Wood Shop

No pics this week but I thought I had better make a short post to let you all know we are alive and well, and still working 'on the cause'.  Here are some of the things we saw yesterday.

Tim Peters and Charlie Strong were working on the CA&E 451, bringing badly deteriorated train doors into the shop for work.  The plan is do a quick 'patch job' to get them painted with the rest of the car, and hope for time and money to have completely new ones manufactured in the shop, at a later date.

Rich Witt continued working on a new sash for the CA&E 409, and it remains for final trimming and fitting of parts to be completed and then off to the gluing press.

John Nelligan worked on the project for five new windows for B&M 1094 and Victor Humphreys and I assembled and glued the last frame in the series.

Pete Galayda painted some sign or ad cards for the TM 972.  And he completed measurung up and listing the seats inside for future upholstery work.  All you TM fans should send in your donations now so we can proceed with this.

Max Tyms and Roger Smessaert were toiling at more electrical mysteries in the plan to add 3 phase electrical service to the Barn 4 shop addition.

Henry Vincent was seen glazing one new window and fitting another to the ends of CNS&M 757.

Gerry Dettloff and Max Tyms were working on repairs to our heavy duty welding cables.  I would not be surprised to hear that the needed parts alone will run over $500.

Roger Kramer brought some wood inside and discussed making a whole new set of windows for the IC heavyweight diner.  If funds can be raised the plan would be to do some serious restoration on this car and remove it from the Halloween Event.  My opinion only, but this would be a good move for an historic car, which has suffered wear and tear due to being used in recent years for that event.

Sitting Down

Wayne Baksic is working to resize a bench seat cushion for the CNW 7700 passenger car.  Shelly V (not pictured) also worked on this.  Wayne is a jack of all trades and earlier he helped finish up the new dust pickup and grounding for the Delta HD shaper.

The Plane Truth

The Michigan Electric 28 crew was hard at work.  Norm Krentel is behind the ductwork 'catching' stock as it is discharged from the planer.  Jeff Brady moves to grab another panel to feed in, while Wayne Baksic looks on.

There was some additional shop work, fitting was completed for window number five, now ready to be glued and destined for our B&M 1094 passenger car, and some measurement and layout work on a new door.

The Rout to Success

Victor Humprheys is setting up the router as we get a little creative in using this tool for an unusual task.

Good Supervision is Important

Randy Hicks considers the job Greg Ceurvorst is doing to sand more windows for CA&E 319.

Prime Paint

Tim Peters has made up a wheelbarrow load of new trim pieces for the new clerestory windows (now installed) on CRT 1268.  And of course they all need painting to be ready to install as time goes by.

Dust Pickup

Another of our largely invisible ongoing work tasks is maintaining the shop and tooling.  Jerry Lynn trims and fits a new custom made dust pickup hood for our Delta HD shaper.  Earlier, he installed a new duct and drop for this machine.  THANK YOU, Jerry!

And a lot of other work was noted in the shop area, in spite of me not taking time out to snap pics.  Three additional new window sash were glued by Buzz M and Victor H for the MILW 01984 caboose.  More work on a new door by Bob K and Victor H.; the new CNS&M herald applied in Barn 2 to the NS 749; work continuing on the Cleveland PCC project; retriever/catcher cleaning and rebuilding by the trolley coach department; more condiut and wiring for the new shop space addition on Barn 4; and I am sure a bunch of work I did not mention or note here.

STEAM FANS - welding of the new tube sheet patch on the front end of the Shay was being done!!!

Smooth

John Nelligan and Pete Galayda are applying 'glaze coat' to some of the windows destined for B&M 1094. The outside of these frames will receive paint, not varnish, and the open grain is being filled and sanded.

What a Color

A new custom mixed interior color was just delivered to the shop last weekend and Randy Hicks is already painting the finished coat on some windows and trim for the CA&E 319.

There was not much time to watch the work and take pics, but other progress was made on sign frames for the ends of the TM 972, a new sash for the CA&E 409, a new window for the SS 68, and a new large door.

Fitting Work

Buzz Morisette was back in action on the new windows for the MILW 01984 caboose.

On the Rails

Victor Humphreys with two new door rails - earlier two new windows were glued up (in the background), they are destined for B&M 1094.

419 Frame

Rich Witt is making progress on the new sash for CA&E 419.  He has not wanted a lot of 'hands on' assistance and I have to congratulate him on the willingness to learn the new craft and solve problems along the way.

Paint Removal

Greg Ceurvorst has the CA&E 'bug'!  He is actively pursuing a second career as a restorationist, here he is seen sanding down one of the old windows from CA&E 319.  I do not know how contagious this recently identified bug is, but if you catch it, you will leave the shop every afternoon with a smile on your face.

2050 Project

Victor Humphreys began the painting and finishing of the new windows produced for N&W 2050.

319 Windows

Frank Hicks was continuing the priming on the project to renew windows on the CA&E 319.

Cleaning Up

Dick Lukin stopped back in the shop after working on and visiting the new arrivals in Barn 8.  Thank goodness for someone willing to help on the projects.  Here he 'polices' the shaper area after ME 28 panel raising, while Jeff Brady works to construct a new fixture for the shaper.

Well, today we did a BIG job in the wood shop, with nearly every one of the half dozen volunteers participating.  For several years we have made very good use of the Berlin sander for finish work on well over 180 windows and doors.  One of the abrasive sheets (on drum 3) was about worn out, and last Saturday the sheet on drum 2 failed.  So we had no choice but to invest some time to return this machine to service.

Disassembled

This is a large and complicated machine - it has over 95 lube points alone!  So the first steps are to start the disassembly which has largely been accomplished in this photo.  The A frame was used to remove the top deck (seen in the background here) and then one layer of mechanism parts after another to get to the drums.  Pete Galayda, John Faulhaber, and Victor Humphreys worked on on this - seen here measuring and cutting a new sheet of sandpaper.

On Deck

Pete Galayda, Victor Humphreys and Tim Peters (on the deck) are putting parts back together as the new paper has been installed, and the fussy assembly work is next.

Together Again

Amazingly, by the end of the day the machine was almost back together, John F and Pete G reassembling the dust collector ductwork which had to be removed for access.

Many thousands of dollars of custom woodworking projects are produced each year in the wood shop, at great benefit to IRM.  But like most things there are no funds for ongoing expenses and upkeep of the tools and machinery.  By way of example, EACH sheet of sandpaper for the Berlin cost $60 when we bought these some time ago, and we needed to replace two of them now.  These were the last of our stock, so, any of you want to send in some coins so we can buy more?  Thanks!

409 Sash

Rich Witt continued on work for a new wood sash for the CA&E 409, cutting the rabbets for the rails and stiles.  Here he is seen laying out the mortise and tenon joinery.

Step Up

Henry Vincent, with Frank Sirinek behind him, was fitting new drop steps for the Chicago and West Towns 141.

Mike Altrerio went through the shop area and was recruited to fabricate some new fixtures for the mortiser.  Charlie Strong is doing project planning for the CA&E 451 and we discussed needed hardwoods and costs.  He has quite a 'laundry list' of tasks and I am sure donation of dollars and volunteer hours will be appreciated.  Several guys from the Wednesday Special Projects group stopped in to discuss current work, although I suspect the real reason was to warm up for a bit.