Freight Car Department

Priming

Paul Cronin is priming the many new boards for the interior lining, cut and sized in the shop last Wednesday.

The Flanger

It did not matter that the skies were gray and promised some drizzle.  Ray Pollice is sheltered from it as he operates a needle scaler attacking the flanger blade.

Will It Fit

Over the winter season we constructed two new doors for the plow.  Victor Humphreys and Jim Leonard are checking to see how it fits.

Yes It Does

There were a few trims and cuts to perfect the door into the opening, but minor really, in the scheme of things.  Victor and Jim hoisted it up into the plow body more than once and here are enjoying the view out the window.

The string of two consecutive good weather workdays was broken yesterday with intermittent rain, some of it heavy.  So we worked in the shop and inside the plow body.

Framing

Buzz Morisette was in the shop fabricating and shaping new framing timbers for the cab cupola on the plow.  Most of the wood around the windows and sills was rotted and will be replaced.

Priming

Dave Rogan worked inside the cupola between downpours and needlechipped and wire brushed a lot of the steel.  In an afternoon dry spell he is applying primer here, and then the temporary window blanks were re-installed to help keep it dry.

Lining

Victor Humphreys and I fussed with the next piece of lining inside the plow.  For some reason it was troublesome to fit into place.  I bet we went through five fits and they gave us fits.  Each time the wood notches seemed to expand (high humidity?) to prevent the piece from slipping in cleanly.

To the Corner

With the long piece installed below the side window, Victor quickly marched up the wall toward the right front corner.  These are some of the pieces measured and cut last weekend and now ready for nailing.

Looking Ahead

Paul Cronin is just completing the last of 32 more new pieces of interior lining and framing for the plow body.  Whoever arrives first on Saturday will have some painting ready for them!

Control Cupola

Buzz Morisette is up inside the control cab as we try to re-engineer how all the windows, sills, and stops will go together.  Note that much of this was totally useless and rotted away.  He is holding up one of the original windows for size and placement

Ceiling Lettering

Before too much dismantling was done to replace the bad parts, Buzz took many pictures to help document the areas.  Kind of unusual to find instructions painted on the ceiling - but here it is.

Center Front

Left Front

Right Front

Here is an experiment in formatting so you may see the front of the cab by stitching together the three views.  The left front view shows faint traces of more lettering; the right front view shows "EMERGENCY VALVE" stenciled in red. Lots of piping, electrical, gauges - most of which will have to be removed to replace the spongy wood behind them.

Step One

A lot of the work is now started with removal of the window post and corner posts on the left side.  Look closely and you will see the empty mounting holes in the steel members.  And what a scenic view out the window!  Freight cars, of course - that is our department.

Look Closely

This view looks downward at the left front corner.  the wood has been removed to the bare steel framing.  And another trace at the very top of this image of more lettering and flaky paint - we figured this one out - but not without some headscratching and creative railroad archeology.

On the Roof

Gerry Dettloff, Jim Leonard, and Dave Rogan are up on the roof of our snow plow.  Gerry volunteered to drag the cutting torch up top to remove the first section of metal grating, while Dave is needle chipping more of the cupola roof.  Sharp eyed readers may notice something different in this picture.  The completed side of the X 38 is in the sun!  Yes, some excellent cooperation by other departments resulted in this unit being turned end for end, as well as the B&O wagon top boxcar just to the east.

Grating

Jim Leonard is lifting away the old metal grating.  This will allow us to clean and repaint the area below it.  For the period of this restoration, wooden roof walks will be added in place of the metal.

A Wooden Lining

Victor Humphreys is installing another section of the interior lining inside the snow plow body.

Cupola Roof

Here is a better view of what Dave Rogan was cleaning on the cupola roof.  He and Jim Leonard worked mightily in the sun most of the day.  Removing old paint, wirebrushing the area, and then applying primer.  In addition to this roof area, they did some paint removal and priming on what is now the north door wall.  Buzz Morisette has begun the tasks needed to install the new cupola windows, John Faulhaber is working to trace and document lettering in the cab.  And on the B&O boxcar a repaired door threshold plate was installed.

Another unusually nice weather day saw many volunteers going on and in the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.

WOW

WOW - the iconic CGW Corn Belt Route herald was completed today and it really sets off the north side.  Some of the crew for today are seen here, Dave Rogan, John F, Victor H, Jim Leonard, and Bob Kutella.  Thanks go to Rich Witt for volunteering to snap this image, mostly one of us is behind the lens instead of in front of it.

Control Cab

Jim Leonard went up on the roof quickly to take advantage of good weather and he set to work removing rust and paint from the window posts and framework on the north side windows.  Dave Rogan also pitched in here on the 'high wire' work.

Herald

John F pitched in with me on the painting of the CGW herald.  Not done yet in this pic but we were focused on the end zone throughout the day.

Progress

Jim L is working to close up the open windows on the control cab at the end of the day.  You can see some of the roof cleaned and primed, the headlight mounting plate, etc.

In Closing

I just cannot resist another shot of the plow showing the new herald, the two new windows installed and lacking only the new door (already made) to pose this view as 'done'.

Other progress on the plow today included installation of some more of the interior lining, and removal of the two operator's seats up in the cab.  This was done now to get fabric on order for re-upholstery and also to make more room for the window work.