster but I was amazed at theresiliency of the various groups andthe people who came out to ride thetrains into occupied France justbefore D-Day. As motorman on304 I had nearly full capacity loads

Rails to Victory

304 is loading passengers at the Paris (Castlemuir) station.

A German squad checks out our dispatching post in Coleman Yard when oneof the trains passes through.

Unk

now

n

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It is Sunday morning, the sun is out and it is timefor a, now traditional, bicycle ride along the FoxRiver on vintage bicycles including a US Armyissue Columbia bicycle.

The German SS made quite a show of “checking papers”as our visitors boarded 304 for their trip to Rouen.

on all the trips I made. As one ofthe re-enactors said “War didn’tcare about the weather so we go onanyway.” In spite of the rain agood performance was put on bythe Germans, French resistance andthe Allies. Many of them campedout overnight both Friday andSaturday at the museum. I guess Ishould understand it because as ayoung boy the first time my familywent tent camping it rained the firstweek and when my dad asked if weshould continue the second weekwe kids all said yes! Sunday theday dawned much better and ourtrusty re-enactors did their bicycleride on the bike path. I had a


Photos by Joe Hazinski except as noted.


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Battles raged under Stearns Road bridge between the French Partisans and the German’s withthe tide being turned by the US Army, a demonstration repeated for every train on Saturday.Relax, the dynamite on the bridge pier is only borrowed railroad fusees.

chance to see many of the interest-ing displays in the Allied andGerman camps. Being aStudebaker fan my favorite was theStudebaker 6x6 truck in US Armycolors. These trucks were some-what rare as majority of the pro-duction from South Bend went tothe Russians on lend-lease. Duringthe epic Sunday afternoon battle onour museum site which was wellattended, I learned that those re-enactors who died first were the

A re-enactor US Army chaplain poses with ourSuperintendent of Operations, Doug Rundell on Sunday.

ones who could afford the leastamount of blank ammunition.These re-enactors are certainlypassionate about what they do andI could feel their enthusiasm ruboff onto what we do at our museumand the story we tell about theFox River Line. Many thanks toRebecca Tullock who coordinatesthe re-enactor groups and generatesan always improved story lineusing our museum and the ForestPreserve as the setting.

Joseph Hazinski

(Continued from page 7)

Rails to Victory

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Prior to the battleon Sundayafternoon on themuseum site bothAllied and Germanre-enactorsdemonstrate theirWorld War II eraweapons to thegathered crowd.

Germans andFrench religiousgreet our “refugee”passengers who arefleeing the fightingbrought on by theD-day invasion bythe Allies as it rainsat Rouen, France(Blackhawk).


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With the Track 2 reconstruc-tion project, museum volunteershad an interesting insight intoMother Nature. Chuck Galitzdiscovered three killdeer eggs inthe ballast between two tie ends onthe east side of Track 3 North justsouth of where the IC caboose wastemporarily stored during the earlystages of the project. They becameapparent when Mabel, as Chucknamed her, and her mate wouldchirp at passersby and fain injuryto distract would be dangers to theeggs. Chuck posted the area withstakes and orange tape to protectthe eggs, which grew to four innumber, from the foot traffic oftrack work volunteers and visitorsalike. Ground nesting by killdeersis standard operating procedure andthe eggs are well camouflaged bytheir size and coloration in thestone ballast. All four hatchedsuccessfully and were about thesize of a quarter. Other than beingunable to fly they are fully capableof eating and walking so do notrequire a traditional nest like arobin does, which has to feed itsyoung. They were last seen am-bling east towards the river wherethe insects are most prevalent alongwith mom and dad providing aircover. Killdeers are our friends asthey enjoy consuming the mosqui-tos which we do not enjoy beingbitten by. Long live the killdeers atthe Fox River Trolley Museum.

Joseph Hazinski

Mabelthe Killdeer


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Pumpkin Trolley

Left: Conductor Jim Tarbet beckons our riders to exit at the Coleman Yardpumpkin patch to choose a pumpkin of their choice. Passengerspurchased a ticket for their pumpkin at the depot which they in turn giveto the conductor at the patch.

Above: On Sunday October 18th, a father and daughterwatch as North Shore 715 arrives at Castlemuir froma visit to the pumpkin patch in Coleman Yard.

Left: Families are detraining from 715 at Castlemuir with theirpumpkins after receiving a treat from our Conductor Jim Gonyo.


Above: Parents and grandparents take the opportunity to photographtheir children choosing a pumpkin and enjoying the Halloween displaywith a trolley car in the background.


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The Polar Express experience atthe Fox River Trolley Museum is amultifaceted event that is extremelyimportant to the association’s bottomline and a real meaningful event for areafamilies. There is so much work that goesinto putting this Rail Events licensedpresentation on by the volunteers of boththe museum and Fox Valley area civicgroups. To make it successful someprofessional assistance is also hired tocoordinate, monitor and performportions of the experience. It is anexhausting time from set up in earlyNovember to final clean up in January.As reported elsewhere car 40 experiencedan unexpected traction motor failure andthen its substitute car 43 suffered amotor-generator failure. With theassistance of Fred Lonnes and ChuckGalitz in particular, operations were ableto be continued without canceling anytrains. What follows are some photoswhich hint at some of the many tasksnecessary that made this eventhappen in 2015.

Joseph Hazinski

Polar Express Potpourri

The North Pole factory flats used as a backdrop at Castlemuir.

Our baggage cart and depot decorations at the North Pole.

One of two new for 2015 North Pole station signs donated by Doug Rundell.

The multiple sized waiters coats readyto go for the community volunteers inthe warm up car 43 at Castlemuir.


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Santa is awaiting the arrival of the train at the North Polewith rope lights on our south oak tree.

Car 40 heading up a train to the North Poleon the first weekend of 2015.

Bill Minerly sweeps up while volunteer Rebecca Tulloch awaits the deadhead trip to Jon Duerr forest preserve for the first trip of the day.


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The south cab of car 40 serves as the sound boothwith the audio equipment set up by Chuck Galitz.


The loading process begins at Jon Duerr on the first trip of the day.

Our community volunteer waiters passing out cookiesand hot chocolate in car 45 just before departure.

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Late comers are boarding just as the train is scheduled to leave.

Believe, why we do this every year!

Our annual reader Laura Schaefer gives a wave next to one of themany musicians who perform during the Polar Express season.

In 2015 rope lights adorned 7 and L-202 at the North Pole.


30

45 at the NorthPole with thefactory flats inthe background.

Here 40 is readyto depart fromBlackhawk inthe rain.

Joe and Sandy Solinski acted as the first shift dispatcher in the caboose atthe North Pole recording train departures and answering the museum phone.

Our inflatable Santa, the landmark for the Jon Duerr entranceis set up by Chuck Galitz every operating session.

Mike Gilles erects one of several banners that greetour patrons coming into the forest preserve.


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Here Car 43 has been substituted for the ailing Car 40 during the last weekend of trains.

Again Car 43 heads up the last trip of the season to the North Pole.


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On Sunday June 14th, 2015 we had to deal with several treesdown along the line. Chris Nelson and I found them around 5pmon Saturday during an inspection run at the conclusion of trackwork for that day. A small tree which cleared all wires, but not thetrack, south of Stop 53 and several trees at Stop 52 were down. Itwasn’t until looking back on it that I realized that there were threetrees involved at this location as I hadn’t been counting the thirdas it didn’t foul any wires or track, it just was caught under theother two trees. All three were removed here. Tree A was the mainculprit which when coming down first on top, took out a limb ofTree B {the rest of Tree B is still behind the line pole}, both comingto rest on the feeder cable and trolley wire and the aforemen-tioned Tree C.

Upon return to Castlemuir on Saturday Chris and I picked upthe bucket lift cart, and parked it with locomotive #5 in front of thedepot for the attack on Sunday, also plugging in the bucket lift tocharge since it hadn’t been used since last fall.

On Sunday the tree trimming crew of Chris, Ralph Taylor, JimGonyo, and myself started working about 10:00am and workeduntil 2:30pm in the humid weather to clear the downed treesalong with some major brush “face slappers” along the way.

Train operation began at 3:00pm with a few trips using CTAcar 45 from track 2 until closing, while the tree train occupied themain line at Castlemuir for cleanup.

Trees Down Again,Delay Operation

FOX RIVER LINES STAFF

Chuck Galitz, Chief Lineman

Photos by Chuck Galitz.

Looking north at trees down on wire at stop 52.

Looking north at tree down two poles south of stop 53.

Editor—Joseph Hazinskic/o Fox River Trolley Museum365 S La Fox St, P.O. Box 315, South Elgin, IL 60177-0315(414) 769-3241 E-mail: [email protected]

Layout and Graphics— Jack Sowchin

Fox River Lines is the official publication of the Fox River Trolley Association, Inc., an Illinois not-for-profit corporation. It is published four times per calendar year for distribution to membersand friends of the Fox River Trolley Museum. Reproduction of the Fox River Lines, either in partor it its entirety, is strictly prohibited without prior permission from the editorial staff or the FRTABoard of Directors. Entire contents Copyright © 2016 Fox River Trolley Association, Inc.

Submissions: Submission of stories from members and others is necessary in order topublish the Fox River Lines. Feature length articles are welcome and considered as arephotographs and illustrations. Please contact the staff before undergoing a project. Contributorssubmit materials with the understanding that no monetary compensation is provided.

Correspondence: Comments, letters to the Editor, suggestions and corrections relating tothe Fox River Lines should be directed to Editor Joseph Hazinski at the address given above. Theeditorial staff appreciates your feedback.

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