This refers to Harold Crouch's recollection of the restroration of the NYC M-497 after the high speed project- published in the December 2003 NRHS journal, The Semaphore.
It's good to know Harold is still around and kicking- even with a rebuilt knee! Harold and I were associated for a number of years at the NYC Tech Research Department at Collinwood, Cleveland. I recall I was a member of a crew building a framework on a flat car to hold dunnage bags to "float" a guided missle during RR transit- an attempt to show the U.S.Government that missles could move safely on RR's. A 2 X 4 slipped from my hand and beaned poor Harold right on the coconut. Anybody else might have returned the favor or, at the least, refered to the marital status of my parents. Harold just gave me a look, rubbed his head and went back to work- a very nice man, indeed. But I digress.
I had moved on after the M-497 project and was not aware of the details of the rebuild at Beech Grove. However, I do want to make certain the reader knows the Detriot Diesels were always installed and operating during the test runs, the press show in New York City and the static tests conducted at Collinwood after that. We needed them operating to provide electrical power for jet engine starting, car power and instrumentation. They also had to be operating during the high speed runs to to provide compressed air for braking. An aside- during our first run, the diesels shut down due to overtemping because of the hot jet engine exhaust playing over the cooling radiators. On subsequent runs, I fashioned a wooden wedge to block the overtemp relay closed (open?) to allow the diesels to keep running. Rather burn up an engine than run out of air! They survived just fine.
Also, to be certain the reader doesn't come away with a misconception- there was a diesel locomotive facility at Beech Grove. I'm not certain about where and when the diesels were pulled (probably someone in authority thought that as long as the car was seeing major work, they might just as well pull and overhaul the propulsion engines) The Collinwood Diesel Terminal on the South side of the tracks had experience with Budds and they MIGHT have pulled them before the trip to Beech Grove rather than the Back Shop. I just don't know.
Insofar as the pieces and parts are concerned- again, I would like to stress that the streamlining was welded ON to the car- no stucture was disturbed whatsoever. I inspected my photos (I possess the entire photo documentation of the M-497) and find the components that Harold referred to were possibly "bolt ons" such as flag holders, etc. There might have been others but I couldn't locate them in my shop photos.
Again- if anyone would like more data, please advise.
Donald C. Wetzel