Good morning, Jeff, Dave and later arrivals.  Mt. Pleasant IA is indeed pleasant this morning.  But today and tomorrow will be the big crowds and I'll be operator or conductor for a 4 hour shift starting in a bit.  Meanwhile I'll look over the Forum.

Good morning, Jeff, Dave, Karl and those who come later.  Mt. Pleasant, IA is mostly cloudy and hasn't warmed up yet. Maybe 80-ish later. The trolleys have been going since 7. My shift today is 11-3.

Yesterday I took a look at the Old Threshers' "Steam Powerhouse" (there are stationary diesels too). Turns out they have an operating belt-driven machine shop. I sent Dave a few photos but can't get them off my phone and onto the forum till I get home.

Good morning, all. It's sunny and the cool weather continues in Mt. Pleasant, IA. I did quite a bit of walking yesterday, going downtown to see the Old Threshers Reunion opening parade.  Steam traction engines, old autos, horse-drawn and hundreds of tractors.

I've got a 4 hour operating shift later so I'm making a bigger than usual breakfast.

Good afternoon, all, from cloudy and cool Mt. Pleasant IA, where the Old Threshers' Reunion opened this morning. The big CA&E interurban #320 just clumped by the carbarn and operators in the lounge are discussing which cars they're running later.

Last book I read was science fiction by C. J. Cherryh; I'd bought it years ago but never got started till early this month.  I finished it promptly.

Quote from: KentuckySouthern on August 26, 2025, 09:44:44 AM"Yesterday evening we finished repairing and reconfiguring Chicago, Aurora & Elgin #320's control resistor grids.  After fixing one glitch we took a couple of laps with the 110 year old wood interurban."

James, that has to be exciting! So cool

Yes, and in the process everyone involved learned a good deal. One experienced trolley restorer brought new resistor grids. He'd made a pattern and had an Amish ironworks cast new grids. Resistance was lower than expected; Some was the pattern being a bit oversize, some that the Amish had used regular cast iron scrap. Back in the day there were probably additives which we need to research.  Another guy was a big CA&E fan and experienced trolley mechanic, The locals were younger than me and enthusiastic, but this kind of work was as new to them as to me.  We all enjoyed the second try at a test ride. Then discussion over adult beverages continued for a couple of hours.

Good morning, Tom, Karl, John, Dave, Larry and later arrivals. I'm still in Southeast Iowa, where it's clear and warming up from the 40s overnight. Similar weather is expected through the end of the Old Threshers Reunion. I'd been warned to expect 100-ish daytime temperatures; this is much nicer for work on track and trolleys and may increase attendance.

Yesterday evening we finished repairing and reconfiguring Chicago, Aurora & Elgin #320's control resistor grids.  After fixing one glitch we took a couple of laps with the 110 year old wood interurban.  600VDC glitches often involve light shows, but this one was brief, modest and most importantly, fixable without bringing it back over the pit.

Good afternoon, Jeff, Jerry and those who look in later. Today my weather is from SE Iowa: 70s, partly cloudy with wind out of the NW.  I was up fairly early and spent the morning clearing flangeways at grade crossings on the Midwest Electric Ry. (Old Threshers Reunion trolley line).  All their roads are paved with limestone; When road stone gets into the path of wheel flanges, it's crushed fine and packs into near-concrete. If left to build up it can derail trolleys.

I'm taking a break to do 'net things, as I've been offline since Thursday.

The B&M had electric lanterns which were yellow plastic from the factory. All the post-WWII diesels, RDCs and lightweight passenger cars had built-in markers. I think their cabooses went from kerosene to portable battery-operated units but don't recall what the latter looked like.

I looked around for a video of Down On Phillips Escalator but no joy.  Always interesting to hear Ted when he was new on the scene, though, so here's the whole first album with just a photo of the cover:


The Insert A YouTube Video button makes a black window, so here's the link raw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BMSj48jWN0&list=PLD3JwwIIASlqlm-p9JCIISLBNfrRWBUVm

Happy Birthday, Larry.  The NH seacoast's 10 day forecast is a good deal cooler than the first 10 days of August, but the days are noticeably shorter; High Summer is gone till 2026.

Thanks for the tasty breakfast, Karl. I put a basket of Summercrisp pears and another of Hazelbert nuts on the counter, after I found the nutcracker.

Today I'm packing for the Old Threshers' Reunion and cleaning up stuff around the house for my family's return from Thailand.

Quote from: deemery on August 19, 2025, 02:34:48 PMadd: Running the wires turned out to be more frustrating than I expected, but that's done.  So next step:  install the machines and connect the belts.

dave

Note that in your era the building might have had steam heat. Wires you couldn't easily hide could be painted black and mounted like they were steam heat pipes.

I'm glad too, George.

It's an overcast afternoon on the NH seacoast, but it isn't raining here at the moment.  I spent the morning getting ready for my trip to the Midwest Old Threshers' Reunion, where I'll (surprise, surprise) work on their on-site trolleys and maybe their track, then haul visitors around when the show starts next week.  Then the check for a $1.2M bequest to Seashore Trolley Museum came in and I spent a while investigating why we got it (the deceased's son had been an active member before he passed 17 years ago).  Meanwhile, I'm told a set of used trolley trucks I'd originally been tagged to unload got hung up in US customs trying to cross from Canada.  Truck timed out, they're headed back to their origin.  If that gets straightened out before Labor Day, someone else gets to unload them. Then I'm back in the bullseye.

If it isn't one thing, it's three things...

Good afternoon, all; Dave's weather is mine too today.  Spent the morning doing a little machining for a boat-owning friend, then spending some time with my younger son's long time friend, who lives and works overseas.  This afternoon I've got to finish cleaning up after the grain harvest.

Wishing you a good outcome, George.

Thanks, Tom.  When I saw your yellow markers, I figured it was SCL, SAL or ACL  practice in your era. AFAIK all B&M kerosene signal lamps, marker lights, switch lamps etc. were black. Kerosene trainman's lanterns appear to have been left galvanized.