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Sunday, March 10. 2013Wood Shop Update - March 9, 2013These reports are fast becoming like a picture book. For awhile my camera was not working very well, and now TOO MANY pics.  Panels The two new doors for Chicago Great Western X 38 have solid raised panels in the bottom half. All are done and Victor Humphreys does some finish sanding on them.  Trim Molding Bill Peterson completed fitting and mitering all the quarter round trim molding on door number two for the plow. Next, primer and paint.  Puzzling We began work to create a new exterior door for our station today. After a visit to the door in question in the depot, Paul Cronin is trying to sort out a puzzle. We have a stack of lumber and a drawing with dimensions. Now, where can each piece be 'harvested' from the oversize planks that were available?  Ripping After jointing a straight edge on all pieces, Paul and Bill are at the table saw ripping the stock to the exact width needed.  Arranging The parts have been cut to rough length and a dado set used to plow the needed grooves in each piece. Paul is checking the arrangement with all the parts arranged in order. This is a BIG door!  Layout The next step involved the three of us confirming the length of each piece and then laying out the needed work for the mortise and tenon jointery. Bill is making sure all marks are transferred accurately and both sides will match.  Brakes The Electric Car Shop just completed new custom sheaves needed for working hand brakes on the Chicago & West Towns 141. This is big news and I managed to snap a pic of Project Manager Frank Sirinek taking a picture of me taking a picture of him tak- - - - -  Template Tim Peters is working on a hardboard curved template for some needed wood parts for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  Photo Never loan your camera to ANYBODY! As I downloaded these pics earlier today, what should appear but a followup shot to the above, with me and Tim solving the problems of the day. The grammar does not sound right but the names go left to right as do the people in the image.  Ribbing Buzz Morisette is laying out patterns for new ribbing as he continues to replace roof and ceiling panels in the private car ELY.  A Box Here is new project for Union Telephone & Telegraph, my own made up name for the enterprise being spearheaded by Frank Carraro. Buzz has made a pile of parts of oak, all of which would fit in one hand. It is for a box that will hold jacks for line switching - IN THE OLD STYLE.  See, It Is a Box Here are all those small parts being glued and assembled into something useful by Buzz.
Sunday, March 10. 2013CTS 4223 Update - March 9, 2013We will start with some views of the new work going on in the Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car. In the old reports we explained how there are many layers of parts for the interior and windows which must go in a specific order. The critical delay was to have new window post caps made, after it was determined the old ones could not be salvaged and repaired to look and perform well. They have arrived and the team has wasted no time in installing.  Right Side Lorne Tweed is working on the right side of the car, forward of the center door. It is easy to see the finished look and large improvement. If only it was not so cold and damp in the barn I bet you would see more speed.  Right Side Rear Eric Lorenz was just as busy working on the post caps on the right side, to the rear of the center door.  Left Side Then Eric moved to the left side and began working his way forward. Six in a row installed in this image. At the very front and rear of the car and alongside the center door, these sheet metal caps are 'special' requiring more fitting and fussing. Sunday, March 10. 2013Travels to UK steam railwaysA little off the normal topic. During my trip to the UK I managed to spring a few hours away from the office to visit a couple of preserved steam railways. So attached are a few notes and photographs from these visits. On the Saturday I visited the Severn Valley Railway near Birmingham. This line is about 15 miles long running thru beautiful scenery along the river Severn. The train and its locomotive certainly provided pause for thought. I have often looked with amusement at the Thomas locomotive dwarfed by the train of heavyweights that it is "pulling" out of the yard. However 1501, an 0-6-0 pannier tank of Great Western heritage was here preparing to take its 7 car train over the hilly 15 mile line, which it was well able to do. In retrospect, these locomotives used to take the stock for express trains from Paddington terminus to and from the yards so were regularly moving 450 ton trains so this was no great load.
Last week I visited the Mid Hants Railway at Ropley in Hampshire. I follow the blog of the Wednesday volunteer gang there and was pleased to meet them. They made me very welcome and showed me around the workshop and yard. Most impressive what can be achieved when you have the operation to support some full time staff with volunteer support. Mid week the only locomotive in steam was the visiting T9 4-4-0, which was working a photographic charter.
A range of locomotives were in the yard serviceable. In the foreground are 4-6-0 #850 Lord Nelson and schools class 4-4-0 #925 Cheltenham while in the background is 34007 Wadebridge, a Bulleid light Pacific.
Another good looking locomotive was this Stanier "Black 5" 4-6-0 #45379. Now two years in service, Dave tells me she was rebuilt on site from scrap yard condition.
Another locomotive is in course of rebuild from scrap yard condition while others are undergoing periodic general overhaul. If we think the 15 year boiler requirement is bad, in the UK it is only 10 years between required boiler strip downs !. The difference between US and UK locomotive construction and therefore overhaul technique is very obvious. UK locomotive fireboxes usually fit between the fabricated frames so no major boiler overhaul can be carried out without removing the boiler from the frames. So it is common to have a separate boiler shop as they do at Ropley.
Here a number of boilers are in various stages of overhaul. In the background you can see a boiler rotated thru 180 degrees allowing ready access to the base of the firebox and mud ring. If you can do that, riveting the mud ring is less of a challenge than we face with #1630 !
Attached to the main shop they have a nicely laid out machine room
and they even have a planer. One big difference is that theirs works !!. Hopefully ours will soon.
Many thanks to Dave, Colin and the Wednesday gang for your hospitality, Nigel Sunday, March 10. 2013A little of this..A little of that...
Saturday was a wet and dreary day BUT, the small Saturday coach group kept plugging away. The projects continued. One, my favorite, as of late, was the R I 2612 and the other was the Ely. Noteworthy on the Ely, was the installation by Buzz and Victor in the afternoon, of the second ceiling panel. Before I could arrive and take a picture Victor had gone home. Instead, here is Buzz along w/ Mark smiling for the camera.
 Admiring the work  Removing screws  Brian, working away Getting the job done  Mark, doing what he does best...scraping  Removing the plywood that covered the steam pipes  Nice picture Sunday, March 10. 2013Steam Department Update 03-09-2013Thanks to Roger for the update in my absence last week. Having arrived back from the UK Friday, the jet lag made Saturday at the steam shop harder than usual for me !. However the team made good progress in a number of areas despite my preoccupation with what time of the day or night it was. On 1630:
· Another milestone in fitting the small tubes. Brian finished rolling the front ends into the smokebox tubes sheet. In the view below you can see all the tubes now fitted and the 16 vacant holes into which we will start fitting the super heater flues;
· After grinding most of the firebox ends to the final length for beading, we made a good start on flaring the ends in the firebox. We have to watch carefully to ensure that there is no movement as the tube end is flared and expand the front end a little more if there is any tendency to move but, having worked that out, progress is quite rapid;
Here you can see the difference between those higher up, that are now flared, and the ones at the bottom still to be done. The comparison between adjacent tubes E6 and D2 provides a good example. Once this is complete, we can move on to fit the 16 super heater flues and the 9 small tubes that fit between them. · Last week Dennis finished welding the patch into place. A clear demonstration of my limited knowledge of the finer details of welding. It looked pretty complete to me two weeks ago but a further finishing pass and tidying up around some of the rivet holes was still required last week. · The holes have now been reamed for riveting and focus is now on cleaning and servicing the air tools that will be used for forming the rivets. The riveting will be a considerable job as these are substantially the largest rivets we have driven in the shop in many years. · Dave and Phil worked on cleaning and servicing the various control valves from the cab; · Ed continued with the pipe work, which is now getting close to completion There was quite a lot of activity on 428 focused on the leading truck and axle boxes; · Having finished the welding on 1630, Dennis moved on to building up the truck axle boxes. Once built up these will need to be machined and the bearings fitted;
· Dave and Phil worked on producing a guide to mount the axle box wedges in the shaper. The wedges must be machined to provide an accurate and consistent angle between the faces.
One part of the guide is this tapered block. Here it is being drilled in preparation for mounting on the plate below.
The tapered block will be attached to this plate so that the wedge can be locked in position with the angled face on the block. The outer face, against which the axle box will bear, will then be positioned so that is can be planed flat to provide the required angle versus the face within the channel (which bears against the frame). · Mike was working on another mount to hold the shoes in position for mounting on the shaper.
In the shop in general, there was a big step forward in the project, funded by the Benefit, to provide piped air supply to the new shop (South end). Jerry had put in several days work during the week and yesterday he and Jeff completed the major parts of the system. After blowing out the debris, valves were fitted on several of the outlets and the system tested for leaks. The system proved air tight and, when I left, Dennis was, for the first time ever !!, working in the fabrication area without 100 feet of hose stretching back into the main shop. This is a substantial improvement as long runs of hose and substantial distance from the operator to the shut off valve have been a safety concern. The next step will be to finish the connection thru the South wall of the shop. This will serve the dual function of providing air for work in the wheel drop area as well as allowing the Sullair to be connected to provide additional capacity without long hose runs. The final step will be to connect in the large compressor. A good day's progress. Hopefully next week I can be there in mind as well as body !! Nigel |
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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. [...]