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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, 10-08-2017 13:04
#938 is now being painted so she will look a great deal better on display. Great work by Phil and the team. Work done is a cosmetic restoration. At [...]
Thu, 10-05-2017 18:36
Classy and excellent work on the Illinois Central car. You all have done some excellent work.
Wed, 10-04-2017 12:12
You guys have done a fantastic job. I think you all deserve a break so you can step back and admire your work, because this car looks great. Now I do [...]
Sun, 10-01-2017 00:05
I'm trying to build a model of this ACF tank car but don't have any information about how the brake wheel stand attaches to the frame of the car. Is [...]
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:51
Hello Kurt DID you ever paint with a pot? It takes longer to clean the system then its worth.
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:50
Thanks Bob Thanks for your input. We are all volunteers and not a paid rr staff. We do what we can.
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:48
Hello Matt I did mention your name on the next blog. Thanks for your help see you soon.
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:47
Hello Kirk You should see it now. We have painted the other side
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:46
Hello Gary Thanks you should see it in person!
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:45
Thanks Ted SO am I They both need a lot of donations to place them back in service!
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:44
Hello Bob Thanks for the compliment. please consider helping with a donation!
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:42
Hello John Thanks Yes it looks real good!