Connecticut Trolley Museum, Warehouse Point, CT

Tim Lesniak wrote:Right now, we are getting ready for another long day at the Lake Shore Electric Parts Swap, before a 9+ hour drive home. We were very lucky in this deal because we were able to obtain a number of things that will help make cars operational. For our Shaker Heights Rapid Transit Center Entrance 1201, we were able to get a spare motor, two spare air compressors (one complete, one partial), and a fender. For our Boston/Dallas PCC 3333, we were able to get a Motor Generator Set to replace the one that is currently under the car that is fried. We also picked up a set of rear steps and a sink for our Northern Car. We did get some miscellaneous parts as well such as breakers, gongs, brake cylinders, and headlights. By default, we acquired the large wheel press and wheel boring machine (Thank you IRM.).

Thanks for the updates, please keep us posted!

Three trolley cars will be getting Christmas presents this Winter at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. Track number 1 of Northern Car Barn has been completed which will allow for three more trolley cars to be stored in a barn as opposed to under a tarp. The next storage trackage that is scheduled to be started in January is tracks in the Visitor Center Station area. When these tracks are complete, there will be 6 to 8 car storage spots under cover in the VC Station area.

Tim Lesniak
Corporate Secretary
CT Trolley Museum

Now that 2009 is over, the volunteers at the Connecticut Trolley Museum are preparing for 2010. For 2010, the plan is to have 8 cars in the Visitor Center which will allow us to tell the entire story of the trolley era from the horse car to the PCC. This past weekend, tracks were shifted to track 3 to allow Connecticut 65 (the Museum's first car) to enter the Visitor Center. The tracks entering the Visitor Center are not equipped with switches. The reason for this is because the current access tracks are temporary with tight radius curves. In order to build the permanent tracks, Gale Car Barn needs to be moved, and the entire area needs to be regraded. Accessing a track is like using a turntable, except one end of the track stays attached to the main and the other end is pulled into place by a piece of heavy equipment such as a backhoe. When we began moving the first car, we ran into an issue of tight gauge, 2 inches too tight! And unfortunately the ground around it was frozen and holding the track tight. That ground work to a halt early Saturday afternoon. By noon on Sunday, the frozen ground was removed and the track was able to be set at the proper gauge. At that point, cars on that track were cleared out of the Visitor Center and 65 and Springfield (VT) 10 were pushed back into the Visitor Center. Montreal 2056 has taken temporary accommodations in Lusa Shop (where 65 was parked) until the tracks can be swapped over to allow 2056 to go back into the Visitor Center on the next track over. By 4pm, everything was put under cover, and the boxcars were shifted back onto Hartman's Siding.

This is nowhere near the biggest of issues that we will run into. After track 4 of the Visitor Center is set, we will need to switch the last 3 cars out of the end of Hartman's Siding. The problem is that when the Visitor Center was being built, this section of Hartman's Siding was disconnected from the rest of Hartman's, the elevation of Hartman' s was raised so that the Visitor Center access tracks could be built. At the spot where Hartman's Siding should meet this stub track, Hartman's Siding is almost a foot above the stub track, and the stub track is buried underneath dirt and rock.

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Tim Lesniak
Corporate Secretary
CT Trolley Museum

Tim-

I see your group has a new web site up and running ( http://cttrolley.org ). A big improvement from the old! Much easier to read and navigate. Will you be adding a roster of cars in the museum's collection? Also, can someone add a link to the New York Museum of Transportation in Rush, NY (the only electric trolley in the state).

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Tim-

I see your group has a new web site up and running ( http://cttrolley.org ). A big improvement from the old! Much easier to read and navigate. Will you be adding a roster of cars in the museum's collection? Also, can someone add a link to the New York Museum of Transportation in Rush, NY (the only electric trolley in the state).

-otto-

Otto-

The new website that is up currently is a temporary website. The IT Committee is working on a replacement which will include a departmental blog, a roster of cars, and links to all the area museums in addition to other items.

Tim

The set up of the Main Display Hall has been progressing nicely. The CTM is lucky to have a group of teenage volunteers who are eager to do just about anything. It is School Vacation Week, and a couple of these high schoolers are coming down to help sweep, clean the track flangeways, move display cabinets, and whatever else needs to be done. We didn't ask them, they asked us if they could spend their School Vacation at the museum.
In other related news, Springfield (VT) Electric Railway car 10 has been moved back into the Main Display Hall. Iowa Southern Utilities Line Car 1 and DC Transit Sweeper 010 have been moved under the train shed. 5 Mile Beach Electric Railway (Wildwood NJ) car 36, which was on track 4, has been shifted over a track. It now resides on track 5 of the Main Display Hall. Track 5 is the only track that does not currently have the ability to hook up to the Visitor Center Lead track so anything going on that track needs to be brought in on Track 4 and then jacked over. In the coming weeks, the Visitor Center Lead will be shifted to line up with track 4. This will allow us to remove New Orleans car 836 and the New York Ontario & Western Bobber Caboose to Northern and Woods Barns. We will then be able to shift Montreal Tramways car 2056 (former Springfield (MA) Street Railway 575) and the Ponemah Mills Locomotive into the Visitor Center on track 4.
The cleanup of the Train Shed is progressing nicely. Two junked forklifts that were stored under the Train Shed for a number of years have been removed to the top of the parking lot to be scrapped. We also removed two track machines and parked them elsewhere. We will continue to removed stored machines and material from under the Train Shed. That will allow us to build two 60 foot tracks and two 45 foot tracks under the Train Shed.

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Tim Lesniak
Corporate Secretary
CT Trolley Museum

The set up of the Main Display Hall is progressing nicely. Seven of the eight cars have been shifted into the Visitor Center Main Hall. The latest two are the Ponemah Mills Locomotive & Montreal Tramways 2056. In the coming weekends, the locomotive will get a fresh coat of paint. It is hoped that there is enough money in the restricted account for 2056 to do the same with that car. The only car left to be shifted into the Main Hall is Fair Haven & Westville car 154.

The Train Shed is also progressing nicely. The tool truck has been emptied and should be moved out shortly. The remainder of the shop machinary has also been moved out of the Train Shed. Hopefully by April, we will be laying track.

Tim Lesniak wrote:The set up of the Main Display Hall is progressing nicely. Seven of the eight cars have been shifted into the Visitor Center Main Hall. The latest two are the Ponemah Mills Locomotive & Montreal Tramways 2056. In the coming weekends, the locomotive will get a fresh coat of paint. It is hoped that there is enough money in the restricted account for 2056 to do the same with that car. The only car left to be shifted into the Main Hall is Fair Haven & Westville car 154.

The Train Shed is also progressing nicely. The tool truck has been emptied and should be moved out shortly. The remainder of the shop machinary has also been moved out of the Train Shed. Hopefully by April, we will be laying track.

We were just discussing the Ponemah Mills locomotive in the New York State Forum, as it was to be part of an aborted Museum of Electricity in Scotia, NY.

Have any photos of your recent progress?

-otto-

Otto-

I will post photos of the Ponemah Mills Locomotive as soon as its painted, and possibly some of the painting in progress. I will also post photos when the interurban 162 gets moved into the Train Shed.

Tim

Saturday was a very busy day at the museum. Part of car 303 (the trucks) arrived at the museum early Saturday morning. Hopefully the rest of the car will arrive sometime this week. The movement of this car has been a nightmare with timing issues and permitting problems. Once the car arrives, we will shift it up to the shop and begin reassembling it.

The Visitor Center was a very busy place on Saturday after the trucks were unloaded. Cars 10, 1201, and 2056 were cleaned inside and out. The material stored in the Ponemah Mills Locomotive was removed. In the time the car sat under the Train Shed, foam insulation panels and shelving posts were stored in the locomotive. The foam panels will get used for Rails to the Darkside. The big thing that happened on Saturday was the clearing of the Train Shed. The entire bay 1 of the shed was cleared out. It is now ready to be graded and for track to be built. Once the track is finished, Connecticut Company 1739 and Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee 162 will be moved to bay 1.

The Connecticut Trolley Museum will be reopening on April 2nd, 2010. New for this year is the exhibit: History & Evolution of the Electric Trolley and its Impact on Society. This exhibit discusses the trolley era from the Horsecar to the LRV and how society was changed by it. Notable cars included in this exhibit are Locomotive 1386 (Ponemah Mills built by General Electric in 1894 as its first double truck steeple cab locomotive when GE was only 2 years old), Car 65 (Connecticut Company built by Wason in 1906 and is the Museum's first car), and the Northern (Northern Ohio Parlor/Business Car built in 1909 by Niles).

Keep us posted... it sounds like there's some good momentum building there.

Question: What cars are currently operable? What cars are you planning to use for the 2010 season?

-otto-

We are planning on using the following cars this year for the operating season:

Boston Type 5 # 5645
Montreal # 2600
Montreal Observation #4
Illinois Terminal PCC #451
Connecticut Company #1326
Rio open car #1850
Fair Haven & Westville #355
Springfield Terminal #16

Cars we hope to run later in the season after repairs:

New Orleans #835
Connecticut Company #840

We also hope to use Cars #303 and #101 from the recent Trolleyville auction. #101 will pull a cinder duster and bobber caboose.

We generally rotate through several cars on any given day giving visitors an opportunity to experience different types of cars.

Chris Chestnut
Head of restoration
CT Trolley

Over the weekend, a massive switching operation occurred to get two Boston PCCs (3100 & 3306) and the 162 (Chicago North Shore) from the end of the Inner Loop Storage Track. Of course the three cars that we needed to get at were 3 of the last 4 cars on the loop. The switching started Friday morning. Weather did not quite cooperate with us. Intermittent rain showers plagued us throughout the day on Friday, but we were able to get most of the equipment off of the loop.

By the end of the day on Friday, the only thing left in the way of the 3 cars was the Chicopee Crane. The crane was moved most of the way out, however towards the end of the loop the outside front wheel began to float over the rail. Yes, float, not climb. The Chicopee Crane was built on a very rigid frame with no springs on the axles. It was designed to only run on a straight track. When the crane made it to a bank in the curve of the loop, the crane would not balance out over the transition so the outer front wheel began to float allowing the crane to go straight when the track curved. Luckily, Saturday morning we were able to push it back on the track with the excavator.

At that point, we pulled the PCCs and North Shore car out of the way into Kelly 1 Yard. Then began the task of putting everything back. The Car Shop Yard and the Northern 1 Yard was cleared back to the Inner Loop. When that was accomplished, the North Shore car was positioned as the first car on the loop and the Boston PCCs were dropped on the Northern 1 Yard for work to begin on them.

Saturday was a very busy day with a variety of departments all trying to get things accomplished leaving little room on the rails. Because the Car Shop Yard was blocked in by the cars switched off of the loop, Car Shop members were working on cars in Kelly Barn. The Track Department had the Kelly 2-3 Yard out of service while they were replacing switch timbers in the 2-3 Switch. The switching operation was taking up the Car Shop Yard, the Northern 1 Yard and the Kelly 1 Yard. Public Operations had the 4 cars that they were using crammed into the North Road Station area. The Signal Communication & Electric Traction Department was working on the line car rebuilding the platform in the Car Shop Yard. Because the loop was cleared of rail equipment, the Grounds Department was able to clear some of the trees that were encroaching on the loop and create space to work on the loop extension. In the process of the tree clearing, we found two more pieces of the Ponemah Mills Locomotive and a pile of good switch timbers that the Track Department was unaware of.

Over the weekend, a massive switching operation occurred to get two Boston PCCs (3100 & 3306) and the 162 (Chicago North Shore) from the end of the Inner Loop Storage Track. Of course the three cars that we needed to get at were 3 of the last 4 cars on the loop.

Tim:
What were the reason(s) for the big move?