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Tuesday, February 21. 2012TMS Project Update - February 18-19, 2012It really is amazing to witness the work on this project. It is significant on so many fronts - engineering, machining, metallurgy, and the massive amount of less than ordinary GRUNT WORK.  Assembly Jeff Brady is dry fitting and assembling some of the completed levers and rigging in the truck. That is correct - enough of the new bushings and pins have been fabricated and heat treated to see how it goes back together. He is inserting the new pin into a lever nicknamed a 'dog bone' due to its resemblance to such doggie snack treats.  The Dog Bones Here is a closer look at the dog bones and how they fit into the truck. There are two of these in each quadrant to next receive the brake head castings, which in turn hold the brake shoes.  Boring Each of the many parts in this truck receives attention. This once bent brake lever has been heated and straightened, as seen by the gray discoloration on the casting. The old deteriorated bushings have been removed with a hydraulic press. Here the lever is on the drill press table and about to get its holes reamed to receive the new bushings. As I said above it is truly amazing, doing this on a wish and prayer with old tools and a lot of hard work and commitment from the volunteers. Tuesday, February 21. 2012CTS 4223 Update - February 18, 2012Apologies since it seems the volunteers doing the work can accomplish results faster than I can post entries here.  Tracks Lorne Tweed is working on the smallest of the track parts, an insert with steel spring leaves behind it. Needless to say many of those are about destroyed by rusting, so here he is dong 'blacksmith' work to try to remove some bad ones.  Back in the Carbody The mild winter weather continued so Lorne Twee is assisting Eric Lorenz with installation of more of the new car interior wainscotting panels below the windows. Very nice! Tuesday, February 21. 2012Wood Shop Update - February 18-19, 2011 Glazing Buzz Morisette has glazed several of the new windows he built for ATSF 1400 caboose. They are a thing of beauty. Here he is wrestling with clean up of the gooey butyl rubber compound we use in place of traditional glazing putty. That old fashioned glazing putty hardens and shrinks, falls out and fails over time. This stuff has stood the test of time, maintaining a flexible watertight seal for several years. But it can be troublesome to work with.  Final Coat With much of the cleaning behind him, Buzz is ready to add the final coat of gray interior paint to the windows.  Steam Department Nick Kallas was visiting the shop, and Victor Humphreys is showing him the complicated joinery for a new window for Norfolk & Western 2050. The steel plate beside the new wood parts is a 'new' discovery in the past week. The finished wood window gets a fairly heavy sheet of metal placed over its exterior.  More Windows Dan Fenlaciki helped glue and square up two more new windows for Illinois Central 3996 Diner. Six are now so assembled.  Track Department Could that caption be wrong? No, Marcus Ruef delivered new lumber for the wood shop crew to make up new decking for two of our four wheel track cars. Those guys just do not like to work in comfort - it has to be either too cold or too hot for them to really enjoy themselves. So our wood shop sawdust guys will do the cutting. |
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Comments
Sun, 03-02-2014 14:36
Thanks for your kind comments, Kirk! Yes, it's my hope that we can spray and hand brush, were possible, the interior when completed. Gary and I [...]
Sun, 03-02-2014 10:03
Thanks. Appreciate the effort. greg
Sun, 03-02-2014 08:37
Greg, I talked to Tom Schneider, the curator of the Steam Department yesterday. Rather as I suspected, he does have a good deal of information [...]
Sat, 03-01-2014 10:33
Congratulations on your great progress. Is your intent to spray the interior after repairs and priming are completed and the weather warms up? What [...]
Thu, 02-27-2014 13:59
Hello, I was wondering if you had a history of the Louisiana and Arkansas #99 from the time it was the LR&NCo until it was acquired by the [...]
Tue, 02-25-2014 09:05
Jamie can you give me any information on Milwaulkee Road 33C as i havent seen any information on it in a couple of years.
Mon, 02-24-2014 16:38
Yes, as Mark mentioned it made it into Barn 11 last year to dry out some after finally being unloaded from the flat car.
Mon, 02-24-2014 08:16
That car has been moved inside to keep the weather out as windows are repaired. I think it's in a barn that's not open to the public.
Sun, 02-23-2014 21:25
Is there any information regarding the status of the ex California Zephyr dome coach. When I was at the museum late last summer I did not see it.
Wed, 02-19-2014 18:51
Mark, having fun yet?!
Mon, 02-17-2014 12:34
Thanks for the information. I realize that it will take time to get to the more substantial projects, but I'd prefer that so that I don't damage [...]
Mon, 02-17-2014 12:08
Christian, There is not much beside what is on the website. You need to be a member (one key reason being that insurance only applies to [...]