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Monday, October 24. 2011GN 70104 Update - October 22-23, 2011Applying the lettering to any newly painted project can be maddeningly slow. For our hopper there is a LOT of lettering.  GREAT I am sure you agree that this string of letters looks G-R-E-A-T.  Next Here is the capital 'N' and the start of the small 'o' being hand painted.  Smaller Stuff We also began some of the smaller blocks on the car, here the built date.  Set Brakes At the time this car was built, use of roller bearings were still a novelty. Often a car would be switched to a spot, and the air dumped and crew would leave. This note is a reminder to set the hand brake so the car would not later roll off by itself - and that often happened.  More Letters There is always the need to do the next letter in line.  An H To speed things up some letters can benefit from the masking of straight lines. This needs to have a smooth car surface, among other things, and of course very careful placement of tape. The body of the letter is filled in by hand painting and of course any curves are done completely freehand.  Suspicious Character While some may think the "H" is suspicious, Jeff Brady came by and caught me in the act!  Almost Northern And by late Sunday, much of 'Northern' was on the car. I have chosen to add a second coat of white paint to all of these letters to make them more consistent and durable, and as you might suspect, that adds to the time required. These large block slant serif letters were a trademark spotting feature on many GN cars of this time frame. Monday, October 24. 2011CTS 4223 Update - October 22, 2011 Paint Removal Alex Randow continued removing paint from the rear ceiling liner, now down from the ceiling and leaning inside the car. Sort of dusty in there, or a soft mood shot by my camera.  Post Caps Part of the process to install the side windows is the needed window post cap in the interior. There are many of the originals that have been saved, but among them all, we only found one in decent shape. Various degrees of rust out and corrosion made most of the rest good candidates for repair or replacement. Ed Grzesik is eyeballing one.  Need A Plan Eric Lorenz was able to produce many fabrication and detail drawings for these very pieces. Frank Sirinek, Ed, Eric Lorenz, and Lorne Tweed are checking them out.  A Fixture The decision was made to try to repair them, fitting and welding in new metal where needed. But they are not exactly one straight piece. There is a bend of a few degrees near the bottom, reflecting the shape of the car side and framing. Lorne and Ed are discussing ways to create a fixture to hold the alignment while welding is done.  Making Sawdust Ed is a great practitioner of the dark art of metal fabricating, but clearly seems at a loss while Lorne makes sawdust, cutting some parts for the above fixture.  To Work Ed has the fixture standing up at a welding bench near the east doors of Barn 4, marking and planning the first cuts. Next, he begins surgery to remove the bad areas on one of the post caps. Monday, October 24. 2011Wood Shop Update - October 22-23, 2011 EXPRESS John Faulhaber decided to try his hand at lettering new signs for the Rock Island Commuter cars. We need more folks willing to learn this skill set. One comment - "It is not as easy as it looks."  Three Windows Rich Witt faithfully continued restoration of windows for CA&E 36, now doing three at a time!  ME 28 Not strictly a Wood Shop entry but Jeff Brady continues on forming the curved end roof sheathing on our Michigan Electric car. Norm Krentel was removing windows and Walt Stafa, visitor form Ohio, assisted throughout the day. Monday, October 24. 2011TMS Project - October 23, 2011 Wheelsets With the wheelsets out of one truck, the bearing surfaces were being cleaned up and wrapped to protect them during the next steps at the machine shop. Then it was time for a SWITCH MOVE!! This can either inspire terror in the hearts of the crew assigned to do this, or awe and lots of pics snapped by the bystanders. We needed TM 972 back in Barn 4, behind three cars at the west end of Track 41. And it started the day four cars deep on Track 83.  TM 972 About 4 PM here it came, heading east into Barn 4. I cannot remember the last time this car may have been on this track; and it was moved here to pull the remaining original truck from beneath the car, then to remove the wheelsets on that.  Sand Springs 68 One of the byproducts of any such planned string of moves is the appearance outdoors of cars that seldom see daylight. Here, SS 68 rests on track 43 to the west of Barn 4. Later it motored under its own power to a new spot inside Barn 8 for the coming winter months. Monday, October 24. 2011B&O Wagon Top Update - October 22-23, 2011 Paint Just as 'clothes make the man', so does paint make a boxcar. Victor Humphreys began early Saturday to put the first coat of finish enamel on our B&O boxcar.  Right Side By late afternoon half of the right side had been painted. This are was where a lot of the warm weather months were spent making repairs, scrubbing off rust and old paint, and priming. Looks nice!!  A End The weather still held Sunday, so Victor was again on the job and he completely painted the A End. Thursday, October 20. 2011TMS Project - October 19, 2011It has been some time since we posted an entry on this project. But there is a lot of news!! The new tires were ordered some months ago and the promised delivery date is fast approaching.  The Truck One of the trucks from TM 972 has been on Track 42 at the east end of Barn 4. John Faulhaber and Gerry Dettloff attacked it with the idea of dismantling the assembly to get the wheelsets out. In this pic the traction motor is out, and the main truck bolster has been chained and is being lifted free.  Naked Truck With the bolster assembly removed and set aside, we can see what the 'next layer' looks like.  Sideframes The final step was to remove the lower sideframe castings, journal bearings, and journal boxes. At days end the two wheelsets were out, marked, and ready to ship. It is not too late for you all to help on this project. A substantial amount of match money has been pledged to the project, and some of it still remains. So every dollar you generously contribute to fund R TMS will become TWO DOLLARS!! Please consider a year end donation to this project. Thursday, October 20. 2011CTS 4223 Update - October 19, 2011 Paint B Gone Simon Harrison took over where Alex Randow left off last Saturday, and managed to make a lot of headway cleaning up the rear ceiling panel.  Front End Lorne Tweed has masked off a lot of the interior front end and dashboard areas. He is about to paint cleaned and 'paint ready' areas underneath the dashboard. I stopped by to take a quick picture and spent 10 minutes reading an interesting story in the newspaper he used.  Windows Frank Sirinek stopped his canvasing duties long enough to hold an impromptu 'class' in restoring window sash for the 4223. John McKelvey, Lorne Tweed, Frank Sirinek, Simon Harrison, and Pete Galayda are at the lecture hall, all the students are 'soaking up' Frank's knowledge and experiences.  Windows While Frank demonstrated a lot of 'dos and don'ts', it appears there is no magic bullet for these aluminum framed sash, so some time will be spent before being ready to finally install in the car. |
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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. [...]