2019-1

RECENT FOX RIVER LINE HAPPENINGS

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The Repainting of 715

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CNS&M 715 has been one of our most popular and oftenused cars, but it has looked pretty worn out in recent years withfaded paint, malfunctioning doors and rusted out end dashpanels. In 2018 Doug Rundell took on repairing a failing tackmolding near the southeast corner of the car which ended in acanvas patch over the work. This was just the start.

In January 2019 three new side doors were constructed byJohn of Kraftwerks and because of a mild winter up to that point,he installed them on the car. We had one mangled sample of thedoor sweeps, which were at the bottom of these doors to keepweather out, from which our neighbor Leo Metz made replace-ments. Once winter subsided the sweeps were attached to thedoors and helped keep the spring rains out of the vestibules.

After the Rails To Victory event and the opening of regularmuseum service, the car was taken out of service in July and

parked on Track 3 South adjacent to the car barn. Doug Rundellwith the help of Mike Gilles and James Tarbet recoated the roofcanvas. The lower corner of the #1 or south train door disinte-grated last season and had plywood patches applied to keep thedoor together. This door had been patched by Ralph Taylor whenwe got the car in 1989 and had received some epoxy patch overthe years but now that was not holding. Mile Gilles and JoeHazinski took on repairing the door using some maple stock thatis on hand. Ralph’s donated planner was used to get it down tothe correct thickness and after two tries we finally got a fair fitwith the use of epoxy filler to fill in the gaps.

With the car on Track 3 South work started on preparing thesurface for paint. The first thought was to rough up the surface,prime it and paint over it. Kathleen Jamieson started work onrepainting the east side herald, but as work continued defects inthe car sides and ends dictated that wire wheeling and grindingdown to bare metal would be required. Jeff Bennett even experi-mented with a water blast system on one corner.

F O X R I V E R L I N E S 2

2019-1C O N T E N T S

FOX R

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ADDRESS .. 365 S. LaFox St., P.O. Box 315, South Elgin, IL 60177PHONEPHONEPHONEPHONEPHONE .......... (847) 697-4676 WEBSITE ... www.foxtrolley.org

From the Front Platform

Edward KoneckiPresident, Fox River Trolley Association

1 ..... The Repainting of 715

2 ..... From the Front Platform

7 ..... Village Skillfully Repairs Water Main Break Under Track

8 ... FRTM 43 Parking Brake Change

10 ..... The Museum Reaches Out to the Public

12 ..... A Motor Change for CTA 45

15 ..... Putting Our Cars In Historical Perspective

16 ..... Museum Signage Improvements 2019

2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORSEdward Konecki, Jeff Bennett, Luke Helm Jr.,Douglas Rundell and Ralph Taylor

2019 OFFICERSPresident - Edward KoneckiVice President -Luke Helm Jr.Secretary - Ralph TaylorTreasurer - Douglas Rundell

2019 COMMITTEESManagement Committee -Edward Konecki, Luke Helm Jr. and Ralph TaylorCollection Assessment Committee –Ralph Taylor (chair), Joe HazinskiBy-Laws Committee –Ralph Taylor (chair), Joe Hazinski

2019 MUSEUM DEPARTMENT LEADERSMUSEUM OPERATIONS:

Operations Superintendent - Patrick StormTrainmaster - Darmin KeenanMuseum Store Manager - Laura TaylorAssistant Store Manager - vacant

MUSEUM SERVICES DEPARTMENT:Membership Secretary - Laura TaylorMembership Activities

Coordinator - vacantMembership Development

Coordinator - Lisa HelmMUSEUM SERVICES DEPARTMENT:

Museum Services Manager - Edward KoneckiMedia Relations

Coordinator -Bob Breese-RodenkirkCurator - Joe HazinskiArchivist - vacantEducation Coordinator - vacantCapitol Development

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

Manager – Lorrie NevensCAR DEPARTMENT:

Chief Car Officer - Jeff BennetCar Maintenance

Superintendent - Joe HazinskiFIXED PLANT DEPARTMENT:

Chief Engineer - Ralph TaylorRoadmaster - Chris NelsonAssistant Roadmaster – vacantChief Lineman - vacant

Building and GroundsSuperintendent - Fred Lonnes

Electrical Supply and Signals - Ralph TaylorMUSEUM SAFETY DEPARTMENT:

Safety Coordinator - Ralph Taylor (acting)Assistant Safety

Coordinator - Bruce Kuhnhofer

Our first special event started in 1980. It was Electric Railroad Fair and itpushed the Museum members to get a large group of cars looking good and intooperation. The event was successful, it brought in a good revenue stream, and itgenerated a good time for both our visitors and for our volunteers. However, likemany special events, the event draw faded. The event was folded into South Elgin’sRiverfest Express, and then left the calendar as the market for an Electric RailroadFair disappeared.

Since then, other special events have come and gone to bring visitors and tosupply the income needed to maintain and operate the Museum. Today, ourcalendar is full of special events starring in the spring with Bunny Train and endingthe year with Polar Express and Christmas City Express. Volunteers are spendingthousands of hours and investing a lot of emotional and financial capital in makingthese events successful. It is fantastic and amazing that we can do so much, oftenwith so very little in resources compared to other organizations.

This year, we are starting to see some softening in the demand for ourChristmas events. It’s there. When a special event has peaked and starts to soften, itis time to look for a new event.

I have the perfect special event that we can try for 2020. It is making eachoperating day a special event and promoting it as a special event. How would thatwork? Here are some thoughts.

Market and Sell, each week, the personalities and people who are on the traincrew for that weekend. For example, see what crazy history Conductor Ed will talkabout this week.

Schedule the trains instead of running them extra and publish the schedule.

Since trains are scheduled, have the train crew member who is off provided awalking tour of the cars at Castlemuir. This can be scheduled, too. Member JoeHazinski suggested a walking tour decades ago, but lack of a fixed schedule madethis difficult to implement.

Advertise Take the Throttle for every operating day at 5:00 PM and sell it online from our online ticketing system. This attracts the whole family and bringsthem to the Museum to see what we are up to as well as getting us a new member.

There are a lot of different ideas we can put into action to make each regularoperating day feel like a special event to our guests and to our volunteers. Let’s trysome of them this upcoming season.

Every Operating Day Is a Special Event

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Jack of Kraftwerks plans his next movein prepaing a new door to hang.

(Continued from page 1)The Repainting of 715In the meantime Jeff hooked up with Buzz Morisette of IRMwho had done decals for their green North Shore cars andobtained computer files for both the herald and numeralsexcept the “5” for which we provided information to have afile created. A supplier that has done graphics for Jeff’scompany then made decals for the car. A combination ofmuseum volunteers and KRB employees worked through thesummer to prepare the exterior of the car. Rusted out areas inthe side sheets were filled with POR-15 epoxy and then

ground and sanded smooth. Finally white epoxy primer was appliedto the lower sides of the car. We had planned to use RustoleumHunter Green but after investigation Jeff decided to go with anImron 3.5 HG auto paint which includes a clear coat. This wasmatched with the Rustoleum colors. Imron is a very expensive paintbut should protect the car for years in an outdoor environment.When it came time to pick up the paint we received a deep discountfrom the supplier as the manager had fond memories of visiting themuseum when he was a child. You never know when good visitorrelations will help out in the future.

Three of the four end dash panels were badly rusted through(Continued on page 5)

MISSION

To preserve and interpret Chicago’s electric transport erathat began in the 1890s and peaked before 1950. The electrictransport era is significant because electric railways, includinginterurban, rapid transit, and streetcars, helped the Chicagoregion grow to be one of North America’s great metropolitanareas. The Museum strives to show that electric railways weremore than convenient, they were and are a way of life forgenerations of people from all walks of life.

The Museum fulfills this mission by preserving,interpreting, and operating historic railway vehicles on itsdemonstration electric railway, over the Aurora, Elgin andFox River Electric route at South Elgin, Illinois. Furthermore,the museum preserves, displays and interprets smaller artifacts,photos, oral histories, and documents which help relate theimportance of electric transport in and around the ChicagoMetropolitan Area, putting them in context with theirsurroundings and era.

On July 27th Kathleen cuts out the rusted area.

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July 8th, 2019 and Mke and Doug are coating the roof with fresh paint.

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F O X R I V E R L I N E S 4

The patch all riveted in place.

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It is July 28th and Mike holds the metal patch in place.

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Jeff installing a rivet joining the patch to the car end.

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Primed to prevent flash surface rust.

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The cut out area.

It is August 11th and POR 15 epoxy has been applied.Effects of the blast test can also be seen.

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(Continued from page 3)The Repainting of 715along the bottom edge. A four inch strip ofthe bottom of each dash was cut out.Then a piece of sheet metal was riveted toeach dash and primed. More POR-15 bodyfiller was applied to blend in the seamand cover the new pop rivets. Grindingand sanding them smoothed the seamwhich was now ready for primer.

After the car was wiped down withacetone Jeff used an airless sprayer toapply a white epoxy primer to the sidesheets. Then masking all the windowsstarted after all the window posts hadbeen wire wheeled followed by applying agray epoxy primer. At this point CA&E 458was moved from its place on Track 4inside the car barn so 715 could come infor final painting. More masking wasdone including the edge of the roof andall six doors which were set ajar so thecomplete door areas could be sprayed.

This time a conventional air gun wasused to spray the green with air suppliedby our old trusty car barn compressor. Jeff

It's September 8th andthe car is on Track 5as window maskinghas started.

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By September 16ththe west side isreadt for the greenImron paint.

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Doug is tac wiping the letterboard and window posts on September 16. Here Jeff is applying the black on October 14th.

(Continued on page 6)

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F O X R I V E R L I N E S 6

(Continued from page 5)The Repainting of 715

The inside of the car is being cleaned up October 14th as the painting is almost done.

Joseph Hazinski

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laid down two coats of the Imron 3.5green but was not satisfied, so he sandedhis work down and did it over. AE&FR 304and CA&E 20 were covered with plastic toprotect them from overspray. The greenwas sprayed again and then, after thecolor cured, it was time to change themasking to apply the red. Once the redwas cured it was time remove all themasking. A lot of the final spray paintingwas done by Jeff in the early evening. Hethen proceeded to paint the northanticlimber black but there wasn’t enoughroom to do the south end so one eveningafter the peak power demand he movedthe car a few feet north out of the barn.After he finished painting the southanticlimber he could not motor it back upagainst CTA 4451. After some troubleshooting and consulting with Fred Lonneshe determined that an element of thecontrol resistance had failed. and resortedto a manual car mover to get it backinside. He called Joe Hazinski who advisedhim where he might find some replace-ment resistor fins. which he located thenext day, and installed one to resolve theproblem. While the car was still inside,Bill of KRB started cleaning up theinterior which had a lot of dust and debrisfrom the exterior surface preparation.

Finally 715 was moved outside and458 returned to its place in the barn forcontinued roof work. By this time it wasgetting fairly cool outside and our firstinstinct was to wait until next spring toapply the decals. After talking to thegraphics concern that made them theyfelt confident that they could apply themfor a very reasonable fee. So that is howthe car got to its current condition, just intime for use during the Pumpkin Trolleyoperations. There is additional paintingneeded on the interior platforms, trapsand steps as well as the underbody, butwith the first snow and the need to get theCTA cars ready for our Christmas trainservices, these tasks will be done in thespring of 2020. Special thanks to Jeff forpushing so hard to get this primaryoperating car done and to all those whohelped in big and small ways.

The car all lettered on Sunday October 27th and in service!

What the herald decal looked like before being applied.

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Village SkillfullyRepairs WaterMain BreakUnder Track

Photos by Jeff Bennett.

This last spring the Village of SouthElgin had a water main audit done by aprivate contractor to determine wherethere were leaks in the water distributionsystem. One of the leaks found was in themain underneath our mainline track nextto Highway 31 and over the creek north ofthe museum site. While the contractor’sdevice pinpointed the leak it was con-firmed by the water pouring through thetop of culvert directly into the creek. OnJune 13th, 2019 a vacuum truck removedthe ballast between the ties exposing themain with an active crack in it. The Villagecrew was able to place a jacket around theleak to stop it and under the watchful eyesof member Jeff Bennett, brought in stoneto replace what had been removed withno disturbance to our track structure.With the use of this modern machineryand diligent efforts of the Village workersthis water main break was repaired in oneday and without having to tear up anytrack much to the relief of the Village crewand a grateful museum.

Besides using this track, part of theAE&FR mainline between Elgin andAurora, for access for highway trailered inmuseum rolling stock, Auto Truck ofBartlett also uses this area to place highrail vehicles it assembles onto our trackfor testing during the week. The museumis compensated for the use of our track byAuto Truck. Member Fred Lonnes also setshis Dodge high rail pickup on the track atthis point as well when he does railbonding work on our track.

Joseph Hazinski

Water main leaking into the creekfrom the underside of the bridge.

The crew vaccuming out the soil to reach the leak.

The actual leak is exposed! A Village worker down in the excavationready to put a collar around the leak.

The Village truck dumping stoneback into the hole to fill the void.

The great Village crew returnedthe track zone back to normal.

F O X R I V E R L I N E S 8

It was reported that CTA car 43 wasnot holding on grades, a “drifter” in CTAparlance, and upon inspection it wasdetermined that the #3 axel parking brakedrum linkage had come to the end of itsadjustment travel. So for safety reasonsthe car was taken out of service August25th, 2019 so the brake drum and shoescould be replaced with spares on hand.On the CTA such work would be done ona pit track or nowadays with a truck lift.

Chief Car Officer Jeff Bennett pro-posed to change the brake drum out withthe car parked on Track 3 North, so MikeGilles and Kathleen Jameison shoveled theballast down to tie height. Unfortunatelythere still was not enough room betweenthe ties and bottom of the motors to getunderneath. Undaunted, Jeff came upwith a solution with a 22 ton jack and fourjack stands, with which he could jack upthe whole north end truck along with thecar, supporting the two axles at fourpoints on the jack stands, to gain accessunderneath the truck to the brake drum.

On Saturday September 28th, Jeff,with the help of Mike and Joe Hazinski,removed the drive shaft between the axleand the traction motor so the drum couldbe unbolted and then the two worn shoesremoved. A defective grease fitting on thebrake shoe frame was also replaced. Thenthe process was reversed as brake shoeswere attached to the brake frame, theshoes being matched to a machined brakedrum that was bolted to the motor shaft,and then reconnected to the axle with thedrive shaft. The linkage from the parkingbrake to the brake actuator was rein-stalled and adjusted. The next day thetruck was carefully lowered back to the rails.

It is imperative that all operators notuse the braking positions on the Cinestoncontroller when a car is moving less than5 mph to avoid excessive wear on theparking brake which is designed only tohold the car. This usually happens whenswitching and coupling or uncoupling, inwhich cases the track brake should beused. While we have spare drums andshoes, the Car Department’s time wouldbe better spent on other maintenance and

FRTM 43 ParkingBrake Change

Jeff is underneath unbolting the drive shaft and parking brake. Photos by Joseph Hazinski.

CTA 43's north truck is jacked up as Mike Gilles makes an adjustment for Jeff Bennet.

restoration projects. Motormen aregetting instruction as needed now, andmore formal instruction is anticipatedduring annual retraining at the beginningof the 2020 operating season.

Joseph Hazinski

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CTA 43's north truck is jacked up as Mike Gilles makes an adjustment for Jeff Bennet.

Jeff finishing up under the truckas jackstands hold the axles up.

The drive shaft and the speedometer gear for the ATC await reinstallation.

F O X R I V E R L I N E S 10

Through the efforts of Lorrie Nevens, the museum’s Commu-nity Relations Manager, the museum participated in two Villageevents this year. As Community Relations Manager, Lorrieattends Village board meetings to represent the museum andinterfaces with other community organizations as well.Kathleen Jamison also assists Lorrie when she is unable toattend a meeting.

The first event was the South Elgin National Night Out onAugust 6th, 2019 at Jim Hanson Park. Our volunteers set up abooth under a canopy loaned to us by President Ed Konecki.National Night Out is administered by the South Elgin PoliceDepartment as an event for the citizens of the Village to meetwith government agencies, community groups and localbusinesses in an outdoor event anchored by music. Jeff Bennettand his daughter Rylee attended the 2018 event at a booth ofanother group and saw the potential to get word out about themuseum. This season we went all out with a prize wheel sug-gested by Kathleen that people could spin to obtain items withthe museum’s name on them in return for their email address.The swag included key chain flashlights, tee shirts, pens, notepads, tote bags, water bottles and lip balm. Patrick Storm withthe help of Kathleen designed and printed up a new three panelbrochure in which were inserted flyers about our Christmastrains and a plea for volunteers. Patrick also created and printedup 2,000 free ride passes. Rylee Bennett, Abi Reinert and JustinMorton, wearing dark blue FRTM Volunteer tee shirts, roamedthe grounds giving away the tickets while Jeff Bennett and JosephHazinski in conductor uniforms passed them out in front of ourbooth. Damin Keenan brought out some of his O scale models

and assisted Lorrie, Barb Bennett, Kathleen, Doug Rundell and JillBradley in manning the booth and giving out the prizes gainedfrom spinning the wheel. Mike and Sandy Gilles brought out oneof our fare boxes for cash donations. Bernie Kamenear alsostopped by for moral support. By the end of the evening all thetickets had been given away. Craig Pierce, the social mediacommunications specialist for the Village stopped by andcommented that ours was one of the busiest displays.

The Museum Reaches Out To The Public

The popular prize wheel ready for service at National Night Out.

Our booth on the first day ofRiver Fest Express August 17.

(Continued on page 12)

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While the museum has been a long time financial contribu-tor to the annual South Elgin River Fest Express celebration thiswas the first year we had a booth. Historically our museum hadour own Trolley Fest on this August weekend and eventually theRiver Fest Express celebration was created and grew into thebroader community event it is today. On Saturday August 17ththe booth was set up on Water Street in front of the VillageRecreation Center across from the popular auto show site. OnSunday August 18th Lorrie was able to change the location to theintersection of Spring and Water Streets at the main entrance ofthe midway and vendors. Another 2,000 free ride passes wereprinted for these dates and all were given away over the twodays. The prize wheel was also set up again and most of the

remaining hand outs were given away. Basically the same crew ofvolunteers from National Night Out manned the booth on bothdays. The public response was very positive as people wereadvised that they could use their passes to take a ride that day orany operating day until the end of our regular 2019 season. Formany people it was the first time hearing about us and for othersthey related how they had ridden our line as a child and that itwas time for another visit with their children. Once again thegoal is to make the museum known as a unique feature of SouthElgin as well as to recruit new visitors and volunteers. Thanks toall our members and friends who aided in these publicoutreach events.

Joseph Hazinski

Lorrie Nevens engages a family at the museum's booth on Sunday

The relocated booth on Sunday August 18th with the usual cast of characters.

A young man receives his FRTM water bottle after spinning the wheel.

Photos by Joseph Hazinski.

F O X R I V E R L I N E S 12

While doing switching on SundaySeptember 22nd, Fred Lonnes observed aflash from the #2 or north truck of CTA car45. Not only did the car shut down but thesub station was also tripped by this fault.After the truck was cut out the car couldbe moved on the remaining two motorswith use of the track brake to stop (all fourmotors must be available for the dynamicbrake system to work). During the weekRalph Taylor checked the motors with hismegger and found that the #4 tractionmotor armature was open. Based oninspection the working theory is thatcondensation caused the armature toflash. As a result during humid weather allthree cars will have their M-G’s run forabout 45 minutes before moving a car touse the ventilation air to dry out the motors.

Jeff Bennett located a spare motor inour off-site storage which had beenserviced in 2017 along with another motorwhich was installed in car 40 that year.With his experience in changing our 43’sparking brake he refined his system ofagain jacking the north truck up to gainaccess to the faulty motor. This was doneon Track 3 North just south of the pedes-trian crossing on Saturday October 5thwith the faulty motor being removed afterall cables were disconnected along withthe brake rod. Since the truck had to beraised higher for clearance extra stabiliza-tion was added with car stands on thebody and bottle jacks between the railsand track brakes.

Sunday October 6th found Jeff, FredLonnes, Mike Gilles and Joe Hazinskiavailable to install the replacement motor.A spare parking brake assembly wasinstalled on the motor as a prudent movesince it was out in the open. Jeff’s skidloader moved the motor up to pedestriancrossing where it was strapped to a floorjack and then carefully slid under thetruck into position. Getting the motorcradle to line up with the transom tooksome finagling as first the “safety bolt”then each of the four bolts were installedand cinched up. While Jeff installed thedrive shaft, parking brake rod and

A Motor ChangeOut For CTA 45

CTA 45 is up and ready toreceive a new motor onTrack 3 North.

The replacement motor,reworked in 2017,awaits its installation.

Jeff Bennett lifts themotor up with his skidloader while FredLonnes and RalphTaylor steady it.

(Continued on page 14)

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Moving the replacementmotor up to the car.

Moving the replacement motor up to the car.Making the final push to get the motor intoposition so it can be raised up into the truck.

The motor on the jack just before it is lifted into position Jeff installing protective sheathing on the motor leads.

Photos by Joseph Hazinski.

F O X R I V E R L I N E S 14

ventilator hood, Kathleen Jameison sortedout cable block hardware as Ralph Taylor,Mike and Fred connected the motor cablejackknife connectors, taping them up andthen heating the shrink tubing over them.Next it was fastening the cables in placeand adding protection to aeras of thecables which could chaff as the car goesaround curves. With everything con-nected it was time to lower the truck backto the rails. This had to be done in twostages between the two axles with L-202supplying air to the 22 ton jack and thebottle jacks and stabilizer jacks beingremoved. Axle 3 made it down first thenfinally axle 4. While it would have beennice to test the car the remaining daylightwas used to clean up, put tools away andplace the tub with the defective motorinto the back of the tool ambulance. Toadd to the drama, Jeff, Fred and Mike hadto assist Patrick Storm and crew inbringing CNS&M 756 back from DeYoungJunction with AE&R #5 where it had beenstored for the day due to unrelatedoperating considerations.

Subsequently 45 has run success-fully and participated in three car traintest runs to and from Blackhawk tocheck the improvements made to therail return to the sub station. This is thethird motor change out we have doneon a CTA car and by far this was themost efficient one to date.

A Motor Change OutFor CTA 45(Continued from page 13)

Joseph Hazinski

Just before the step bystep lowering of the car.

The air jack on the #4axle as the truck andcar are being lowered.

Finishing the first stageof lowering the car.

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Sometimes I think we miss thehistorical perspective of our rolling stockwhen we relate the significance of it inhistory to our visitors.

Take CA&E 20 for instance. Havingbeen built in 1902 for the Aurora Elginand Chicago, it was in service two yearsbefore the Wright brothers took flight atKitty Hawk, and now at the museum jetpassenger planes fly overhead on theirway to O’Hare International Airport.People who were alive during and foughtin the Civil War rode in this car. Peoplewho were emancipated during thatwar also rode in this car. Immigrants fromIreland, Germany, Poland, Italy, Hungaryand all places European commuted in theinterurban, often times to suburbs thatcatered to their ethnic group. Then camethe Great War, what we now call WorldWar I, as people read the newspaperaccounts of the European conflict andhow the U. S. finally entered the fray andhelped bring it to an end on November11th, 1918. Then came the roaringtwenties and prohibition. One canimagine how many flasks of illegalalcoholic beverages where carried by thepassengers in car 20. Next the newspaperstold the passengers of the growingeconomic depression, starting with thestock market crash in October 1929 andfinally the ushering in of a “New Deal” in1933. Once again war clouds arose inEurope and on December 8th 1941 theheadlines told of the Japanese attack onPearl Harbor the day before. How manyyoung men and young women startedtheir journey to defend our country, alongwith the thousands of factory workerscommuting back and forth, who made thewar material for this conflict during atime of rationing of gasoline, rubber, foodand so many other consumer items, rodethis car. Then after four years the head-lines spoke of VE day and finally VJ dayafter the dropping of the atomic bombs.The postwar baby boom started,alongwith the expansion of new suburban

Putting Our Cars In Historical Prospective

home development, accompanied bygrowing market for automobiles alongwith more roads and expressways toconnect them with the City. Ridershipdeclined, especially after expresswayconstruction ended single seat rides tothe Loop in 1953. The CA&E applied forabandonment and finally succeeded insuspending passenger service mid-day onJuly 3rd, 1957 stranding 6,000 passengersat Forest Park.

Car 20 served the Third Rail for 55years, a remarkable feat considering in the21st century a rapid transit or rail com-muter car is designed for a 30 year servicelife. Car 20 is still here to impart that

history, often times serving as the firsttrain ride for a young child. The car hasspent more time in our museum as abridge to the past than it did in passengerservice on the “Third Rail. ”

We can use 20 and any of our othercars to help our patrons, regardless of age,grasp history and hopefully enrich ourown reverence for these transportationrelics that are entrusted to our care andinterpretation. All the details don’t have tobe passed down, just enough to impressthe significance of the space our visitorsare sitting in.

Joseph Hazinski - Curator

F O X R I V E R L I N E S 16

There have been improvements tothe signs at the museum this year. FirstDoug Rundell installed address numeralsigns, one on the west side driveway crossbuck which was later moved to thebackside of the stop sign and another onthe depot door. The cross buck standardsnow have reflective strips on them. Thisshould aid visitors looking for 365 SouthLaFox Street, our physical address.

Next Roadmaster Chris Nelson andhis crew have placed operational signsalong the right-of-way including: YardLimit signs, red end-of-track signs, whitewhistle post signs and yellow and greenslow order signs on the line poles at themotorman’s eye level to remind operators,especially new volunteers, of theirresponsibilities when operating trains.These signs are reflective so that they canbe seen at night as well. Efforts will beongoing to keep brush trimmed back sothat these signs are always visible.

New cross buck signs have beenerected in the Jon Duerr Forest Preservewith signs donated by the Aldon Com-pany of Waukegan through the efforts ofmember Bruce Kuhnhoffer and aremounted on timber posts donated byMike Gilles who also loaned his gasposthole digger to bore the holes. To aidin our Christmas train operations new“Clear 2” and “Clear 3” have also beeninstalled on the mainline and old CTA“Clear 1” and “Clear 2” signs have beencleaned up and reinstalled within theCastlemuir yard limits at switches. Thesign crew included Jim Gonyo, KathleenJamieson, Art Lemke, Jim Slattery andNick Whitney.

Chris has also upgraded our “NoTrespassing” signs plus a specially worded“Private Crossing” sign patterned afterUnion Pacific signs posted in pedestriantraffic areas. These signs are mounted onnew posts that have been placed in theground. All these signs are markedAE&FRECoRR as they are on our railroad’sproperty which is a separate legal entityowned by the museum corporation.Safety is the goal of all these signs.

FOX RIVER LINES STAFFActing Editor—Joseph HazinskiE-mail: jrhengine@live.com2908 S, Clement Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53207-2439(414) 788-4357

Layout and Graphics— Jack SowchinFox River Lines is the official publication of the Fox River Trolley Association, Inc., an Illinois not-for-profit corporation. It is published for distri-bution to members and friends of the Fox River Trolley Museum. Reproduction of the Fox River Lines, either in part or it its entirety, is strictlyprohibited without prior permission from the editorial staff or the FRTA Board of Directors. Entire contents Copyright © 2019 Fox River TrolleyAssociation, Inc.

Submissions: Submission of stories from members and others is necessary in order to publish the Fox River Lines. Feature lengtharticles are welcome and considered as are photographs and illustrations. Please contact the staff beforeundergoing a project. Contributorssubmit materials with the understanding that no monetary compensation is provided.

Museum Signage Improvements 2019

Photos by Joseph Hazinski.

One of the new museum address signsinstalled by Doug Rundell this summer.

Roadmaster Chris Nelson with new special Private Crossing sign.

A whistle post sign on a line pole in the Kane County Forest Preserve extension.

The new Private Crossing sign.

The new Private Crossing sign for our railroad.

Joseph Hazinski