Wood Shop

I will continue on with this BLOG ENTRY under the Wood Shop banner, although, as in the past, there are many projects being worked on and you deserve to know about them.

Sign of Spring

The old adage states that the sighting of the first robin is a sure sign of spring, here in the Midwest.  At IRM it is the parade of electric cars visiting the pit area in Barn 4 for annual maintenance, lubrication, and inspections.  Above we see CTA 4391 getting attention from Frank Sirinek and several others who helped in the tasks.  This is a necessary but unsung ritual to maintain the cars and provide reliable transportation every year.

Get A Handle On it

In previous posts you have seen a number of volunteers working to finish up surfaces and polish brass hardware for the Sand Springs 68.  This marked the installation of the first seat handle, from an IRM pattern and rough foundry castings, and slowly finished over previous months.  Victor Humphreys is snugging up the last screw.

The Line Up

By the end of the day, Victor and I had installed half of them (nine) and here he is trying out one of them, on a stiff seat back.

Brown Paint

Tim Peters applied the first coat of brown paint to Chicago Rapid Transit 1797 on Friday, and here has just finished sanding that down.  The second coat went on after this photo.

Up for Grabs

In the shop Tim has been preparing, cleaning, and painting the grab irons, soon to be installed by each side door.

Signage

In keeping with the Rapid Transit string of photos, Bill Wulfert was working to restore a vintage UNION STATION sign rescued years ago from one of the L platforms.

Passenger Windows

Victor Humphreys was removing old layers of paint and varnish from a Boston & Maine 1094 passenger car window.  This and another one were in from the SPC department for repair and help as we were able.

At the Saw

As fast as Victor handled paint removal, Buzz Morisette was making new wood parts for those items too far gone to salvage.

After Winter

Our Great Northern 70104 hopper car rested outdoors over winter, and still looks good.  We are working to complete all the lettering on this car.

Rear Bench Seat

Lorne Tweed is working on our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  He has cleaned out the rear area of the interior and is prepping the sheet metal for paintwork, repairs as needed.  Note the first interior trim panel installed to the left of the rear window.

Window Tracks

Eric Lorenz is throwing the sparks as he fabricates a special drilling jig to be used for mounting the cleaned window track elements for CTS 4223.

A Side Job

Joe Luciani and Jerry Saunders are working on restoration of our two NYCTA R-28 'redbird' cars.  The sides do not look too bad, but many of the panels have a LOT of body filler and the car framing behind some of them is almost non-existent, having disappeared from rust and corrosion.  Selected areas are being cut out, new steel ordered and on the way.