In 1922 the bankrupt Aurora Elgin and Chicago was split into two parts, the third rail division and the Fox River division, and the third rail division was sold to a new company, Chicago Aurora and Elgin, which started operations on July 1, 1922. (The whole complicated process is detailed in Plachno's book.) As part of this process, an eight-page inventory was compiled for each car in June 1922, and we recently received copies of these sheets from the Wendell Dillinger collection for our three cars. (The 431 was built in 1927 and so is not included, of course.)
There's a huge amount of data here, some of which is quite interesting, some of it is just puzzling. Who outside a couple of shop guys would care about the dimensions of truck live levers or swing link shafts? The information on painting is valuable. The 308 was repainted green in Jan. 1919, while the 309 was painted red in July 1921 and the 321 in Dec. 1921. I hadn't realized the red paint scheme started even before the Conway group took over.
There's a huge amount of data here, some of which is quite interesting, some of it is just puzzling. Who outside a couple of shop guys would care about the dimensions of truck live levers or swing link shafts? The information on painting is valuable. The 308 was repainted green in Jan. 1919, while the 309 was painted red in July 1921 and the 321 in Dec. 1921. I hadn't realized the red paint scheme started even before the Conway group took over.
In 1922 the cars still had "cash registers." A couple things I didn't know about were coasting clocks and disinfectant holders. To see the documents, go here. And there it is: everything you ever wanted to know about CA&E cars, and more!
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