Wood Shop

I sent a lot of time on my back under the Sand Springs 68, continuing to repair and trace wiring with Victor Humphreys, so there was not a lot of opportunity to take pictures from there.

Visitor

During the work, a friendly and personable visitor stopped to talk.  Paul Parks actually knew something about the car and its history in Oklahoma.  And he stayed on to assist in some of the work, cutting tape, handing tools, and aiming a very large flashlight.  Above, he awaits the interior lighting as Victor raises the trolley pole.

Sanding

Tim Peters worked away on the CRT 1797 wooden L car, in the shop, sanding on some window panels from the sliding side doors.

Side Doors

And Eric Lorenz was on hand, continuing to work on the side doors of CTS 4223.  This week it was to install the trailing black rubber nosing on the four door leafs.

First, there was a surprise visit by Kirk Warner who was passing through town.  Very good to see him, hope he can get back to help us soon.

New Trim

John Faulhaber is cutting some stock for new trim for a passenger car, B&M 1094.  This is a new request and the crew got right on it.

How to Do It

Rich Witt made good drawings of the cross sections and pored over catalogs to try to find cutters that would produce the profile.  They are on order by now.

Feel the Pane

Randall Hicks continues to plow ahead on the tiresome job of sanding old finish off of CA&E windows and it must seem to be a never ending process.

Other items of interest, is that Victor Humphreys again helped on the Sand Springs 68, painting reflectors for the front and rear running lights, and helping Henry Vincent and I on more wiring work.  We have completed the car lighting segment and are now puzzling over a very difficult schematic for the passenger signal bells.  Most cars at IRM have those disabled so as not to drive motormen stark raving mad once young passengers discover their function.

Victor also began the first work on our wagon top boxcar, B&O 374065.  The Wednesday Special Projects Group continued to make good progress on the CB&Q 993 baggage car; and began new work on the NP 230 baggage car.  Won't that look sharp in the two tone green used on the North Coast Limited?

Painting

Jim Windmeier was back on the job yesterday, sanding, priming, and doing other finish work on his project to produce replica stepboxes.  This is really high class workmanship.

More Nosing

Eric Lorenz was out another day, and was continuing to prepare and trim new rubber nosing for the new doors on CTS 4223, our Cleveland PCC car.

Nice Job

Later in the day, Eric had applied that new nosing to the four rear doors on the car.  It really makes a visual difference and prepares another area of the car to receive more finished paint.

Repairs

Part of the Museum work is to maintain and repair any and all of the cars in our operating fleet.  Dan Mulvihill was working on electrical contacts and arc shoots (used to contain and direct arcs created when the contacts open or close).  This was on the Illinois Terminal 415, one of our most used trolleys, and which sorely needs a rest for more in depth renewal.

In the previous BLOG entry by James Kolanowski he managed to get and post an image of the CNS&M 354.  The car was a city car which saw service in the Waukegan area, and some duty on city streets in Milwaukee.  I would guess it has been 15 years or more since seeing operation at IRM.  A substantial restoration was completed by Jeff Brady decades ago, but the purpose here was to get the car running again, to evaluate any defects or problems, and to thoroughly inspect the car.

There are some issues, and some will require some money to correct, but this is a very imporrtant first step to hopefully add another car to the regular operating fleet.

Careful Fitting

Tim Peters is fitting some replacement wood blocks and pieces to CRT 1797.  This is a powered wood L car from Chicago that is occupying most of Tim's time.

Nosing Around

Eric Lorenz is trimming some new rubber nosing sections that are destined for the new doors on CTS 4223.

Chapter Two

Again, Victor Humphreys pitched in to help me along with the electrical work on the Sand Springs 68.  Faithful readers of these entries will remember last Wednesday that we got the first of the interior lighting circuits operational for the first time in 55 years.  By noon Saturday, the second circuit worked and is shown here from the car exterior, brightly lit.

WOW

In the afternoon, we tackled the third and final circuit.  It needed a little fiddling, but in the end all the lighting now works on 600 volts DC feed, as god has intended it.  Joel Arendt came into the car to check on our work.

Rats Nest

Those that have ridden the 68 since it first ran five years ago, may recall seeing a collection of temporary wires and jumpers running in the car.  Their purpose was to feed ordinary 120 volt AC into some of the lighting circuits, with them isolated from the rest of the car, and thus they could be plugged in when the car was stationary to provide working lights.  All of that is now a thing of the past, the car interior much more orderly.  This image shows SOME of the old and temporary wiring that has been removed.

West Hood

Charles City Western 300 - this is the newly painted west hood area.  In the past you saw a similarly restored west hood, but the locomotive has been turned.  The body area is now nearly repainted, look closely and you will see Pete Galayda laboring away.

Roof Parts

John Faulhaber and Rich Witt are measuring carefully to produce new interior roof and framing parts for the Milwaukee Electric D 13 dump motor.  Five new pieces were produced, and of course none of these could be made from anything close in a lumber dealer today.

Electric Supplies

Henry Vincent was sorting and inventorying lots of electrical and conduit parts recently acquired in brand new condition as a donation.  Maybe next time we will not have to look for the ONE PART needed.

Steel Side Sill

Now for a quick look at the Lake Shore Electric 810 traction trailer.  The new steel side sill has been coaxed into position with jacks and some muscle.  Gerry Dettloff and George Clark are examining the fit and placement before welding begins.

Sparks Fly

Gerry has begun the welding process for the new side sill.  Exciting stuff to watch.  It was in place and cleaned up by the end of the day.  Next steps - fit and place a new wood filler side sill, tie rods, and bolts.

Let There Be Light

We talked briefly in previous entries about wiring for the lighting circuits on the Sand Springs 68.  Another full day on our backs under the car, with Victor Humphreys back from his vacation helping a LOT!  Sometime after 3 PM we put up the pole and one of the lighting circuits worked perfectly - the first time since 1955 that trolley voltage coursed through the wires.  There are two more circuits to complete, but here, Henry Vincent and Victor Humphreys examine the end running light, one of the lights in series with interior ceiling lights.  All are glowing warmly.

Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago there was little use of digital cameras, and no BLOG such as this.  But Gerry Dettloff passed on a print of what we doing then.  In this image I am carefully hand painting lettering on our GATX Industrial Molasses tank car.  And yes, younger and healthier, I spray painted the car also.  Those were the days.

Finishing Touches

Both members of the Windmeier father and son team were out to continue work on the replica stepboxes.  Tom is sanding and assuring level standing for the box in the picture, while Jim was busy starting to paint the first six boxes.  Later Tom began cutting pieces for ANOTHER six boxes.

George Clark was in and out of the shop making some new pieces to continue work on restoring the second side of the LSE 810 interurban freight trailer.

Late Buletin - several members of the electric car department spent the day crawling over and under the CNS&M 354, inspecting and hoping to get it to run again.  First steps, move it over our Barn 4 inspection pit for a thorough inspection and check out.

Finally, thanks go to Bob Sundelin who was somehow coaxed into helping me do some wiring work on the Sand Springs 68.  Years ago (twenty) a number of the 15 lights inside the car were jury rigged with low voltage bulbs and jumpers to be able to run off of a 120 volt extension cord.  This was to provide enough light to continue the interior restoration, and at that time no thought to if or when the car would see 600 volts or be able to operate.

Now is the time to turn those circuits back to DC operation as it is may be one of the last car wiring jobs to complete.  For three days there has been mostly detective work, using a schematic I prepared in 1992, and after going down a few false paths, it appears now they have been figured out.  About 17 feet of wiring is missing for one of the series circuits and with Bob's help, new wire has been pulled in and the first connections made.

I suppose you will not see much in the way of folks working in the wood shop in this ENTRY, but a lot was going on, folks passing through, and the magnetic pull of the steam whistle causing many to put down their work and venture south to the steaming area.  But, back to business.

More Color

More color has been applied to the CTS 4223 PCC car.  A few posts ago you saw that the bottom dark yellow (?) had been applied and above it you can now see the first coat of the next band of color below the window belt rail.  This area is all on the north side and toward the front of the car.

Bumper Rails

Still on the topic of CTS 4223, we can see Ed Waytula spraying primer on the set of side rails for this car.  These are about 4 inch high plates of steel that wrap around the body and stand off of it a half inch or so.  I suppose these greatly reduced marring of the sides with tire rubs from passing vehicles and a myriad of bumps and dings.

Those Are the Brakes

In the Electric Car Shop, Ray Weart and Joel Arendt were repairing a brake cylinder for the Commonwealth Edison 4 locomotive.  Nothing runs forever, and inside the cylinder was a broken piston spring.