Employee's Picnic 1928 - Part 2

Imagine what life would be like living back in the 1920s, or 1930s. Hard to do when compared to todays life of television, cell phones, we have things easy compared to 85 years ago. I guess that is what made the EJ&E employee picnics such a grand event. It seems that it was an event of complete joy and celebration. It seems that the build up, planning and preparation, made the event a highlight of each year.

I do not know too many specifics regarding the annual event, other than it took place for many years, going back at least as far as 1909. In part 1 I shared a photograph that is famous in my family and is a centerpiece of my personal collection. Finally, thanks to my sister, I now have our entire family collection scanned. My grandfather wrote on a few of the pictures, in some cases drawing arrows right through the middle of the photograph (awesome). Although I wish he would not have done this, at least I can view the pictures now and know exactly what I am looking at.

Here is a cab shot of my great grandfather James McArdle, who was an engineer on the 755. As I stated in part 1, the engine was "gaily decorated." That is in his words. According to him in a letter written to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the 755 was cleaned and decorated, all in a day and a half. The engine lost to the Gary Division engine 748, which was prepared for two weeks leading up to the picnic.

A shot of the front of the engine shows even flowers were used for decoration. American flags stand proudly over a curved base painted with the year 1928. Safety first is not a strange addition to an EJ&E locomotive, and was obviously a company priority, even during a day of fun.

My great grandfather is now standing on the left, posing for a picture with the fireman, standing in the center holding an oil can. I do not know who the individual is standing on the right. My great grandfather stated in his 1929 letter that the engineers and firemen would change into the "ice cream vendors" (white overalls). I would assume that they would then serve ice cream to family members and guests, and this is why they are wearing white hats. The first three pictures posted were taken in Plainfield, IL near the grain tower that still stands today.

The final two pictures I have to share show a crowd gathering during a yearly picnic. I am not sure of the date of these pictures, however on the back my grandfather wrote "EJ&E picnic Washington St. and Henderson Ave." This is an intersection in Joliet that is just southwest of the EJ&E east yard, and just east of the Joliet Union Station.

My guess is that these picture were taken prior to 1928. It appears that the crowd is gathering around a Northern Pacific box car. I do not know what the track arrangement was like at this area during that time. Today the tracks in this area are the old Rock Island line which is now a freight line used by CSX, and Metra which still operates a passenger service to Chicago.

The 755 makes a return to the employee's picnic for 1929. I have some amazing photographs of this engine to share in the future, as well as my great grandfathers complete letter to the B of LE. Stay tuned!

Whistle Operations

When the time does come to finally run some trains on my layout, I will run them in a prototypical manner. With that said, I am not an expert, and definitely have zero experience when it comes to actual train operations. So I have some learning to do, but that is part of the fun. In my recent quest to uncover some family train history, my Aunt and Uncle came across some old documents that belonged to my Uncles father. I know he worked on the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railway in at least 1941-1942, and then was hired on with EJ&E. Beyond that I don't know specifics at this time, we will see what I can uncover in the future. My Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to give me some pay stubs, and an EJ&E time table.

The table went into effect in 1942. Once again, I love history, and its amazing to me how much can change over 70 years, but its also interesting what does not change. Reading through this time table was very interesting. When it comes to engine operation, the 40 page booklet started with this inside the front cover:

Still the same today as it was long before 1942. Doing some research I learned that the typical crossing signal of 2 long, 1 short, and 1 long is morse code for the letter Q. This whistle signal was used when the Queen of England was on board a ship at sea, and the signal was sounded to make other ships aware that the queen was on board, signaling a yield to other ships. This practice eventually became universally known as a signal to yield, and was somehow picked up by the railroad industry. I have no idea if this is the entire history of the signal or not, but it makes sense. Some other common signals are as follows:

1 short - stopping
1 long - approaching station
2 short - 10-4 or acknowledge
1 short 1 long - inspect train
2 long - proceed forward
3 short - proceed reverse
4 short - warning or get off tracks

There are many more but when it comes to running a layout, these are the signals that would be most used in operation. I will share more from the time table in the future.

Union Station Project - Part 5

Here is just a quick update on the Union Station project. I have finally got around to ordering some cove, quarter round, and half round pieces to begin working on the decorative trim. This has been a challenge to put together the correct pieces so that I am happy with the result. Here is what I have completed so far.

Finally making some progress again. I have almost made my way to the top of the walls. A tricky part of this step is making all of the trim meet perfectly at the corners. I am going to have to add some type of fill so that the corners appear seamless. The layout itself is now in the benchwork phase, so once the area is complete where the Union Station will sit, I can finally start on the base and make some real progress.