Moose Fleet 2010 IDI Weekend Rally Review with pictures! Part 2

Sunday July 4th! Happy Birthday America, and we are off to the Illinois Railway Museum, touted as the largest railroad museum in the U.S. I would agree with that statement, as they have the most acerage I've ever seen devoted to the preservation of American railroad equipment, and they probably have the longest right of way on which to run their large toys. If you go to Baltimore, you will find trains and trolleys in their own seperate museums, but here they are combined to good effect. Our group arrived in the parking lot, and we had a brief opportunity to meet another member who seemed to be running at a frantic pace to get from one place to another. Wayne showed up at the campground just as we were leaving, and we didn't really get to say hi until we got to IRM.

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Wayne is on the extreme right.
Wayne was unable to go in with us, so this was a moment in passing. Hopefully he will find time to come to another rally and we can get to know him. So with Wayne on his way, we went into the museum.

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We rode these two trolleys

The trolleys were running under 600VDC overhead wire, and just happened to be about to leave, so getting on them was the first thing we did. As it would turn out, it was the only thing we did as a group, as the place was too large and interesting for all of us to stay together. Suzi and I pretty much were on our own, as the kids roamed in a pack, and other clusters meandered about.

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The conductor comes through and tells about the trolley history.

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I mentioned to the motorman that I noticed he had both trolley wire, and catenary as well as various signal types. This imediately indicated to him that I was not the average tourist, and off we went on our conversation as equals.

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The operators stool appears to be original equipment and has significant wear from lots of feet rubbing the rungs.

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I thought it interesting that they had a Wye switch, instead of a standard turnout. This is not a common practice, and is used on railroads where high speed operation is desired. The Y splits the curvature of the diverging route so as to ease the turnout allowing higher speeds. The Western Maryland Railway made extensive use of these on it's single track route.

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John sports last years rally shirt as he photographs his family with the 160.

Of course we are there to see big diesels, so the following example is more in line with our thirst for cubic inches.

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A Fairbanks-Morse Baby Trainmaster in Santa Fe paint.

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While not a diesel, the rare and unusual GE Gas Turbine was a special treat for those of us not used to western oddities.

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Men of the Southern Pacific were quite fond of the "California Cadilac" SD-9's. Their smooth ride made them comfort favorites.

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With 12,900 cubic inches from 20 cylinders, this former Wisconsin Central SD-45 lays down 3600 continuous horsepower without complaint. At least, until it's 2 piece crankshaft might decide to give out. That one weakness limited production of the 20 cylinder EMD 645 to this one locomotive type. Reliability issues forced EMD to drop back to more popular 16 cylinder models with a one piece crank.

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Riding on an SD-45 frame, but with the extremely common and popular 16 cylinder 645 diesel with it's one piece crank, this former Chicago and Northwestern SD-40-2 is the apex of reliability and performance. EMD sold thousands of these units to all major railroads and they served from the early 70's continuing to today.

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The Baldwin DT-6-6-20, possibly the most interesting diesel at IRM and also extremely rare. I don't know how many exist, but this is the first I've ever seen, and may be the only one.

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An Alco RS-11. Also another hard to find unit, in pretty good condition.

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No, not a Cummins, but inline diesels being more rare than a V configuration, this is a Winton 210-A. The engine which really started to bring diesel power main stream, eventually leading to the demise of steam power.

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IRM has 2 significant electric locomotives, one of which is this "Little Joe". Actually far from little, it is one of the most powerfull locomotives ever built and according to IRM is still operable. 8000HP and built by General Electric for the Russians, the cold war prevented export of these units. They eventually found homes on the Milwaukee Road and were named because of Joseph Stalin. This particular one was familiar to me, as it or an identical unit was at the B&O museum in Baltimore for decades.

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A much more common unit, and with more examples preserved, the GG-1 is a Pennsylvania staple, and I watched this unit and most of it's 200 sisters trudge everything from Amtrak commuter and express trains to Conrail freights all over the NEC between Washington D.C and New York, and west to Harrisburg PA. The last one ran in 1982.

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Only big foot can run a tire as big around as these. This 4-8-4 Northern appitamizes big steam power at it's high point.

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A Burlington SD-7. It's nice to see so many units under roof, but it is hard to get good shots of them.

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As unique to UP as the gas turbine, this DDA-40X is basically two locomotives welded back to back. There is even a hallway in the middle so you can cross from one side to the other! The fuel tank is mammoth. Likely the largest underframe tank found on any unit. I don't know how many gallons it held, but my guess is 10 to 12 thousand. I'd hate to get the fuel card statement for that one!

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If your supplying power for trolley's, you may as well run wire over the road and run some busses. This interesting "freak show" is out of place, but well appreciated.

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Locomotives look solid and immovable, but that dent in the pilot below the coupler, and the rusty side tell a different tale. A classic F unit, probably an EMD F-7 or F-9.

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Yes that's wood you see. The sides of these units are wood sheathed in steel sheet. An unfortunate product of the times and post WWII metal costs, these bodies were economy oriented. Unfortunately, the wood would absorb moisture, and rust them from the inside out. Preservationists have a difficult time repairing these.

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This unit is a one of a kind, E-5C. The last remaining in the world, and IRM runs it in excursion service. Definitely a treat. Delorian might have made the first all stainless steel car, but he wasn't the first to think of the idea. In the era of oppulant passenger service, entire trains were made of the stuff.

More to come in Part 3.....

The baldwin is the only one in existance.All the others were chopped.

That was sort of my assumption. Baldwins in general are pretty rare. This one particularly.

Mel did you ever make it to the Edaville RR in Massachusetts B4 it closed.It was all steam - we used to go there for an annual stationary engine show with the club I was in.
Funny I was driving on I-495 when the traines came down the highway headed north to thier new home,so I got one last good (real good) look at them. That was the last year we went when they moved a large part of it to Maine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edaville_Railroad

http://www.cmsgma.com/

No Bill, I did not make it up there. I would like to visit some sites up that way some time.

Great review of the IRM. I had a feeling you'd have a lot of photos from that trip.

Heath

Wow, thats a nice write up with lots of eye candy. Love the stainless steel! I'd build a whole truck like that!

Although the delorian isn't a true metal car. In fact its a steel center tunnel frame, with composite body shell, then clad in stainless steel skin. Over all it would be more accurate to call it a composite car. The american made reproduction replaces carbon steel structure in the frame with true stainless steel.

And I believe some cities like vancouve still run electric busses with over head power cables. Much lower operating cost, cleaner, and they last longer.