January 1974
Dear Pioneer,
Please thank your guides for the postcard! It’s found a nice home pinned up in my cab alongside the others you’ve sent me. I’m a bit envious of your Rocket, getting to see all those beautiful trees up close.
It’s not quite as festive around here. Instead of holly and lights for decoration we have overhead line equipment and trolley parts! The volunteers’ goal is to get all the equipment we got from the CTA last year sorted, cataloged, and stored in the trolley bus garage before operations begin in March. This is on top of trying to build a wye out in front of the building so the cars can turn around. You can imagine the noise coming from the other side of the property.
Normally we would spend January taking it easy, but it’s been harder to rest with all the hustle and bustle going on. (Do you get the holiday season off? My letter writer says your museum is open almost every day, but I have to imagine you must get a small break.)
I’m not complaining about us being busy, mind! There’s always someone here on the weekends to keep us company, sometimes even during the week. Juno can see the garage better than the rest of us so she keeps the whole train updated on the goings-on. It’s entertainment for the Goddesses at least and keeps them from being too restless after spending better than a year sitting idle. I do wish Vesta wouldn’t speculate about when we’re going to get a diesel garage though. I told her it wouldn’t make much sense to have a whole building for just one engine. “Maybe if we get some more diesels!” I said. She just sniffed and told me our train is worth one building all on its own. Venus scolded her, but I think Vesta meant it as a compliment in her way.
I was told, in so many words, that my last few correspondences were getting a bit long. Between my letters and the Rail & Wire, they were starting to run out of typewriter ribbon! To keep things short (and not take any more time away from the Line Department), I’ll sign off here. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!
Your friend,
Pilot
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