Down to the Wire

We were working hard today to get everything ready for the Trolley Pageant tomorrow. Here's just a brief glimpse of what was happening.

First, Jim Followell and his team finished painting the 319 and 460 yesterday, and this morning we pulled them out of Barn 2 and ran them over to 50th Avenue for lettering by Ron Coy.

This is the 460 before lettering began.

I met lots of people, some of whom were old friends I hadn't seen for a while. Randy and Betty Anderson were visiting from North Carolina, and John Smatlak from Orange Empire.

I also went down to 14 to fix the tarp on the 321. Joel had made up a kit of clamps to hold the tarp better, and we applied a few. I was helped by Steve Foglio, his son Brendan, and their dog Niko. Too bad I didn't have my camera along.

Update: here's a couple of pictures by Betty Anderson. That's Randy on the far left. Unfortunately my pictures of them didn't turn out well.

After the Car Dept. meeting, I put a first coat of silver on the headlight brackets on all three cars. They'll need a second coat, but you have to wait 24 hours. I also painted the retrievers red, as seen here.

I had to leave, but Ron and the others will continue to work until the job is done. For tomorrow, we're planning to run the three wood cars in service, and I don't know what else. You won't want to miss the pageant!

In totally unrelated news, I'm sitting here on the patio grilling steaks and enjoying a martini. Naperville's Ribfest is going on a couple of miles away, so this little plane is hauling an advertising banner in a circle, and flying over our house every five minutes. It's a delightfully antique form of advertising.

And speaking of advertising, here's a birdhouse from our favorite tourist trap. It's currently occupied by a couple of chickadees (not shown). Maybe that's what we need for the ornithophiles among us: a "Visit IRM" birdhouse!

In any case, have a happy Fourth of July!!!