Wood Shop

The Ceiling

WOW!  Bill Peterson and I walked out the the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow to see about the work being done on installing the new ceiling inside it.  Here, Bill looks on while Victor Humphreys and Jim Leonard fit another board.  As you can see they are within sight of the finish line.  At this stage almost every board has to be trimmed, notched, or otherwise fit around supports and other features.  And of course to prepare for these steps, there is the invisible work in the shop.  Almost every work day, Victor primes more new boards so they will be ready.  While winter has arrived, if the weather does not get too bad and there is little snow cover, look for this stage to be finished by the end of the year.  I suppose I should not have said that - predictions are almost always the kiss of death.

Windows

We continued to work on new windows in the shop for our Pennsylvania Railroad wood caboose.  Bill Peterson was introduced to the fussy work of custom fitting each joint for a new sash.

More Fitting

In between other work, John Faulhaber took on sash number three and worked on one joint at a time.  After lunch two were done pretty well, and we proceeded to set up the glue press and do the final assembly.  We started these about two weeks ago and two are assembled already!  Of course these are pretty simple compared to some sash we have tackled.

Sign Box

Tim Peters continues to work toward making two new roof mounted sign boxes for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  The originals were removed by about 1914 so these are all new fabrications based on photos and evidence left behind on the roof and carbody.

More Window Work

I mentioned John Faulhaber was doing other work.  Early in the morning he could be seen at our mortiser machine plunging square holes into stiles for new passenger car windows.  These are old machines and a flat leather drive belt finally separated and broke.  John and Rod Turner crafted a replacement and by later in the day, the machine was back in service.

New Stiles

Eddie Pszczolkowski and Victor Humphreys are rabbeting the glass space on eight stiles to be used in making new cupola windows for our Pennsylvania bobber caboose.  Everyone simply calls it the bobber since it is our only four wheel wood caboose, but for those purists the number is 476199

Done in Stile

By the end of the day Victor is checking over the completed set of stiles, for the rabbet and also for the tricky tenons which are now done.

Making Rings Around It

Eric Lorenz is sanding some wooden rings which will go on the porcelain ceiling light bases for the Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  Bill Peterson painted all eighteen almost as fast as Eric finished touching them up on the disk sander.

Tapped Out

The ceiling lights in the 4223 are held in place with square metal plates mounted above the ceiling panel.  The fixture, ceiling panel, and metal plate make up a sandwich which is fastened with a set of four screws.  The previously painted metal plates had Bill Peterson running a tap through all the holes to 'chase' the threads of any debris.

Seat Work

Fred Zimmerman is sanding down seat back sheet metal for Kansas City Public Service 755, another of our PCC cars.  This is a good example of one of the many ongoing projects that get chased indoors with winter weather.  Work has continued all through the summer, but I do not get over there for pics.

Signs of the Times

Bill Wulfert is restoring some hang on destination signs for our Chicago rapid transit cars.  Anyone got a steady hand?  We need to touch up some lettering where the porcelain has chipped away.

Sign Box

Tim Peters is fabricating new turn of the century metal roof mounted sign boxes for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  Two are needed and almost all of this has to be made from scratch, including cobbling parts for the mechanism for rolling the signs.

ELY

Buzz Morisette seems to be enjoying making new roof parts for the dining room in our private car, ELY.  This saw had been down for maintenance for a few weeks and now seems to working reliably.

Still not as many photos as I had hoped but I am fighting the meds and the health issue they are supposed to take care of.  Time for a BLOG post now since a doctor canceled the appointment for today - leaving me some time.

Ceiling

I had mentioned in previous BLOG entries that the new ceiling in our Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow was proceeding and showing good progress.  So finally, here is a pic of the work.  Victor Humphreys and Dave Rogan nail up one more board.  I should point out the ceiling in this area runs all the way from the rear wall of the plow to the control cab cupola.  That is a lot of wood, and as you can see, they have passed the halfway point.  Dick Cubbage and I are working out a plan to build a new seat box/tool locker for the cabin at the rear of the plow.  There are clues, pitifully few that show its location.  So if anyone can help with a pic of the inside of these snowplows when they were still in service - we would really like to see it.  It does not have to be from a fancy camera, or only of a dead on view.

Jointing

Buzz Morisette is running some new douglas fir through our jointer - this operation will produce one straight and true side.  The timber will be planed and cut down and will find its way to the new ceiling in our private car, ELY.

New Help

We want to extend a wood shop welcome to Rick Serenda (right) who has joined us on this Wednesday.  He and Bill Leider spent most of the day priming new post caps for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  These were fabricated a few weeks ago by Tim Peters.

Ad Card Panels

Meanwhile Lee Regione was applying the first finish coat of paint to the inside of the ad card panels for Cleveland Transit System 4223.  Fellow volunteer from the Wednesday Special Projects Team, Joe Luciani, helped Paul Cronin and they made good progress on a set of eighteen new windows for the passenger coach department.  Those Wednesday guys really like to stay busy.

A Whatzit

Jon Fenlaciki and Rich Witt worked on a tricky small block of wood for seats in our Indiana Railroad 65.  New research has shown that the seats in the car now are not quite perfect for the seats as when the car was built.  The plans are to reupholster all the seats, so now is the time to make these blocks and otherwise tweak the seat frames to make them perfect.  This little inch thick six by six block of wood had to be sanded to create scalloped hollows.  One down, another 18 to go.

And as usual lots of other projects had workers.  John Faulhaber placed another coat of canvas paint on the roof of the Lake Shore Electric 810; and Gerry Dettloff and Jim Foraker worked on modifications and repaiirs to trucks for the car.  One truck is now virtually complete and will be cleaned up, primed, and painted.  John Nelligan and Pete Galayda are working on the wiring for our steeple cab locomotive, Charles City Western 300.

This report is more along the lines of NO REPORT.  I have been trying to deal with some health issues so had a short half day at IRM and no opportunity to take pics.  There was a shorthanded crew on duty and we were stymied on some work.  I had hoped to place some more lettering on our GN X-1390 tank car but the weather set this off.  All week it was pretty cold and the 30 tons of steel that we call a tank car got all the BTUs sucked out of it.  By Saturday it had warmed up to unseasonal temps with the result that the cold tank car was a lot like a can of your favourite adult beverage in the summer.  Condensation and wetness.

We saw other work including Victor Humphreys and I roughing out stock for seven new windows for our Pennsy wood caboose; Buzz Morisette continuing work with new wood for the private car ELY; Eric Lorenz working on Cleveland Transit System 4223; John Faulhaber painting the canvas roof for the Lake Shore Electric 810; Tim Peters, Bill Wulfert and Dan Fenlaciki working on parts for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024; Rich Witt working out the details for new drawings and plans for various new windows and doors; and Randy Hicks passing through the shop as he continues roof work for Chicago Aurora and Elgin 319.

Normally I strive to take pictures for the BLOG of our volunteers at work.  This week it just did not work out for my schedule so here are some shots of the work, albeit without the hands doing it.

Ad Panels

We would like to welcome our Wednesday Special Projects Team, led by Joe Luciani, to our indoor shop work area for the winter.  On Wednesday AM the temp was 8 F (with wind chill) with patchy snow and ice on the ground.  Not good weather for outdoor restorations.  Here, Lee Regione has completed painting the back side of all the ad panels for our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC streetcar.

Light Mounting Plates

These are the metal plates for mounting the ceiling lights in the 4223.  'Doc' Walsh painted them all, both sides, with a good quality enamel.  These are now protected well as they will not be easily accessible when mounted above the lighting ceiling panels.  We used some surplus or leftover enamel from another project.

The Plane Truth

Paul Cronin is planing many pieces of wood to thickness for a passenger department window project.  Joe Luciani helped on this task although not in this pic.  The Special Project Team spent some quality outdoor time after lunch when it warmed up a bit, rolling up air hoses for the winter, tidying up site work, and closing things down for the season.

Dome Walkway

Dave Rogan is bolting down the second dome walkway on our Great Northern X-1390 tank car.  Recall that these were removed during the painting.  A short section of open grating - HUH!  Over 150 lbs I bet and twelve feet in the air.  What we finally did was to craft a system of ropes and ladders and with the help of Dave, Victor Humphreys, John Faulhaber and Paul Cronin the steel was up in the air in less than five minutes. 

More Wood Lining

More wood was primed for the interior lining of our Chicago Great Western snowplow.  Where does it all go?  Seems like more is painted every week.  It has to be around here somewhere.

Seat Back

Here is a seat back being reupholstered by John McKelvey.  It is a bit more complicated job than the simpler cushions.

Roof Paint

John Faulhaber applied another coat of canvas roof paint to the Lake Shore Electric 810.  With each coat it soaks in less and less and the color becomes richer.

Glazing

Finally a pic with someone doing the work.  Jeff Brady is glazing another upper window sash for the Michigan Electric 28.  This pressed cathedral pattern glass makes a real statement!