Dear Pioneer,

Happy to provide more words for U-505’s reserve! Though I should really credit Venus since she’s the one with the vocabulary on my train. Vesta knows a lot of words as well, but some of her favorites are not fit for print. We don’t have to remind her not to use them in front of visitors, but I think it’s better to avoid teaching them in the first place. Of course, sometimes it can’t be helped. I bet U-505 could probably share just as many of those sorts of German words picked up from his crew.

It is nice for the engines at the IRM to be able to share their work history, those that have ones worth remarking on, but most of us here are like 2903. We’re not as famous as you or 999 or U-505, but our visitors know that already. Instead of coming to listen to our stories, they bring their own. Many of our regulars and volunteers are retired railroad workers themselves so they lend their knowledge to the operations and teach others about rail history. Every engine here, static or operational, helps by being a visual aid for learning or a reminder of the old days. It’s a different kind of entertainment, but our visitors seem to like it.

Of course, I’d be happy to share more about the VistaDome train! I only didn’t in the first place because I figured there wouldn’t be much to tell that you wouldn’t already know. I forget that your experience pulling trains is so different from mine. We pulled the VistaDome train a month after their debut in December of 1947, but the story of the dome cars actually starts a little earlier than that.

In 1945, the Q wanted to take advantage of the beautiful scenery their lines ran through, so they took a regular chair car named Silver Alchemy and sent her to Aurora where they added the glass observation dome on top and renamed her Silver Dome. At the time, they told me there was no other car like her anywhere and, boy, did she know it! I’d certainly never seen a car like that and most of our passengers hadn’t either. The dome car was so popular that they decided to build eight more to fill out the third Twin Cities Zephyr train, which is where I come in! They were a fun bunch on that train, very well-behaved for new stock. All of them were named for things the passengers might see as they looked out the dome windows, Silver Bluff, Silver Glade, Silver River, and so on.

It worked out well. The passengers enjoyed the views and it passed the time nicely on that route which – to answer your question – was indeed very scenic! It was so scenic in fact that they eventually started printing out brochures describing what could be seen from the domes. They made quite a few more of the VistaDome cars until the mid-50’s when passenger traffic started falling off, but I’m told they still run them on the California Zephyr and they’re as popular now as they ever were.

I don’t like to ask about other engines’ misfortunes since I don’t have that experience to share, but your mention of being partially rebuilt did remind me of something! They did actually rebuild Silver Inn after the Naperville wreck for the Kansas City Zephyr. Or I should say they rebuilt a Silver Inn. I don’t think it was the same car. What I mean is, they built a new car and gave him the name of the old car, but the new Silver Inn didn’t remember the wreck or anything before it. But your front end isn’t original, if I’m understanding right? And Silver Alchemy was the same after she became Silver Dome. That is, she remembered being Silver Alchemy before they rebuilt her. I don’t claim to know anything about rebuilding but I wonder how all that works, especially considering the new Silver Inn. I’m sure there were a few cases of mistaken identity there.

Speaking of which, it has been brought to my attention that my train decided not to tell me there were two Æolus because they thought it would be funny. They were leading me along for a while after my last letter, telling me how Æolus had been in service years before they pulled the Goddesses’ train and yet was newly built at the same time. Or that they were a modified S-4 Hudson and somehow also a completely custom component build. Venus finally gave up the gag when she thought the joke was played out (the rest thought they could have dragged it on for a good while longer.) Back in their service days, it was an open secret that there were two Æolus. Venus says an open secret is when everyone knows a thing, but they pretend that they’re not supposed to. It sounds like that just makes things complicated for no reason, but it’s supposed to be for fun. Although, actually, it was fun once I knew there were two too.

No. 4000 was an S-4 Hudson from the regular service pool who got picked to be made into Æolus because he was due for an overhaul at the right time. He’d been built in 1930 and was an experienced engine by the time he pulled their train in ‘37, although the Goddesses say he was stuffy about regulation and would get on to them for chattering in the station. To get him back, they’d call him “Alice” like the crewmen did. Juno says the railroad workers thought Æolus was too hard to pronounce. It took me a few tries to get it right, but the Goddesses have unusual names too so they think it is important to say them correctly (unless you are sassing your engine).

No. 4001 was built fresh from components later that summer and though she and 4000 mostly looked the same once they had their shrouds, they were quite different to each other. Since 4001 was new and had improvements to 4000, she could sometimes be impatient and not listen to his advice. The Goddesses got along better with her than 4000 though (I’m sure you suspect why too). They didn’t see the Æolus that often, only when Pegasus was due in the shops. Otherwise, the two of them pulled the Black Hawk like you said.

Vesta was particularly excited to tell me that sometimes, if the Æolus’ shroud panels weren’t secured properly after being opened for maintenance, they might fly up and flap about when the train got up to speed. The crewmen would call this “lifting their skirts”. It looked very silly and was also very loud, which Minerva remembers as being a lot less funny than Vesta does. She says the noise startled the passengers and the train would have to stop for the crew to close the shroud panels properly. If she was embarrassed by the delay, I can’t imagine how the Æolus themselves must have felt!

Once the Zephyr trains had us E5’s to cover them, they took the shrouds off the Æolus, so they went back to being normal steam engines. Not being streamlined anymore must feel strange, but I think it’s nice that steam engines can take it on and off. It’s like a coat for them! Minerva says their crews were happy not to have to fuss with their shrouds anymore.

A few of our steam engines got new coats of their own last month. Coats of paint, that is. Work hasn’t slowed down at all in the steam shop; I can hear how busy they are all the way out here! Since we’ll be closing up for the cold season, Shay says the painting is just a matter of convenience. They all need to have their tenders emptied and their cabs cleaned out, and they might as well get their paintwork done while they’re there. The volunteers say that Frisco 1630 won’t be finished before Christmas, but that’s okay because they got so far along with her work that they’ll be ready to hit the ground running after the New Year. Venus and I have passed along our well-wishes with Tuskegee to send to her (long workshop stays can be dreadfully boring), but both Shay and Tuskegee say Frisco’s in high-spirits and looking forward to spending the winter in a warm barn. Can’t say I blame her!

The trolley department’s been just as lively as the steam workshop. 9553 and 9631 tell me the volunteers who maintain the overhead wires had a word with the company in charge of removing the bus lines in Chicago after trolley services shut down in March and they’ve come into all kinds of hardware straight from the old CTA lines. Our guys even helped them take down the wires in exchange for the parts! I don’t know if that’s philanthropy or not. Vesta called it ‘salvage’. Either way, the trolley bus garage has been slowly filling up as the new parts trickle in. 9553 joked that they’ll have to park 9631 outside if they run out of room indoors, which I don’t think he appreciated very much.

Thanksgiving is next week, which means the end of our operating season and saying goodbye to all the engines we see regularly for a few months. It’s not lonely with the Goddesses and there will still be volunteers who come in to do occasional work, but it’s definitely about to get a lot more quiet around here. Last year when the museum closed, I was still dealing with the broken valve spring and feeling very sorry for myself. This year I feel almost excited! Seeing all the hard work being done to improve the museum and meeting all our new stock, it’s hard not to feel like the future here is bright. Since it is almost Thanksgiving, I also wanted to thank you and your guides for the letters yet again! I think they’ve contributed to the future seeming as bright as it does.

Wishing you and everyone at the MSI happy holidays!

Your friend,

Pilot

Dear Pilot,

When you hear the sound of depth charges splashing in the water above, U-505 tells us, you will hear some of the most devout words right along with the filthiest. They were indeed in German though so he keeps those to himself. For once however, our entire yard agrees that certain situations not only permit – but perhaps even call for – some choice words not fit for the public.

That your visitors don’t expect to be educated or entertained… I enjoy talking about my revenue service and I don’t think I’d like it if no one asked to hear about it. Still, every now and then, someone who rode my train and remembers us will take over and guide a tour themselves. It sounds like your museum is more like that, by design. I always appreciate when a guest takes over because as I get further away from my last run, I find younger guests can’t really understand what my train was beyond what we are now. It’s one thing to tell them about your work yourself or for a guide to, but quite another to have someone among them enthusiastically going on about it instead. It’s like being introduced to them by an old friend then.

I hope that is what it is like at your museum too.

Of course, there’s obviously something to be said for filling in the gaps for them. No one person can know your entire history better than you yourself do. And sadly, as time marches on, it must get harder to come across someone who, for instance, rode in Silver Dome for that first run. It sounds like a wonderful trip and true to the Q, they made sure to capitalize on every part of it. It’s a story you should capitalize on now.

You must have pulled all sorts of cars over your revenue service too. It wouldn’t have done to say so then, since being a flagship engine with a dedicated train is a great privilege, but I was always a little envious of the pool service engines when I was still running. I got to see a lot of the Burlington Route out of necessity because they kept having to reassign me when I couldn’t handle the traffic anymore. I even worked all the way down in Texas for a short while! I always had a regular route though; it would have been a waste of the name to move me around so much that people couldn’t expect me. So pool service always seemed exciting, not knowing what cars were going to be in your train or where you’d even be going that day. If I had been built for pool service I probably would have preferred the stability of my train as it was, but the grass is always greener on the other side of the track, isn’t it?

And the cars kept getting more specialized and swappable, once they let go of the articulation. They packed all they thought I needed into two cars and still had to add a third later. And that was before they started making sleeper cars and lounges and drawing rooms. Did your Texas Zephyr have a regular roster or did they switch them in and out a lot? What kinds of cars did you have for that route? You seem to remember your cars very well for having worked with so many.

You even remember cars that weren’t on your trains! It’s a little strange that they decided to build a new Silver Inn, but it makes sense that he wouldn’t be the same Silver Inn. That crash was so notorious and everyone heard about how he’d been wrecked. I have always wondered if we aren’t only who we are because we are known to be. That is, I could have my entire front end replaced but I’m still the Pioneer Zephyr because people know I am. Silver Alchemy can become Silver Dome quite easily with just a change of a nameplate. But Silver Inn? Everyone knows that’s a new Silver Inn.

My coaches disapprove of yours misleading you about the Æolus. They say it’s unbecoming and disrespectful to lie to their engine. I have gently tried to argue that it isn’t a lie to leave a detail out and that there’s some room for fun when there’s no schedule to keep. I had to be a lot less gentle when they said that maybe I do suspect why the Goddesses got on so well with No. 4001. I didn’t realize they’d neglected to say there were two Æolus when you first mentioned them though so I hope you didn’t feel silly about it when you found out.

I’m glad to hear you’re all being cared for so well, especially now that it’s winter. Like washdowns, it’s an undertaking to repaint us. Thankfully, stainless steel doesn’t need paint and U-505 was painted when he was delivered here. I doubt the steam engines would say no to a new slick of black though. It’s good that you’re keeping tabs on each other even when some of you are tucked up in barns. I still think, despite our differences, we here in our yard would be less content if any of us were moved out of sight.

It would be nice to have someone on the inside of the museum who could tell us what was going on in there. The guides mention things, but it’s hard to imagine without being able to see it yourself. Some of it I can guess at, but only because I’ve seen it before somewhere else. Like automobiles or airplanes or the Rocket replica they have in there; I’ve never met the one who works here, but I did meet another Rocket at the Railroad Fair. He belonged to Henry Ford, who makes automobiles out of Michigan. Our Rocket isn’t made to steam, only to show how his machinery moves, but Ford’s Rocket was and he performed in the pageant with me and 999.

The guides say there’s Christmas trees inside too. Lots of them! They fill the main hall with them and decorate them for different countries. I didn’t think I’d get to see it since we’re too big to go indoors, but the museum made a postcard of it! They brought one out to show me and to go in this letter so you can see too. The thing in the middle of the hall is a Periodic Table of Elements. They tried to explain it but I don’t think I understand. They say elements are what everything in the world is made of and every element is on that table. Like iron and aluminum and copper. I asked if stainless steel was on it; they said no. How can that be if we’re made of stainless steel?

They said it was “complicated”.

“Complicated” like your volunteers getting all those materials from the CTA might be? Or maybe it’s the same as a lot of the things we have here at the MSI. The museum opened alongside the Century of Progress in 1933 and when the fair ended, they convinced a lot of the companies who had displays to donate them here instead of scrapping them. Most of them weren’t needed after the fair so it didn’t cost the companies anything to give them to us. Maybe a nicer way to think of your new “salvaged” hardware is that it’s a donation. Or even more generously, as a Christmas present.

Your letters are sort of like a present too. The guides say part of the fun of Christmas gifts is knowing that they’re coming but having to wait for them. Waiting for your replies is like that, I think. I’m happy that anticipating mine helps make things more cheerful there.

Here’s wishing all of you at the IRM a restful holiday so you and your volunteers will be ready to sort through your new gifts and make use of them in your yard!

Your friend,

Pioneer