Dear Pioneer,

We’re at the height of the busy season, so I hope you’ll forgive this letter for being on the shorter side. Thank you and your guides for the coal mine postcards! They created quite the afternoon of activity over in the steam shop, I’m told. CE 5 in particular was very complimentary. I think he thought you must have been exaggerating when you said it looked like a real mine, but after he saw the postcards, he was nothing short of impressed. He used to pull coal too (though it was above ground for the electrical plant), so I suppose he must know what he’s talking about. I, on the other wheel, couldn’t tell you what I was looking at, but I can see why it was so popular with your visitors. It’s not often people get to see such large machinery like that, let alone reach out and touch it!

Our visitors often say that one of the best parts of coming here is being able to climb in our cabs and put their hands on just about everything on us static displays as long as the museum says it’s okay. That’s not something you’re usually allowed to do with engines who are in service, and I don’t think our visitors would have as much fun if we were behind glass like in the old days. And you would need a very large pane of glass for our train, besides. Riding a working train is also a kind of interactivity, so even when visitors aren’t allowed to touch, they’re still interacting with us in a way.

Is U-505 proud of the German influence on your museum? I would be! On the topic of German influence, Schwabenfest went off without a hitch at the end of July and was one of our busiest days of the year so far. That’s not too surprising, since the museum wasn’t the only place celebrating. I’m told Union had 10,000 people or better turn out for the weekend festival and since we’re so close by, many of them took the short drive out to see us! The rapid transit cars got quite the workout that day, let me tell you.

There was a similar turnout for the antique Auto Club day in August, although those visitors were here to see cars of a different sort altogether. The automobiles were nice enough, but they’re small and mostly kept to themselves. Venus said automobiles don’t feel the need to make conversation, but antique models tend to be more chatty since they’ve been around so long. I guess regular everyday automobiles don’t talk much at all! Vesta called that “antisocial behavior” and Venus made a tutting sound at her.

Members’ Day is at the end of the month and we’ve been told we’re on track to run that day for at least one trip, possibly more if it goes well. No plans for lunch on Ceres like in ‘72 in case there’s another hitch like last time, but I think we’re all just excited to be moving again! The folks in the shop have been doing some tests and they’re confident we’re going to do fine. They tell me one or two trips up the main line won’t put too much stress on my system and I’ve no cause to doubt them.

CE 5 and Tuskegee 101 have been keeping me informed about Frisco’s progress in the shop and tell me she and Shay will be out that day as well. It will be nice to see them again. I’ve missed them!

Were you nervous before your Denver-to-Chicago sprint? Maybe that’s a silly question to ask. Members’ Day isn’t exactly the Century of Progress. I suppose there’s a beautiful Zephyr trainset to look at in both cases, and that’s what matters – whether it runs or not.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Give everyone in the yard my best!

Your friend,

Pilot

Dear Pilot,

My guides are quite amused to hear of how interested your steam engines are in our coal mine exhibit. They’re – we’re – very proud of it, as it was the model for how every exhibit should let people directly experience the thing it’s about. It makes industry more exciting.

It’s great that your museum makes us exciting that way too. The idea of a museum just for trains is unusual when you think about it. Your museum is an entirely new idea about how to display things too, just like the Deutsches Museum was. But it’s better this way, isn’t it? We’re not too delicate to let the visitors come inside and look still. We let them tour my cab here too, as well as my cars. That’s the way trains are best experienced outside of actually riding in them. 999 and 2903 have stairs to let the visitors up into their cabs too. Your museum’s founders – being railroaders themselves – knew exactly how we ought to be shown to people, I expect, because that’s how they would want to see us in a museum.

Our museums are really very similar, despite being very different places at first glance. You even have cultural festivals there like we do. We hosted one about Poland last month. And we have antique automobiles too! Actually, we have an entire exhibit about automobiles: Motorama. The antique autos are part of a different exhibit though. Yesterday’s Main Street is a replica of a typical American main street from fifty years ago. The guides say that our old autos are quite chatty indeed and put a lot of historic flavor on that stretch of cobblestone!

I don’t have much experience with cars, aside from the times I crashed into trucks. For the most part, cars only ever seemed interested in racing me. The guides say though that automobiles tend keep to themselves because it’s safer for everyone that way. We have our drivers who have years of experience driving us and we’re on tracks so we tend not to do unpredictable things. Not so for cars: their drivers might be new or going blind or ill or just scatterbrained and if they’re not, the drivers of others cars might be. All that together and it’s a lot easier for mistakes to happen and for a car to be somewhere he’s not supposed to be. There’s a lot more things to consider as a car, so my guides say they tend to be quieter so as not to be distracting, not because they’re antisocial. I am assured that people still know a car has a personality though and people get just as attached to them as they do to us.

U-505 thought very hard about your question to him before he answered. It turned into a much longer conversation, which I am simplifying for him here because it wouldn’t all fit in the envelope otherwise.

It makes him think of how, when all the German companies made new parts for him and sent them overseas for free, it was because they wanted him to be a credit to German technology. It is of some relief to him to have a larger purpose in his disposition beyond his part in losing the war. Machines made for war, he says, understand that their ultimate goal is peace but that they will not be needed if it is achieved. Knowing this, it would have been honorable to have been scrapped after the war, even having been on the losing side. He is here though, not strictly because he was captured, but because our museum so admired a museum in Germany and wanted everything it had to offer for their own. So then, if he was not to be scrapped as he would have expected, it is some consolation to be in our yard with us because our countries were allies before the war and now are again.

He is also – perhaps for the first time – thankful that our museum only cut doorways into his portside to allow for his tours. He’s always been a bit mournful over not being seaworthy anymore, but it’s harder to feel sorry for yourself knowing that the Deutsches Museum’s submarine is cut completely in half!

But you can only look at a submarine that way. Our visitors experience our submarine.

As to my experience with the Century of Progress run, I wasn’t nervous before that run because everyone was so certain I could do it. I’ll admit, I did start to get a little worried during the run when things kept going wrong. Anytime my speed would dip though, my crew were on top of the problem and set it right. I rolled into the World’s Fair in record time and if I ever doubted I could do it, my crew never once did.

It’s great news to hear your volunteers expect you to be running again! By the time this reaches you, you’ll already know whether you’re operational again. It feels a little silly to say whether you should be nervous beforehand when I know you won’t be able to read it until after.

But I can say this: the Century of Progress was incredibly important not only in my own history but to that of my museum and so many of its other exhibits. But when I was actually racing to get there and after I arrived?

The Century of Progress was just the first of so many important events in my revenue service. It is my hope that your Member’s Day run will be the first of many more in yours.

Your friend,

Pioneer

Dear Pioneer,

It’s hard to know where to begin. I suppose I’ll start by asking you how you’ve been, because I’m afraid that by the time we get to the end I’ll have forgotten to. What kind of pen pal would I be if I let that happen? I hope your Yard is well and that the cold snap hasn’t troubled the steam engines too badly. Ours are mostly tucked up now, taking a well-deserved winter’s nap after their outstanding performances.

I’m sorry, I can’t delay it any longer. Do you ever tire of hearing that you must be the wisest engine this side of the Mississippi? I can’t be the only one who thinks so. You said almost two years ago now (gosh!) that you thought I’d be operational again. At the time, I was so disappointed but I still felt so lucky to be even here at all, so I did my best to come to terms with the idea of being static. Silver Bullet used to say that it’s better to be kind than right. You were both! So I want to thank you again for your perspective and continued patience. I’ll ask for just a bit more, as I think if I don’t get the whole story out soon, my one good engine will turn over on its own!

It was no Century of Progress, but I think it’s about as close as an engine like me is ever going to get! The turnout was great and there were so many of us lined up for service, I wasn’t sure how the schedule would accommodate every engine. I needn’t have worried though, there was time enough for all of us on the main line. CE 5 and Tuskegee did the bulk of the runs as a double-header, much to the delight of the guests! Two steam engines pulling together on a passenger train is a rare sight anymore. When they both needed a break Shay and Frisco were more than happy to take over. Frisco in particular did the whole steam fleet proud. She’s been so good about her restoration, it was great seeing her finally be rewarded for all that time she spent in the shop. Compared to the other steam engines, she’s so tall and striking when she runs. Venus called her “photogenic”. I think the guests thought so too!

CTA 1024, 1268, and 1808 made a three-car train and really put the ‘rapid’ in Rapid Transit. Wood-bodied cars are a boisterous lot and they rattled up the line, singing the whole way. It was nice though! In a way it made me feel better about all the noise I was about to make.

I knew ahead of time that we would probably be able to move – a couple of test runs confirmed that much. The question was if we’d be in any shape to make a whole trip up and back, and whether or not it would be a smooth ride if we did. When I tell you how the whole train squealed at first! I thought for sure they’d throw the brake right away. But on we went…

Is it conceited to say I wish you could have seen? Not just for my sake! All of us in motion, the shine on the fluting as we rolled up the line! Venus cheered and I swear I heard Vesta let out a whoop. I felt stiff and sore (and sounded it too), but it was so refreshing to shake the rust off and lay down a blast on the horns for good measure. Up and back, the passengers seemed thrilled! When we rolled back in from the trip, Tuskegee and CE 5 both were as pleased as I’d ever seen them. The October Rail & Wire said we were “the highlight” of the event. I don’t know how much of that was just everyone being impressed that our old static display could pour on some speed, but the Goddesses were thrilled with it anyway. It really was a marvelous day, the whole way through.

I’m not sure when we’ll run again. It took a lot out of me to do it even just once, but that’s okay, because we’ll be closing for the season soon. There’s plenty of time to rest for now. I expect they’ll want to get the valve spring squared away (along with a few other things) before we’re ready for any kind of regular service, but at this point once a year is more than enough for me.

I hope I haven’t gone on for too long! Really, I owe you my thanks again for writing so often and being so kind. Please give everyone in the yard my regards! I feel as though I ought to thank them for their patience as well, having to hear all my letters the same as you, haha. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone at the MSI. Stay warm!

Your friend,

Pilot

P.S. – With the recent snowfall, do you imagine it’s nearly time for U-505 to tell his Christmas story?

Dear Pilot,

I don’t think anyone’s ever called me wise before. And surely there must be wiser engines than me. A thing I do know is if your people say they’ll see to your repairs, then at the very least, they want for them to happen. I’ll admit, I didn’t actually know if you ever would be operational again when I said I thought you would be. Sometimes people say they want things to happen, but other things get in the way. Sometimes the hope is enough to see everything else through and make sure it happens though.

To the point, U-505 says you seem kind enough not to make too much fun of him so he’ll share his Christmas story for this letter. He had to think about it for a few days because we engines – particularly us passenger engines – care quite a lot about smells. We keep a mind to it because smells sometimes mean something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Other times, they just make things unpleasant for passengers. And then there’s just the difference in smell between a steam engine and a diesel. Some people like one or the other or neither. Suffice to say, engines are very aware of how we smell.

Submarines are not. They spend much of their time underwater and so don’t smell things all that often.

They themselves smell quite a lot though! U-boats were nicknamed schweinboots, “pig boats”, because of how they start to smell once they’ve been on a patrol.

People – I had never considered and so I assume you hadn’t either – start to smell bad when they’ve not washed for a few days. It explains why people are so sensitive to smells since most of them are quite diligent with their hygiene. But U-boats don’t have showers so U-505’s crew would go months without washing. They would get sweaty and smelly and U-505’s interior would stink of them. It still stinks of them! It’s the first thing his visitors notice. It’s been thirty years since his crew has been aboard, after nearly everything in his interior had been ripped out and stolen, and it still smells! Their sweat is soaked into his steel. (U-505 says this with some pride actually, but quietly because 2903 is sleeping.)

Rank as it all was though, my guides explained to me that people will also forget about a bad smell after a while. The smell is still there, but with enough time their noses just ignore it. They say this is called nose blindness. So even though U-505’s crew could smell how pungent he was after coming back from their furlough, they’d forget about it after a day or two, just as they were starting to stink again themselves.

Which is exactly where U-505 and his crew found themselves on December 28th, 1943.

They had just left port on Christmas Day and were given orders to meet with four other ships who were assisting German Destroyer ship Z-27, who had gotten into a battle with some British ships. At first, everyone was excited to go because they thought there might be a chance they could sink an enemy cruiser. U-505 says that U-boats are not really meant to get into fights like that though and while they did have the order to attack any enemies they saw, they got more important orders shortly after: to search for survivors from Z-27. U-505 and his crew assumed that meant Z-27 had been sunk.

It was very cold and U-505 was worried for his own crew in the weather, but they were worried for their fellow sailors who would be cold and wet. People don’t survive very long in cold water. It was early morning and the waves were very choppy so it was nearly impossible to spot anything in the dark, but his crew kept watch and prepared coffee and blankets in the hope that they would.

And amazingly, they did! They found two sailors adrift together on life rafts. They were injured and suffering from hypothermia (which is when people are so cold that it’s dangerous for them). U-505’s crew put them in the engine room where it was warmest and got them dried off.

Meanwhile, his captain stayed on deck to keep looking for more. This was U-505’s first patrol with his new skipper, a man named Lange, but he says he liked him quite a bit more than his previous captain. Lange stayed out well into the night, chain-smoking his cigarettes as he looked for more survivors through his binoculars, while waves ten feet high crashed over U-505’s deck.

Early the next morning, they finally spotted more survivors on the waves. A little more than two dozen! These weren’t from Z-27 though, they were from a torpedo ship, T-25. She had been sunk too. As it turned out, T-25 had herself rescued crewmen from U-106 who had been sunk earlier that year. U-505 says it is then a great honor to return such a favor.

It was a challenge too because U-boats are only built to hold as many men as are needed to operate them. The German navy had decided to add even more crewmen earlier that year too so U-505 was operating at a surplus. He was also fully stocked with provisions since he’d only been at sea for a few days, so every spare spot had boxes of food in it. His crew set to work trying to get their rescued survivors dry and warm, but they didn’t have much place to put them!

On top of the problems of space, the survivors were also sick from hypothermic shock, not being used to how a U-boat moves on the waves compared to their own ship, and (U-505 suspects) the general stink of his interior. His own crew put out spit pans for them to be sick into, but a lot of them just threw up into his bilge which just added to the smell. He says they felt quite bad about making a mess, but his crew made jokes about their cook serving their sick-up for dinner and brushed it off.

Meanwhile, the conditions on the surface were getting too rough so Lange ordered U-505 under the water and his own crew had to step over their rescued sailors to do their jobs. The torpedo ship crewmen weren’t used to diving so some of them started to panic. In such close quarters, they couldn’t have anyone tossing themselves about so U-505’s crewmen had to tie them up in hammocks and stuff them in the aft crew quarters to keep them from distracting operations. U-505’s crew was very resourceful when it came to compounding problems like this.

“Alles kleine fische,” he says.

Lange and T-25’s captain, whose name was von Gortzen, kept looking through the periscopes for more survivors but for a long time, all they found after that was empty life rafts. It was disheartening and Lange insisted von Gortzen finally get some rest. Just before sunset, though, Lange spotted an emergency signal light. U-505 charged towards it and when they arrived, they found five more men. They were almost dead, but U-505 and his crew found them in time.

After that, they were feeling emboldened and turned on their searchlight to keep looking. This was risky because if any enemy ships saw them, it would give away his position, but they thought it was worth it. Eventually, they were told a neutral Irish ship was searching in the area and Lange decided to take the survivors he found back to port. Obviously U-505 and his crew hoped they would have found more, but he does wonder where they would have put them if they did. As it was, they rescued thirty-four sailors which is quite good for a U-boat!

But there was still the trouble of getting the back to shore.

We call U-505 a submarine, but technically he’s a submersible. What this means is he can go underwater, but he can’t stay there indefinitely. When he’s underwater, he runs on batteries but the batteries drain if he moves and he has to surface to recharge them. Being on the surface is dangerous because planes might see him though. It’s tricky then to get back to port without being seen.

There’s also that he runs out of air when underwater. My guides explained it to me that air is made of oxygen and people breathe in oxygen but when they breathe it back out, it’s turned into carbon dioxide which people can’t breathe. So in an air- and water-tight container like U-505’s interior, as his crew breathe, there gets to be less oxygen and more carbon dioxide. And since he had so many more people on board than usual, the oxygen would run out faster.

More people also make more… waste. U-505 has two restrooms, but only one of them was available to his men because the other was always packed full of provisions at the beginning of a patrol. With all the extra men on board, they’d resorted to using buckets. Their rescued survivors were still ill, but now from the other end and the buckets were quite full by now. So on top of the sweaty, unwashed men and the puke smell, there was also that.

Eventually the sun set and they were finally able to surface. When he was on the surface, U-505 could move much faster with the use of his diesel motors. The motors also sucked air into his interior too so at least for a little while, all the stink of this rescue operation would be flushed out and replaced with nice, crisp sea air. It made everyone feel better and quicker to work. There was much scurrying about to empty buckets, pump out the bilges, and fix their position to find their way home.

So it was that as he was cruising along on New Year’s Eve, his captain got on the intercom and wished everyone a happy New Year and the hope that they’d see each other to the next. Like a good omen, from then on out, the water was glassy smooth and though they had some mechanical error that put U-505 a little off course, they made it back to port safely.

But… when they were finally moored in the U-boat bunkers and it was time to finally disembark, one of T-25’s men tried to climb the ladder to the bridge in too much of a hurry, fell off, and knocked into the rudder control, causing U-505 to crush his diving plane against the pier. The accident bent the drive shaft in that plane and he had to stay in port for two months while they found a new one and made repairs. A fine thanks for his assistance!

All the same, U-505 considers this his best Christmas. Despite all the unseemly stenches it involves, he thinks it’s got all the hallmarks of a good Christmas story: selflessness, togetherness, and gifts. Just as he considers rescuing her crew to be a final gift to T-25, who gave that same gift to U-106, his own crew were rescued when he was captured as well (and as a result they did indeed live to see each other to 1944). He enjoys the knowledge that even machines for war like him sometimes get the chance to show each other such kindness.

And anyway – as he always finishes this story – that wasn’t even the worst smelling thing that’s happened in his interior.

I quite prefer that pine and cinnamon and orange scent that people seem enjoy this time year. I hope you and your yard are also enjoying fresher air this holiday season. Congratulations on your return to operational service. I expect (hope!) you’ll get more than just one run next year.

Your friend,

Pioneer

Dear Pioneer,

Wow! I had no idea that U-505’s Christmas story would be so… fragrant. Most Christmas stories I’ve ever heard have been about being together, but not usually so literally! It took a long time for our volunteer letter reader to get through it. When he himself wasn’t struggling to continue with a straight face, the Goddesses were making all kind of noise about it. From shrieks and gasps to stifled giggling, I think they enjoyed the story most of all. I guess passenger cars, similar to children, like it when things are a little gross. As for myself, I’m just happy U-505 was willing to share it with us. Please tell him “thank you” and if he wants to share any more stories (smelly or otherwise) my train and I would be delighted to hear them!

As usual, the winter months are an odd time for us. With no visitors, it’s a good time to get work done, but of course the weather never cooperates so it’s usually slow-going. The Steam Department wants to get Frisco working properly by the summer season, so there’s been a lot of noise from that side of the property. I’ve been told they’re entirely replacing her sheet metal jacket, so she’s going to look absolutely wonderful when the museum reopens in March. She’s still undergoing restoration, technically, but in the meantime she at least looks as operational as the steam department wants her to be.

I feel as though I’ve mentioned her ongoing restoration in all of my previous letters, but I’ve been assured that progress is being made, slowly but surely. I suppose it’s difficult with so many pieces of stock on the property to accomplish everything you want in a timely manner. She didn’t seem discouraged at all when we talked during Member’s Day, which is a good sign. She has a great disposition for preservation, so I’m hopeful this will be her year. I think the visitors would love being able to ride her train more often!

There have also been rumblings about getting some more streetcars running for 1975, including the Green Hornet who joined us in 1973 along with her sisters from the other museum. Just like the Steam Department though, the Car Department has been juggling multiple projects at once, so I can only remain hopeful for her.

All this, alongside the plans for a new barn which is due to begin construction this spring, makes it feel like everything at the museum is on standby. It feels a bit like idling at the platform, waiting for the moment we can finally start moving again. Venus says I’m being impatient, which isn’t something I’ve ever been told before. Silver Speed was always the impatient sort, not me!

That said, I am looking forward to your response, as always. Any engine would be impatient for that.

Your friend,

Pilot

Dear Pilot,

My cars think U-505’s Christmas story to be a bit crass, so that your Goddesses were so enthralled is a pleasant surprise for him. He says if they like gross stories then he has another they might enjoy, but as he said it, my helpful guide started clearing his throat in that way that means he’d like to change the subject. Another time then perhaps, haha.

Winter cold seems to freeze time as well as earth and water, particularly for those of us left outdoors with both. It’s slow for us out in our yard as well, but much is happening indoors as ever.

A new tree for Lithuania was added to the “Christmas Around the World” collection at the very end of December. The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture donated it to us in honor of one of their countrymen, Simas Kudirka, who has just come to America after a lot of difficulty. The guides brought out the newspaper with a picture of the tree to show me the ornaments their museum had made for us. They’re built of small white sticks arranged into triangles to make shapes of things. It’s hard to explain, but maybe we can send the clipping along so you can see too.

We also broke our all-time attendance record in December, both for the month and in a year. You were right that the oil shortage did make it harder for people to visit us too. We certainly had fewer school field trips since they have to charter buses for them. The CTA started running a program last March where fares were reduced on Sundays though and I’m sure that helped get people out to see us. I hope the CTA trains know what service they’ve done for our museum. I suppose they must, but it’s just in the course of the work for them.

We had an exhibit on Puerto Rican art just close and now they are setting up for the fourth annual “Black Aesthetics” exhibit for black artists. They’ve done that one every year since 1970. Mr. MacMaster, the museum president, says that Chicago is made of all kinds of people from all over the world and so doing cultural exhibitions like these attracts new people to the museum who might not otherwise come. Clearly, it’s working!

I’m looking forward to getting to meet the people again once it warms up and our yard is open. Maybe Venus is right about being impatient, but I get that way too around this time of year. By February, one is weary of all the cold and gray and quiet. March can’t come soon enough.

Your museum seems quite determined and industrious, if I may say. They got both you and Frisco running again. I don’t think it’s out of place to be optimistic for further improvements for the both of you and your streetcars too. Once your volunteers get past February, I’m sure they’ll be just as reinvigorated to work as you are.

Your friend,

Pioneer

Dear Pioneer,

I’m glad U-505 was eager to share more of his stories with us. The Goddesses seemed to have an impression of him as standoffish before but they’re quite interested in him now, ha! I understand your guide’s reservations, though. Maybe we can save the stories for special occasions.

Are all the trees in your Christmas exhibit donated? I remember you mentioning that at first it was just one big tree when the tradition started but now there are a great many smaller trees, which sounds like a lot of work for your volunteers to keep up with. It’s nice that at least one has a group dedicated to decorating it. Either way, the clipping they sent along with your letter showed off the Lithuanian tree very nicely.

I’m glad about your visitor numbers. It’s great that people are able to take the train to visit you and that it’s even being encouraged by the CTA! They and their trains have been good friends to both our museums it seems. Not only did they help us out by giving the museum old line parts when the trolley bus services shut down two years ago, but this month we’ll be working with them to do our second annual Snowflake Special.

Our guys are chartering a train of old 4000s trolley cars to do a fantrip over the weekend on the L. The 4000s series are very old. They were built between 1915 and 1920, and they were the very first steel-bodied cars used on Chicago rails! They weren’t very fancy. Utilitarian, as U-505 might say. Since they had no decorations on their roofs, they got the nickname “Baldies”, which Vesta thought was very funny until Venus pointed out that she’d qualify for the same nickname if she’d been around back then. Vesta didn’t think it was so funny after that.

There are a few 4000s here at the museum, sisters 4146 and 4412, but the cars for the charter train are ones that belong to the CTA. As nice as it would be for our 4000s to join the train, it would be too much work to try and have them pulled all the way from Union to the city just for one day. They don’t seem to be jealous though. My letter writer tells me 4146 is quite pleased that her sisters will be getting some more miles under their wheels. 4412 says she hopes that if they make a good enough impression that more of the 4000s might find their way here.

I hope all those new visitors your museum is attracting are coming out to visit you in the yard! March is the first time I get to see visitors too, but not too many are willing to brave the unpredictable temperatures this time of year except our most ardent regulars, haha. We don’t have a cultural exhibition to attract new visitors, but there’s a rumor going around that something new will be coming to our museum soon. In the meantime it’s just me and my train and those who are willing to brave the mud to come chat with us for a bit. It’s not so bad though, I can already feel the pace picking up around here!

Thank you again for your words of encouragement. I’m already looking forward to April and the spring thaw that accompanies your letters.

Your friend,

Pilot

Dear Pilot,

I’m not sure if we’re ever going to get to hear that particular story from U-505 again, if it’s the one I am thinking of. There’s been debate around here recently about how much of people we ought to be seeing and that story involves seeing quite a bit.

We’re holding the Pan-American Festival of the Arts currently and there’s been a lot of upset over one artist who did a drawing of a man with no clothes on. It must have been quite good because it won second place in the awards, but Mr. Danilov, the director, says that nude bodies are art, not science and so they should not be shown to children. Mr. Paley, who is in charge of public relations, says nude bodies are science and not art.

It sounds complicated, figuring out what is art and what’s science. It surely doesn’t help that it’s an art festival at a science museum. I’m sure I couldn’t tell the difference either if it was any business of engines. 999 says she’s been described as both science and art, and then 2903 said quite decidedly that a thing could be both then. I’d be quite happy to agree with that.

Since Mr. Danilov and Mr. Paley couldn’t agree if the drawing was scientific enough to be shown as is, they put some tape over the artistic parts as a compromise. The artist, though, didn’t like that at all and told the newspaper all about it. So now people are coming to the museum to see the controversial art, which means we in the yard are getting to see more people too.

I’m not sure if the Christmas trees themselves are donated, but all the decorations and the work of putting them on the trees are. Every tree’s ornaments are handmade and local groups and organizations come in to decorate the trees for the event. It sounds delightful and I’m a little jealous of the engines who get to live inside since they get to meet all these different people and see their trees. Luckily, we’re doing all these other festivals throughout the year so we in the yard are not missing out too much.

It’s wonderful that your CTA cars are being remembered – and used even! One sometimes gets to feeling our obsolescence in retirement, especially since we’re meant to be Useful. You’d think being a part of people’s every day would make us forgettable once we’re not anymore. It’s good to be reminded that many of our passengers think back on us enough to want that experience one more time.

Last month, my guides came out with a newspaper clipping to show me. It was a question-and-answer column and an elderly couple wrote in to say that riding my train was one of their fondest memories, but that they had lost the brochure from their trip and wanted to know if another could be found for them. Burlington Northern did find one and mailed it to them! We are retired and our railroad has been merged into three others and yet they are still taking care of our passengers for us.

And the CTA is doing the same for the 4000s. Even if yours cannot join their sisters back on the rails, they must be very proud that their service is being revisited for old times sake. I feel that way when I hear you are doing a run too.

Your friend,

Pioneer

Dear Pioneer,

Oh gosh! That business about the drawing was as controversial here as it was over there. After they heard 999’s comment about her being art and science, Venus and Vesta had a lot of opinions about how to tell if an engine or car is art or not.

Vesta says our whole train is art first and foremost because we (she might have been including me, but I didn’t ask) were designed to be seen as one continuous machine from the outside. Our fluting is a bit like people’s clothes and without it the illusion is ruined, so if the man didn’t have his clothes on how could that be art? Venus said she’s heard the inside of a machine called art before and that the way each piece is designed to fit with every other piece is beautiful to some people. Vesta said that was the science part and that the closer you get to the inside of something, the more science it is. Venus said you’d have to go under a person’s skin for the science to start happening, the art doesn’t stop at the clothes.

I think I’m inclined to agree with you and 2903 on this one. I’m just glad it means you’re getting more people to come and look at the art and/or science that is you and your yard!

That’s really lovely of the BN to send your old passengers the brochure they remember. It’s nice that it’s not just the passengers and volunteers who want to keep those memories alive, but the railroads (and transit systems!) too. I know it’s not all for philanthropy since money changes hands all the time over us, but plenty of stock here at the IRM survives because the people at the railroad want us to be around in the future to remember the old days.

Our newest acquisition can attest to that firsthand! Remember last letter when I mentioned there had been some hinting about a new arrival? Well, she’s here: Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific 265. That’s a bit of a mouthful so she just goes by Old Smokey. She’s a 4-8-4 Alco and the whole steam department was excited to finally be able to move her here this month. She was quite excited to arrive in turn.

The Milwaukee Road donated her to the city of Milwaukee after her end of service back in 1956. She says her exhibit was the talk of the town at one time, but since then it’s been hard for the city to raise enough money to keep it looking nice. That’s where our museum stepped up to offer to take her on. She says she’s looking forward to being under a roof, but more so to having other engines for company again. Having another engine around here with a name is nice! It means the people who donated her really did love her, the city and the railroad both.

Her story isn’t unique though. There’s probably a dozen reasons to preserve an engine over scrapping them, but at least one of them is that the railroads appreciate what their engines meant to the passengers at one time, even if they’re going by a new name. Whether it’s sending an old brochure through the post, helping run a fantrip, or entrusting entire trains to museums who care about them, they’re still providing service. Venus says that’s called a “legacy”.

I hope when I get to run again I can help contribute to the Zephyr legacy too.

Your friend,

Pilot

Dear Pilot,

That drawing was controversial right up to the last! On the day before the festival closed, a young lady ripped the tape off. I suppose since it was so near the end of the showing, the museum just decided not to put the tape back on so everyone got to see the drawing the way the artist wanted it for the last two days.

And one would have thought that finally would be the last of it, but a couple weeks ago, there was an editorial in the Trib about how the whole thing was just a big publicity stunt. They said that the artist called all the newspapers to complain about the museum censoring his art so they would talk about it and more people would come to see it. And then they said that Mr. Paley was wise to it too. He let the reporters take pictures of the drawing with and without the tape and then he told them he looked forward to seeing the photos in the paper the next day. Since none of the papers printed the pictures without the tape, none of them could really say anything about whether the museum shouldn’t have put tape on it either.

They made it sound like a lot of scheming was involved, but I know publicity stunts. There’s quite a bit of difference between planning something like this and just being quick enough to take advantage of it when it happens on its own. It did get people to come look at the art though… and the rest of the museum since they were already here. Mr. Paley would have been right at home on the Q.

My guides found your cars’ discussion quite interesting! They say that it does bear out in some ways. The museum does have displays that show the insides of people and that those are firmly considered science (no postcard of that; they say it’s like the baby exhibit and doesn’t look nice for photos. I rather agree that the insides of people are best if they stay inside.) These exhibits do show the parts they put tape over on the drawing though so it’s okay for children to see them if they are science and not art?

I wonder if the Art Institute has these kinds of troubles or if people give them more leeway because it says there’ll be art right in the name? To think we thought displaying industry was going to be the tricky part!

I’m sure the people of Milwaukee will miss their Old Smokey, but I’m sure they also think it’s for the best. Being an outdoor exhibit really takes a lot of care and maintenance, especially with the weather we have. You and I have been lucky in that way to be looked after, but it does demand resources. Being placed in a shed first thing is going to do her a world of good. Your barns are big with lots of engines all together, right? I never had the proper roundhouse experience, but it sounds cozy to get shut up in a shed at night with everyone else. I hope she’s enjoying herself and getting to know all her new yardmates.

It might not be a roundhouse, but our lawn gets cozy at night too, once everyone settles down and resolves to set any arguments aside until tomorrow. I hope you and your cars are enjoying the same warmer evenings.

Your friend,

Pioneer