Charles City Western 300

We have been very busy lately with special events, but those are now mostly over (with one very large project remaining) and shop work was returning to normal.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Pete Galayda had this bell from the CCW 300 completely refurbished and sitting on the shop bench when we came in.  Of course, everyone just HAD to ring it.

Installation

Gerry Dettloff and John Faulhaber helped hoist this heavy item up on the hood and then bolted it in.

Head In the Clouds

While it looks like Gerry is about to scuff his scalp on the roof rafters, it is just the photo angle and perspective.  But this is a RARE shot of Gerry without a hat!

Pete Galayda is project manager for this restoration and he sent a few additional images of the work to restore the electrical and headlights for this locomotive.

Jacks

Not the children's game of JACKS but some of the old jacks and blocks for plugging in and making the electrical connections for the arc headlights, and the new set made in our shops.  Clearly, the old split and rotted wood need new replacements made.

Arc Lights

Earlier this week I posted an image in the wood shop report of one of the new lights installed on the locomotive hood.  Here is a better shot of NEW vs OLD.  It may be only a small part of the overall project but it is a significant amount of work, more than cleaning and repainting some old metal.  John Nelligan has worked to document and discover the old wiring schemes, conduit has been replaced, the switches cleaned and repaired, the headlight resistance unit fixed, and so on.  Pete and John both deserve a lot of credit for this and all the other work to bring this locomotive back to life (eventually) and make it an attractive and worthy display in our collection.

Project Manger Pete Galayda supplied some nice pics of recent work on this steeple cab locomotive.

Arc Lights

The locomotive uses arc headlights which John Nelligan has adopted as a project.  Here are the original jacks and a restored set.

Welding

Gerry Dettloff pitches in on a LOT of projects where his special skills are needed.  Here he is welding a repair on the pilot of the CCW 300.

Paintwork

The welding is complete and the parts cleaned up.  Pete Galayda is applying primer to the raw metal.  It will not be long before shiny black enamel is applied to finish this area.

Pete Galayda continues his fine work on the Charles City Western steeple cab electric locomotive, and has forwarded a few photos.  Every week throughout the recent winter and cold months he, and helpers, have been at work in our heated shops, or as conditions allow, out on the locomotive itself. 

Deck Framing

This is the last piece of angle iron framing which is used as a cap strip on the wood decking at each end of the locomotive.

West End

A milestone has been reached.  Here is the completed decking on the west end of the locomotive, complete with the steel cage for resistance grids in place.  WOW!!  A lot of work and an impressive accomplishment.

Here is a long overdue update on our Mc Guire Cummings steeplecab locomotive from Iowa.  Rest assured that Pete Galayda and his crew are working on this project every week, in the shop throughout the winter months.

The Cutting Edge

Here is shot of Gerry Dettloff, (trust me, that is him behind the sparks,  under the locomotive with the cutting torch), removing some badly deteriorated electrical conduit which could no longer be unscrewed at its threaded connections.  This is part of the ongoing process of rewiring the locomotive as the detective work by John Nelligan proves how the system needs to work.

Cage Work

Gerry Dettloff and John Nelligan are assembling a rebuilt and restored steel cage on the walkway beside the hood.  This cage was part of the design by the builder, to house and hold seven grid boxes, part of the control system.  With the boxes installed and wired, it will receive a protective steel screen.

The cab, space under the hoods, and under the frame are crammed full of things, so the builder chose to mount the grids on the walkway on top of the frame.  I suppose that would restrict a crew member trying to exit the cab and quickly get to a retriever, but there is no cab door in that corner anyway.

With thanks to Pete Galayda for the pics and update.

Some of you have been following along at home as we strive to understand and restore the carbon arc headlights on this locomotive.  See the submitted BLOG comments for some good information and discussion.

John Nelligan has researched and come up with some very good 'new to us' information.  I will repost his findings below.  Thank you John and Steve Kraus, for making all of us a little bit smarter.  Reading John's findings in light of Steve Kraus's comments makes sense.  The brightness of a carbon arc light device requires the positive electrode placement to be just so, to give maximum efficiency.  Reversing polarity with the DPDT headlight switch makes the other electrode the positive side, and it is now outside the optimum placement, making the headlamp seem 'dimmer' in that connection scheme.  The arc itself is unchanged.

Steve's experience is with lower voltage arc lights.  In the locomotive, the circuit receives a nominal 600 volts, but with the dropping resistance, the effective potential across the headlight is MUCH lower, after the arc is struck.  In fact, maybe VERY MUCH lower since ionized air in an established arc provides almost ZERO resistance.