| BLOG | DIRECTIONS | SCHEDULE | STORE |
|
|
| BLOG | DIRECTIONS | SCHEDULE | STORE | |
Sunday, July 3. 2011Wagon Top Boxcar Update - July 2, 2011 The Car In this undated photo we are looking at our car shortly after it arrived at IRM in 1991. We show a built date in our roster of 1922 but that may be misleading. Parts of our car certainly date from that year, but the wagon top design was a home built upgrade to allow recycling of older rolling stock. In some cases more than one extensive rebuild was done to the same car, and they often resulted in re-numberings to make tracing individual car histories a challenge. The B&O came up with their own distinctive design for these cars, basically consisting of a modular inverted U shaped hoop which was prefabricated. It could be assembled in many different variations on a more or less standard car frame. Thousands were built mainly in the B&O shops at Cumberland and at Keyser. Sharp eyes will detect faint traces of the car lettering in the above image including a large B&O in panels 2, 3, and 4 from the left. That is the scheme which is being used on this project.  Herald On the second panel to the right of the door, the famous B&O capital dome graphics are seen. The slogan LINKING THIRTEEN GREAT STATES WITH THE NATION appears in the outer circle.  Wire3 Wheeling We started early to try to beat the worst of the predicted heat. Victor Humphreys is removing old paint and rust from the A end.  Cutting Bolts Mark Ricker came up to Union on a visit from Kentucky and pitched right in cutting frozen and rusted bolts from the end ladder mounts.  It Is Off This allowed us to remove the ladder, after some coaxing and choice words. Mark hands down the ladder to Ray Pollice who also came to help while Victor continues work on the right. By the end of the day Mark had the bolts cut and removed for the A end side ladder, Ray had cleaned a nice area on the right side, and Victor applied primer. At IRM this car was selected along with several others for restoration for a major Hollywood movie production. The financing for the project fell apart, but not before we were left with perhaps half a dozen cars in various states of repair. Our volunteer forces have completed many of those and now the wagon top joins them in the restoration process. We will be able to do a lot of the work for very little money as is our custom, but donations are needed to cover the unavoidable expenses, and hopefully enough can be raised to assure the completed restoration can subscribe to indoor space in the next Barn. Please help with a donation to restricted fund R374065. And of course you are welcome to contact me to schedule your workday on the next hot 102 HEAT INDEX day in the sun! Sunday, July 3. 2011Site News - July 2, 2011I am going to post this entry under the GENERAL category since a lot of subjects are covered.  Smooth The Depot Street paving is done, ON SCHEDULE! The Buildings and Grounds crew, led by Dave Diamond, and the many volunteers who contributed and worked on this complex project deserve a lot of credit. Throughout the day visitors enjoyed the new surface and the B&G crew added finishing touches including dressing the shoulders.  New Loop As part of the same paving contract as Depot Street, the paving for the new trolley bus loop was completed. Here, John Myhre is looking at the old overhead turning wye while you can see the paving in the background.  Where It Began The Indiana Railroad 65 was the first car acquired at the founding of IRM. Dan Fenlaciki looks sharp in the motorman's seat, as the car made a rare appearance for some service trips for the public.  Tail Hose Rich Witt has become a very dedicated and productive member of the wood shop crew. His other passion is Operations and he is hooking up a tail hose brake valve on the passenger train. This is a connection to the train line air pipe to allow a crew member on the rear platform to stop the train from that position during a back up move.  Tack Molding Speaking of the wood shop, Tim Peters is making new tack molding for CRT 1797. He has set up a unique system of fences and guides and machined the last profile on some long ten foot boards, BY HIMSELF.  The Next Door The heat outdoors was brutal and in the afternoon, Victor Humphreys and I were going to proceed to the next steps on a new door. We got sidetracked when Tom Schneider came by for a visit. He is steadily improving healthwise and is no longer needing to wear the suitcase monitor for his heart. It was very good news to see him up and about looking so chipper and with a good attitude. I am going to close this entry here and add another covering work on our B&O wagon top boxcar. This is an ongoing major restoration project so I have opened a new sub category under the main Freight Car Department category. If you are not taking advantage of all the various software options on the IRM BLOGS, here are a few tips. On the right hand side there is a CATEGORY TREE. If there is a plus sign in the little square box for each topic you may click on that to expand the category topics. Clicking on any category will filter other entries and allow you to read updates, in order, for that single topic. For any blog entry, the images are thumbnails. Clicking on the thumbnail will expand the image and you may scroll forward and back for any of the images in a single entry. AND - at that point, if you go to the upper left corner of the expanded image you will see a small square icon pop up and clicking on that gives a full size blowup of the single image. WOW! |
Blog AdministrationFind us on FacebookCalendarQuicksearchArchivesSyndicate This Blog |
Comments
Thu, 05-16-2013 21:52
Looking good Bob! I hope to come out soon once I'm done with school.
Wed, 05-15-2013 21:28
I was not around at the time. General discussion suggests that it was "pretty marginal" in a number of areas. Nigel
Mon, 05-13-2013 11:08
"THUMBS UP!"
Fri, 05-10-2013 02:15
No, it will not be necessary to hold any of the work waiting for the plow to be turned, end for end. Weather will be the major factor, but there will [...]
Thu, 05-09-2013 19:54
The CGW X-38 plow is really coming to life. Bob Kutella and Vic and crew need to be very proud of your collective efforts. I am very appreciative of [...]
Thu, 05-09-2013 15:20
The snowplow looks great! Are you going to apply the door and upper windows befor it is turned to continue work?
Thu, 05-09-2013 09:09
Max, Is there any progress to report yet, in regards to the installation of the poles and overhead wires? Have a good day, sir.
Wed, 05-08-2013 18:40
Thanks for the update! I still don't understand why Commonwealth #5 was removed from service. Do you know why?
Tue, 05-07-2013 09:28
Mr. Kolanowski.....I was just wondering if the Spaulding webcam will be up and running soon for us stay-at-homes. Thanks!2FP
Mon, 05-06-2013 23:04
Max, Has work begun yet on the construction phase of erecting the poles and putting up the wire? Wish I could be there to watch it happen.
Mon, 05-06-2013 23:02
Keep up the good work, Bob. Wish I could be there to help!!!!!!!
Sun, 05-05-2013 18:53
Ah yes, I have made such Jibs myself. If it were me, I would add in each corner an angled piece from the base to the Jib to act as sway bracing. [...]