Baltimore & Ohio 374065 Wagon Top Boxcar

Paint

Just as 'clothes make the man', so does paint make a boxcar.  Victor Humphreys began early Saturday to put the first coat of finish enamel on our B&O boxcar.

Right Side

By late afternoon half of the right side had been painted.  This are was where a lot of the warm weather months were spent making repairs, scrubbing off rust and old paint, and priming.  Looks nice!!

A End

The weather still held Sunday, so Victor was again on the job and he completely painted the A End.

I have been delinquent in posting current news but trust me, there has been a LOT going on in the Freight Car Department with every day this week seeing work done, as we try to make the most of an unexpected late fall spell of good weather.  For our B&O wagon top boxcar project, some significant milestones were reached.

Blast It

We began by hiring a contractor to sandblast the roof areas to white metal, to remove all the rust and remaining traces of old deteriorated paint.

Blasting

Finishing Up

BLASTED

John Faulhaber looks over the results on the roof.  By spending money here we avoided  an entire summer's worth of volunteers sweating it out on top, and got a completely clean surface.

A Clean Sweep

The contractor was finishing up, touching a few more spots, and blowing off all traces of the blast media.

Spraying Primer

John Faulhaber and Buzz Morisette were able to change their schedules on short notice and come out to help on a Monday.  The new primer is being sprayed on the roof.

Windshield

A bit of a breeze came up in the afternoon and the paint crew coped with that by using a sort of shield to minimize blow away.  Behind them is the painted roof area.

Patching

On Wednesday Rod Turner and John Faulhaber were fitting and welding new steel onto one of the rusted out ribs on the corner of the car.  In previous weeks we had fabricated some of these tricky pieces of sheet metal, and now the results came to hand.

Done

Looks Good

John Faulhaber checks the work before prime painting.  This will complete repairs this season on half of the right hand side of the car.

Within the scope of the world debt crisis, this did not cost a lot of money - we got a good price, and struck while the weather was good.  But we REALLY need your help and support to pay the bill.  OR - perish the thought - I will have to dig into my meager billfold to cover the costs.  Any donation, large or small, to restricted fund R 374065 will assure that restorations like this will continue to proceed.  THANKS!

A End

Despite unsettled skies, it did not rain after 10 AM or so and Victor Humphreys is sanding primed areas on the A end.  At the same time Mike Alterio fabricated the two remaining grab irons for the B end and installed them.

Priming Done

Here is an overall view of the north side and A end of the car.  The A end and four side panels have had welding and repairs completed, been primed, sanded, and re-primed.  It is quite a visual difference in person, so look closely at the pic to compare the left side, largely 'painted' in rust, with the right half of the completed work.

Roof

Meanwhile the roof needs some attention.  We have been diligently working to have it sandblasted and prime painted by a contractor due to the gratings and other details that make it impractical to do by hand.  So far, since the beginning of August we have hired two different guys to make this happen, and both have been unable to do the job.  It is not that complicated.

So, if any of you have a cousin or uncle that is a legitimate sandblaster, please have them contact me so this can be completed before winter.  (Temperature early this AM about 40 F).  And yes this will cost money so if you can see your way to helping support the work, donations may be sent to fund R374065.  Thanks

Patches

Victor Humphreys continued to install patches and do related body work throughout the day.  He is a perfectionist, insisting on the finished work being almost invisible of the repairs.

How Does That Grab You

Mike Alterio is installing new grab irons to replace those damaged and missing on the A end.  This day two were complete - fabricated, installed, and primed.

Fixture

Rich Witt has become a valued fixture in our shop, but in this case 'fixture' refers to the wooden oak form and jig being assembled.  New volunteer in our shop, David Diaz helps on the task.

Bending

As soon as the wood jig was done, we fit a steel custom made die assembly into the hydraulic press and began forming new caps for the ribs on the boxcar.  Rich Witt is supplying the muscle to the pump.  IT WORKED!  And as I was leaving the crew were hard at work to have seven pieces made and complete.

More Jigs

Rich Witt has just about completed the female side of a jig for bending new metal for the 'posts' on our wagon top boxcar.

The Old Grind

Victor Humphreys and Ray Pollice helped the project along with more cleaning of the old rusty sides and trucks, and priming.  Buzz Morissete is shown here manning a grinder to smooth down the weld 'worms' on five of the new patches.

Exercise

The boxcar got some rare mileage 'exercise' as it was pulled from Track 40 by the US Army switcher.

Into the Barn

The car was turned end for end to facilitate the next work, and then travels Track 41 going into Barn 4.  Note the good progress in cleaning and priming several of the side panels.

Patches

Not the old pop song "Patches", but some new steel.  Five areas of rusted out sides were removed and new steel plates made by Victor Humphreys.  Rod Turner welded them in and now the grinding will ensue to smooth out the repaired areas.  At day's end the car was turned again and placed back on the Track 40 work area.

New Fixture

Meanwhile back in the shop, Rich Witt was making the female part of a new set of fixtures and dies to bend some sheet metal for future application to the car.  Using hard oak, we are hoping the new metal can be formed to shape and then used to patch still more rusted out parts on the car.

Boy it was hot - triple digit on the thermometer (in the shade) and there was no SHADE!  Heat index topping 110. 

North Door

So what did our intrepid team of volunteers choose to do?  Work with the acetylene torch on repairs to the B&O boxcar.  The north door opened reluctantly and had suffered decades of use and some bent areas, causing binding.  By getting an early start, Gerry Dettloff, John Faulhaber and Victor Humphreys tried to beat the worst of the heat.

Guide

Gerry is heating a door guide on the right side which had been knocked inward at some time in the past.  Then John and Victor would attack the cherry red steel with tools to straighten and reposition the offending items.  Several small adjustments were made, and the door can easily be opened and closed by one person now!

Rivets

Since the torch, tools, and crew were already out, they were convinced to start on some of the needed carbody repairs.  Deteriorated steel sheeting will be replaced and in this case it was riveted to the car frame.  Gerry is heating a rivet head to burn it off.  Then the rivet stub is pounded out to allow for cutting away of the steel sheet.

Did I say it was hot?