Highliners Arrive at IRM

[Busjack]

I'm guessing these were the last carbon steel passenger cars built in the US.  (Add "full size" or "for domestic service" or whatever qualifiers are necessary.)

More than likely, as most cars since then were of the Budd stainless steel design. So were Burlington commuter cars that preceded these. These turned out to be rust buckets, and there obviously was the expense of repainting them several times.

The main competition seems to be the Bombardier bi-level, which are steel and aluminum, or stainless steel, according to CPTDB.

[r-schauer]

Hey guys-

Last Saturday, September 17th, IRM ran two Highliners in public operation for the first time.  They ran two very short trips of about a mile and a half each, sort of a "proof of concept" more than anything else.  This is the first time that any museum has run Highliners under their own power. 

The cars that ran were 1630 and 1637, and we had all of the auxiliaries running except the air conditioners.  We are still slowly working our way through the cars' systems, fixing things as we go.  Getting the air conditioners running is important to us, but a lower priority than making the car itself move and stop safely. 

Getting the cars watertight and stopping rust is also very important to us, but the only way to really preserve them is to put the cars inside a barn, and we are fundraising for this purpose.  (Illinois Railway Museum, PO Box 427, Union IL 60180)

Richard Schauer

 

[Busjack]

17 minutes ago, r-schauer said:

Getting the cars watertight and stopping rust is also very important to us, but the only way to really preserve them is to put the cars inside a barn, and we are fundraising for this purpose.  (Illinois Railway Museum, PO Box 427, Union IL 60180)

Would they fit into the barn where the South Shore cars are?

[r-schauer]

Busjack-

Physically fitting them into one of the new barns isn't a problem.  Our newer barns are built to 17-foot height clearance.  The problem is the money to build a barn.  Equipment generally buys into barn space based on its length, at whatever rate new construction will cost.  When a barn's-worth of money has been raised, the barn is built, and the equipment can go inside any barn in which it fits, physically and logistically.  (This is also why there is generally a big shuffle of equipment after a new barn is built- to put things in better places.)  Sometimes people donate toward barn space in general, and that money is split evenly between the departments and each curator chooses what pieces to apply it to- topping up a piece that doesn't have quite enough, or getting an important piece that doesn't have much money in.  Rarely is there empty space waiting to be filled.

Also, South Shore cars at IRM aren't all stored in the same barn, for several reasons.  This is true of just about any particular kind of equipment; they are scattered in various places.

Richard

 

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, r-schauer said:

The problem is the money to build a barn.

As Marge Simpson would say, "Time to call the pros. Oh, those Amish are so industrious, unlike those shiftless Mennonites."

On the South Shore cars, I was thinking of the big barn south of 50th Ave. However I see you have a lot of barn projects in progress, and if you don't have the room, you don't have the room.

[r-schauer]

Barn 9 (the big one south of the 'L station) is one of the places that Highliners probably wouldn't be put.  It's an older barn, and if I remember right, it's not quite 16' clear through the doorways, except for one track that was built a few inches lower so 1630 could pull coaches out.  I can't remember any South Shore cars being stored in it, unless it was for a short time long ago or something.  Highliners are 15'10" over lowered pantographs.

Richard