General
4451 was one of 100 cars ordered in December 1924 by the newly formed Chicago Rapid Transit Company which corporately combined the older elevated railway companies. This group has two WH-567 traction motors, and like the previous orders, seated 52 passengers. 4451 was among the group of cars initially assigned to the South Side lines and was among the last rapid transit cars purchased for the L until 1947 when four experimental trainsets were ordered.
History
Our car was among those that shouldered L train service from 1925 through World War II serving until 1974. It received the various updates its sisters received, finally being paired with 4452. The updates included a couple of paint scheme changes (from green and orange to brown with orange trim to finally the green and cream), replacement of the plush upholstery to leatherette coverings, multiple unit door control, the semi-permanent paring of cars, the addition of electric marker light boxes on the front ends, and the placement of a sealed beam headlight on roof of the front end. Its last assignment was in “Evanston Express” service which was (and is) AM and PM rush hour service between the Loop and Linden Avenue in Wilmette.
Narrative
Upon its arrival in 1974 it was pressed into service at the museum and as the “second car” of our two-train operating scheme and racked up more miles than any other car in the collection. By 2009 time and weather was catching up with the car. One trolley base was starting to sink into the roof and interior ceiling panels were coming loose from the carlines presenting a danger to our patrons, so it was taken out of service.
In 2018 CTA 4288, which had been a long-term resident in the car barn, was tarped, and moved outside so 4451 could come in and take its place. Jeff Bennett started work at once to remove all items from the roof and eventually the wooden roof itself which revealed the old horsehair insulation which was removed and discarded. Then it was time for the interior ceiling panels to all be removed. Eventually every seat was removed along with all in-body air brake components, electric heaters and eventually the door engines. The wooden nailer portions of the carlines were removed, and newly fabricated arched wood pieces were attached to these de-rusted and primed metal frame members which support the actual wood roof. New roof tack moldings were applied to the sides of the car.
During interior de-construction process of the walls below the windowsills, a neatly folded copy of The Commercial Times, a now moribund Cincinnati newspaper, dated Wednesday September 16, 1925, was located and retrieved, probably placed there by Cincinnati Car Company worker. This suggests that the car may have been completed sometime by the end of September in 1925, even though CRT and CTA records always called 4451 and its sisters “1924” cars, the year the cars were ordered in December.
In the second year of the process, with all seating removed, the very water damaged wood flooring could be removed, sometimes with a shovel. In the meantime, Fred Biederman started working on the car’s framing at the south end, replacing major parts of the underframe structure that had severe rust damage. He also took on replacing the chain and pulleys of the handbrake system, parts of which had turned into an unusable rusty mass. Concurrent with this, brothers Thee and John VanPaseuth removed and replaced the steel sub floor with all new steel, welding the plates together. As time progressed Jeff cut the bottom eight inches off the side sheets on both sides of the car. This caused the car to sag as the steel side sheets keep the car square, so our screw jack stands were used to correct the camber of the bottom sills. With this opening, the base of every carline on both sides of the car were cleaned up, weld repaired and painted to inhibit rust, repairing damage which had happened because of the water retained in the original wood flooring.
The cleaned up and primed interior ceiling panels were then installed. Modern insulation was then placed on top of the ceiling which then was enclosed with tongue and groove boards to form the exterior roof base after new tac moldings had been installed along the bottom edge. Once this was completed, the bonnets over the vestibules with their compound curves were recreated at both ends of the car. Because of the water induced rot the car had suffered from at the museum, Jeff decided that the whole roof should be covered with a roofing sheet product called Ice and Water Shield, a material that was unheard of when the 4451 was built and in service on the Chicago L.
All four of the sliding side doors were inspected, removed and repaired as needed. One had the bottom ten inches of metal skin replaced on both sides while others just had spot patches welded in to replace the rust holes in the skin.
Both vestibules and cabs received heavy repairs. Both master controllers and brake stands were removed. After frame repairs and replacement were made by Fred Biederman, metal subfloors were installed over this work. The lower portions of the car ends were badly rusted out, so the affected areas were cut out and replaced with new sheet metal and new structural metal at corner posts and train door doorposts. The master controllers were overhauled and put into storage.
In 2020 all the side panels received new metal for the bottom eight inches with “Huck” bolts (oval headed bolts with a partially serrated shank) used to fasten them to the bottom sill, in place of the rivets that were originally used during construction at the Cincinnati Car Company. This technique was copied from the CTA’s similar repairs which were found in the areas of the door pockets for the sliding side doors where patch work repairs had been done when the car was in service. While the 4000’s had little to no street operation to cause such salt induced corrosion, lots of salt was used on the L platforms and was carried into the cars at the doorways which in turn was transferred into the door pocket areas by the lower edge of the doors. The top of these side sheet filler pieces where then welded to the upper original panels very carefully and slowly by Thee and John so as to cause as little metal deformation possible. The vertical seams between side panels were carefully replaced and/or reconstructed with huck bolts and skillful welding. All welded seams then had to be ground flat and filled with Por epoxy body filler so that they could be sanded flat. Needless to say, this was a time-consuming process.
While all this was going on the seat frames and heater cases were sent to Elkhorn, Wisconsin where Kyle Kunzer sand blasted, repaired, and primed and painted them for future installation.
The floor was gradually reconstructed with two layers of marine grade plywood taking the place of two layers of tong and groove that covered the original steel sub floor. Finally, the time came to install the last layer of wood tong and grove flooring in the seating areas. After insulation was installed, new paneling was put in place to make up the interior walls. Interior air brake components were reinstalled and new pipes passing through the floor were replaced at the brake stands in both cabs.
As the car was coming back together structurally, Jeff started priming and painting the exterior and interior as completed work would allow. Starting with the ceiling, the interior would be primed and then painted with epoxy paint with this process continuing downward inside the car as woodworking projects were completed, including all new windowsills.
By the close of the year 2020 all the car heaters were reconstructed with new heater strips and then wired into the car as this had to be done before the refurbished seat frames were carefully installed upon which the heaters are mounted. By January 1st the interior was looking more like it should.
Work continued through the winter of 2020-21 as heat was provided by a propane fueled construction heater. Chief Car Officer Jeff Bennett developed an extensive punch list of all items that needed to be completed to have the car ready for service on opening day of the 2021 season, May 9th.
Kyle Kunzer rebuilt all the side and standee windows that Thee and others had carefully disassembled. As some of the brass material had corroded away Kyle reverted to the old process of lead repair and then repainted them. Then the windows went off to LeWalt Glass in Crystal Lake for glazing. While all this was going on Jeff worked on rebuilding the battery charging resistor so that the batteries could once again be recharged. Battery power is necessary for both propulsion control and side door control.
Concurrent with the work going on, all light fixtures were inspected, cleaned up, clear coated and repaired as needed and then installed in the interior of the car. As the restored windows were returned, both the standee and lower opening portions were installed in the car. The ceiling mounted handholds over the longitudinal seats at the ends were also reattached to the ceiling. As the blocking for the ceiling vents were not installed when the roof framing was done, Jeff made up aluminum ducts from the ceiling to the roof to keep the passageways open. Then the restored, repainted regulator ceiling grates could then be installed at each opening. The two route sign boxes with restored crank mechanisms were then installed in the car along with the four bulkhead advertising frames.
While a lot of work was going on in the interior of the car, work was started underneath in the form of inspecting and cleaning out the two traction motors at the number one end. Concurrent with this, was work on the exterior roof, first with the burlap padding being placed over the whole roof area followed by the actual canvas. The canvas itself had been seamed and was washed to get the sizing out and dried in a vacant room in a building owned by Jeff in Crystal Lake. Then clamps were attached to the edges of the canvas on both sides, and both ends and periodically adjusted stretching the canvas over a period of days to get it taut. Next the edge of the canvas was tacked with a pneumatic tacker along the tack moldings first on the sides and then on the ends to hold the stretch of the material with the excess canvas being cut off. After that sheet plastic was put in place around the perimeter of the roof, canvas primer, specially formulated so as not to react with the Ice and Water Shield, was then applied to the canvas. All new roof saddles for the roof walk were cut out, primed, predrilled and painted.
Meanwhile underneath the car the group switch was inspected with all the magnet valves removed, cleaned and repaired as needed, along with the reverser and motor cut out switch. Once reinstalled the function of the magnet valves were tested with shop air provided by our AC carbarn compressor. Group switch access covers were also cleaned up, primed and painted including insulation paint on the inside. All contact tips were inspected, cleaned and renewed along with their arc shoots. The air compressor was serviced and the bracket for the U-4 valve portions was cleaned out as air brake components were re- installed inside the car body.
Back inside, new safety decals were applied to the windowsills and doors and new 4451 fleet number standee windows were also installed under the now operating interior lights. Gradually both cabs were restored as the master controllers, brake stands, refurbished windshield wiper motors and electrical switches were put back in place. Fred Biederman methodically installed each door engine, aligning to the floor, hooking up air lines and electrical wiring after attaching each unit to its respective door. Special effort was made to make up new sensitive door edges so they would operate safely as required.
4288 and 4451 swapped positions in the barn so 4451 would be first out. Topside the area under the roof walks was painted the grey finish roof color and the saddles were screwed into the carlines while boards for the roof walk were cut, primed and painted and then eventually installed. The two trolley bases, which were restored off site by Jeff, were returned and carefully hoisted to the roof for installation. Once the bases were in place along the fuse box and lightning arrestor, the electric cables could be installed to route the 600 volts to the electrical cabinet inside the car. The roof vents were then installed with sealant applied under and around their edges to keep water out. Roof grab irons were installed at each end and with all appliances in place, the painting of the roof could be completed.
Inside the rubber flooring was installed in the isle and in both vestibules with the help of a new linoleum roller. A group of sample seat backs and cushions were received from the upholstery shop in Chicago with the balance still being reworked. Hinges and train door handles were adjusted and installed as new window glass for the cab and end windows was installed. A lock was installed in the south train door while latches were installed on the north train door to eventually allow secure storage once the car is parked outside. Brand new window shades, purchased from the original vendor, Adlake of Elkhart, Indiana, were installed in the car.
On the north or #1 end of the car Jeff installed the restored classification light boxes on either side of the train door and wired them up to the selector switches located behind the motorman’s cab. Recharged, period correct, CTA marked fire extinguishers were installed in their bulkhead mounted boxes at each end.
On Sunday April 18th, 2021, the first attempt to operate the car was made. It made it up to the Track 2 platform but the controller in the south or #2 end of the car would not make the car move south, so the car was backed into the barn using the #1 end controller. It was later found that a wire had not been reconnected. Finally on Sunday May 2nd, three shakedown trips were made which allowed some operating crew members to engage is some training even though there were some gremlins. On Thursday May 6th, Jeff was finally able to pick up the remaining seat backs and cushions, the last remaining major item on his punch list. As was the plan, 4451 resumed her operational status on the opening day of the 2021 season, Sunday May 9th. Adjustments and improvements continue to be made as issues arise, but the car is now ln the demonstration service pool.
The museum received the 2022 HeritageRail Alliance Significant Achievement Award – Electric Car as recognition of our efforts.
Author: Joseph Hazinski, Curator