For the first time in the history of the Northern Ohio Railway Museum we have given public trolley rides on one of our trolley cars at our Museum. This is a major step for us as we transition from a static museum to one in motion. It is being done as part of our participation in the 2014 Medina County (Ohio) Fall Foliage Tour. We are using Shaker Rapid car 12 hooked to Cleveland Railway Crane 0711. The 0711 is self propelled by virtue of a generator on her deck hooked to a rectifier. We are also feeding 600 volts forward to car 12 to run the air compressor and lighting.

This newspaper article has more info on our participation in the Fall Foliage Tour. http://medinagazette.northcoastnow.com/ ... ssic-rail/

On Sunday it all starts again.

Steve

Congrats to you and your museum. I can relate to the excitement of the day!

Regards, John.

Two toots from the Boat Car whistle to celebrate your achievement!!

Wesley

Welcome to the world of operating electric railway museums. I notice that poles are in place for the eventual installation of trolley wire. Thanks for the report.

Congrats from your friends at Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.

A follow up to my initial report. Attendance was down a bit from Saturday, but the Cleveland Browns were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers at the same time as the tour hours, so we expected that. But just like the Browns, we had a successful Sunday also (The Browns beat Pittsburgh!).

On Saturday we had 1,370 visitors. On Sunday 1,041. That totals to 2,411 for the weekend. That is a big contrast from our usual tour numbers when we are open to the public on Saturdays. In the past having 50 visitors a day was considered a big day. Well the bar has been raised higher.

Our train consisting of Shaker Rapid #12 and Cleveland Railway 0711 ran for 6 hours each day making 3 round trips each hour. Most trips were capacity, car 12 seats 59. For several trips we put someone on the motormans stool as well as the swing out stool at the conductors station by the center door. A few trips had standee's, and even then we left people at the parking lot platform because we didn't have room. Some of those folks rather than wait about 20 minutes, walked back to the carbarns. Then they rode back with us, while some "inbound" passengers walked back to their cars rather than wait for the train at our final stop by the rear most buildings. The reason for the lengthy trip times was long dwells at the stops. Each stop had a platform at rail height. We also had one stepbox at each platfrom. I was amazed at the number of people that could not get on without a stepbox. They could not raise their legs high enough to enter the car without one. So at many times only 1 door was being used depending on the abilities of the passengers. Lesson learned for the future. Also the Cleveland center entrance cars were known as being slow loaders and unloaders back in the day.

For this event the museum added another road entrance to the property. This entrance has always been a part of the master plan. This event just made us fill in another part of our long term needs. After entering, we parked them in the front fields. This is an area that will become a paved parking lot once a visitors center building exists. The first stop was here. Then our train ran back opposite to the front entrance to our restoration barn. Here we had another stop. Visitors then walked about 100 feet into the front of that building. We had 4 docents posted here strategically along the building. Once inside they could enter car 1225 and sit down to watch trolley and museum video's. Proceeding through the building they could see what we are working on restoring. they then exited back to our storage carbarn. They could see several cars here. Another docent was here. Finally they entered our third building. Here we had set up our museum store as well as anumber of educational display panels and exhibits. Right outside this building was our third stop for the train. then they could ride it back to the front parking lot. In their auto's they exited back to the street using our long existing road. This way each road gate was single direction vehicular traffic. We also used our existing parking area back by the carbarns for handicapped parking. visitor could drive directly here if they could not walk from the front or be able to board car 12.

The biggest comment we heard was "We didn't know the Museum was here". We used to say we were the best kept secret in Medina County, Well, the secret is out now!

To our sister Museums that have offer congratulations, Thank You. We are happy to joining your league.

Steve

To go from 100 riders a weekend to almost 2500 is a huge jump, congratulations! Was there something you did differently to promote the museum?

What was providing your electrical supply? Looks like a diesel genset. Does it put out 600 VDC? Were any issues encountered with this type of setup?

Did 12 have a sister at Trolleyville? And where is that one now?

I didn't mean to bury Hot Metal's post. Please see his post above.

Yes, the 18, formerly Cleveland Interurban Railway 1218 was at Trolleyville and held by the Brookins family following the auction. The idea was to donate the car to the Western Reserve Historical Society to display the car along the Shaker line. This never happened, and the Brookins family repossessed the car and donated it to IRM. 1218 is still in its shrink-wrap at IRM, awaiting completion of the next barn. An excellent write-up of the car's history is over at the excellent Hicks Car Works blog:

http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2013/10/h1218.html

Is 12 one of the cars de-accessioned from Cleveland Transit?

Let me answer some questions that have come up. My apologies for the delay. I work for a Cleveland TV station and I have been very busy the last couple days in a satellite truck.


This was the first time we have ever offered rides. Previously visiting the museum meant a walking tour of the grounds, carbarns and restoration areas. There was no opportunity to ride anything. The Medina County Fall Foliage tour is a large, well publicized and well attended event. We just joined in participating in it this year. When we begin regular operation in the future under wire, we do not expect that to be the normal passenger count. It would be nice though!


Two AA batteries, power consumption is low!
Seriously. The power supply is a 1958 vintage Katolight generator set. It has a 1958 Chrysler Hemi turning a three phase alternator. We get 3 phase 416 volts AC from it. Actually it is 2 windings of 208 in series to get 416. The generator rating at 416V is 87 Amps. Running at full speed for 600 volts we use about 5 gallons of gasoline an hour.

That is then fed into a rectifier we built. On paper we get 588 volts DC. In the real world that varies slightly depending on engine speed, load, etc. It is tied in at the breaker in the motormans cab, exactly where power would be coming from a trolley pole. The car doesn't know the difference.

0711 also has an electrical modification (easily reversible back to original configuration). The car as built started off in 2 motor series in each truck. Then in transition went to full parallel operation. We changed her to 4 motor series to start and transition to 2 motor series operation. This was done to cut operating speed for switching operations. It also cuts the amperage draw and gets it within the range that the generator puts out.

Finally we tapped 600 volts off a fuse block/knifeswitch in the cab of 0711 that originally fed the crane. That wire was attached to the towbar connecting 0711 to 12 and terminated in the bus line plug down on car 12's coupler. Car 12 now had 600 volts to run lights and the air compressor. With air on the car we got the air operated doors operating, the whistle blowing and air brakes.


Yes. We recieved car 12 as well as CTS 109 and 024 officially in July 2013 when the RTA trustees voted to transfer these cars to the Museum. They were moved here in September 2013. This is probably the most people that have been on car 12 since the last fantrips were run on the car in the mid to late 1980's. After the loop was removed from Tower City (Cleveland Union Terminal) there was no way to turn the car downtown and RTA would not operate it with passengers while backing.

I hope that answers the questions. If not, I'll be happy to fill in the details as best I can.

Steve