Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell Snow Plow

The weather was not the best but the crew soldiered on through some periods of drizzle.

Under the Roof

Jim Leonard was up in the bucket truck and working under the front roof overhang.  That surface was previously needlechipped and now it was more overhead work.  Jim wirebrushed large ares of this steel in the morning.  I bet his arms were hanging heavy by lunchtime.

Priming

And Jim followed through on the job with prime painting up there.  Nick Rindt finished needlechipping some more area on the right side plow wing, and that also got primed.

Operators Seat

Victor Humprheys painted some more finish gray in the cab cupola in the morning and here we see Buzz Morisette wrestling with the restored operators seat on the right side.  Not much room to work up there, and not much room to stage a good photo.

Ready To Go

The seat is in, and most of the cab painted.  Victor Humphreys is enjoying this setting as though they were ready to pull out for plow duty.  Come out Saturday for our open house from 1-3 pm and place yourself in the spotlight.  Paul Cronin and Kirk Warner tested the operation and both wings work.  Paul and Kirk also did some blacksmith work by straightening a floor mounting plate for one of the flanger cylinder rods.

Pipe Dreams

We will close this entry with the last of the small diameter piping that had to be removed to allow the new windows to be installed.  Here is a gauge branch tee, two sets of window defoggers, and the whistle valve and piping.

You Have to See It

You have to see it!!  In conjunction with Museum Showcase Weekend we are holding an open house for our Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell snowplow.  This has been on site less than two years yet an amazing amount of work has been done.  We have manufactured and installed eleven new windows, two doors, and relined most of the interior wood siding in the rear box of the plow body.  Most of the cab cupola has been restored and that includes a newly restored and upholstered operators seat.  Many body repairs have been done and the south side and rear end are completely repainted and lettered.  Most of the remaining body is quickly being restored and repainted.  Air piping has been repaired and is working.

Last year we did much this same thing to the delight of many of our visitors.  So stop by Track 40 from 1-2 PM and look over the progress. 

Sitting Pretty

We will also include the opportunity to climb into the car and up into the cab.  Plan on staying there a minute and taking a turn at the controls to be able to personally operate one of the plow wings!  This will require physical ability to climb steps and a ladder and there are cramped spaces and a potential headknocker.  We will have a donation jar on hand so please fill it with greenbacks to help the work continue.

Come help us celebrate the 77th birthday of this plow.

Inside Painted

Victor Humphreys has completed painting the first coat of finish paint on all the new wood lining we have applied, one careful piece at a time.  It really looks great.  We are planning a plow event for Saturday afternoon of Museum Showcase Weekend.  So come on out on the 14th and see what has been done.  A really remarkable lot of progress in the last year, thanks to the team members, not so much me.  Maybe we can shake a few quarters from your pocket change to help assure we can continue to buy the needed materials.  Or, send a check to fund RX38.

Train Line

Last week we  showed you the train line air pipe going back on the plow after being worked on.  That was the good news.  The bad news is that it leaked air badly.  The culprit seems to be a BARCO ball joint which was designed to allow that pipe to be raised and folded back on the front roof when the unit was plowing.  So Victor Humprheys and Paul Cronin tackled the project.  First, to wrestle a scaffold into position and then to take the line back down.

Careful - -

The idea was to use the scaffold to make it safer to pull on some really large pipe wrenches.  But getting down for Paul Cronin meant Dave Diaz needed to act as anchor and counterweight on the other end.  Mission accomplished.

In For a Dime

The old saying goes "In for a dime, in for a dollar".  Paul Cronin is torching off a broken L bracket used to anchor the train line on the front end.  With the pipe off again we might as well bite the bullet and make a new bracket.

The Old Grind

Where have I seen that caption before?  Well, I guess it does not matter.  With the old bracket and blobs of weld torched off, Paul grinds the remaining nubbins smooth and will then fabricate a new bracket.

They say that time flies when you are having fun.  I did not have so much fun yesterday at home, and yet the time flew by.  So another day turns on the calendar and I need to post this foreshortened report.  Today THOMAS debuts for 2013, so plan to come out and see the spectacle if you never have done so.  Or to come out and volunteer to help support the event.  And of course to tell all your friends and neighbors to buy tickets and bring their families.

Up in the Air

We have made much progress with the use of the Buildings and Grounds bucket truck this summer.  Here however, Jim Leonard is stuck up in the air when the truck mysteriously stopped running and we could not get him back on the ground without some climbing.

Changing Gears

So we went to PLAN B.  Jim Leonard and Victor Humphreys are up on the front end of the plow roof applying the first coat of finish black paint.

The Cutting Edge

Jim Leonard worked with a brush to cut in the separations and detail around rivets, etc.  But Look!  You will see a new headlight installed on the front of the cab/cupola thanks to Dave Rogan's work earlier in the day.

By a Nose

We continue to chip away at restoration work on the front nose of the plow.  Lots of hard to reach areas around the anchor casting and coupler.  Remember, the entire coupler and train line air pipe were to be removed when plowing snow.  Jim Leonard is down off the roof and adding primer.

In the Shop

John Mc Kelvey is making good progress in the shop as he reupholsters the second chair for use in the cupola.  The frame has seen repairs, steel surfaces primed and painted, and the aluminum brushed and clear coated to protect it.

This sure is not the same summer as last year.  More rain and only a few hot heat wave temps so far.  Clear and pleasant Saturday and Sunday.  So we spent most of the time Saturday working on the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow outdoors, and Sunday rubbernecked like a tourist at our Vintage Transport Show.  If not a record setter, surely one of the largest in my recent memory, with over 500 vehicles on display, and seven different trains running for riders.

First of the Ceiling

Victor Humphreys is nailing up the first of the long awaited new ceiling boards inside the rear cabin of the plow.  Just a few boards at a time but a big visual impact.

Rear Roof

Bill Peterson worked in the shop the morning, cutting and fitting the next ceiling boards, and then moved on the enjoy the weather on the roof of the plow.  He made good progress attacking the rust and old paint to the rear of the cupola/cab.  Behind him you can see the last two of the eight new windows installed in the cupola, the old rotted frames still resting on the roof after being removed.

Front Area Roof

Tom Bernacki and I (mostly Tom) went to work on the roof to the front of the cupola.  As you see here only a small area remaining, then priming and the black finish enamel.

A Prime Crew

Tom and Victor are up on the roof and they primed all the new areas to the front and in the rear of the cupola.  A number of other tasks moved along including installation of the last remaining new window on the north side of the rear cabin. And the second seat frame for the cupola got some finish paint, aluminum polished up, and more new wood parts primed inside the shop.

More Roof Work

It was not all fun and games on the snowplow.  I walked by Chicago Rapid Transit 1024 and handed my camera up to Tim Peters who got this view of the south hip roof area.  Nearly all repairs are complete - new tack moldings up, and letterboards replaced.

This will be another short report since I was busy on the work and meeting with two potential contractors for an upcoming possible project.  Things were also complicated since we operated our CGW 601 caboose in train service the last weekend, and on Sunday a window got broken in the cupola.  That needed immediate repair since it will also be in train service this coming Saturday.  Thanks to Buzz Morisette, Victor Humphreys, and Henry Vincent for cleaning up and making emergency repairs on Sunday, and then reglazing and reinstalling the window yesterday.  The Wednesday Special Project group, led by Joe Luciani, is making good progress on restoration of the interior of our ICG steel caboose, but sorry, no pics.  So, on to the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.

Prime Condition

A lot has been done in the last few days due to an immense amount of needle chipping on the north side by Kirk Warner and some extra time spent by Jim Leonard on Tuesday.  Here, Victor Humphreys is completing the priming of much of the flat side panels near the rear of the plow.

Trapped

Simon Harrison had completed a lot of his day's project work and dropped by outdoors to say hello.  WELL - we put him to work well and truly, wire brushing a triangular shaped side area underneath the curved plow wings.  And then priming some hard to reach areas.  THANK YOU Simon, come back and visit often!!

Moving Along

Dave Rogan chipped a lot of areas on the underside of the front plow roof., never a comfortable position to work.  Look closely here and you will see one corner of the two new front windows that Buzz installed.  And Jim Leonard completed some more chipping on the front roof top, and we got that primed before leaving.

Drawing a Crowd

Work is always interesting.  It fascinates me, I could watch it all day.  Victor is standing by to apply primer, Simon and Paul Cronin are busily cleaning more area, and John McKelvey and Henry Vincent came by to look, and discuss their work.  Thanks to Henry who constructed a bridge ramp today to allow safer access to the Pullman car John McLoughlin this coming weekend.

We spent most of the day yesterday on our Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.  WOW!  Two workdays in a row with good weather.  So this entry will show you some of that work, not so many pics since I spent more time on the business end of a needlechipper rather than behind the camera lens.

Visitor

When I arrived about 8:30 I was greeted by long time member Kirk Warner who now lives in Florida.  As always he was eager to get started and is a very hard worker.  Out comes the needle chipper and here he is 'enjoying' the removal of a substantial amount of old paint on the right side of the plow.

Done

We finished a lot of small and some not so small touches on the left side of the plow in recent weeks and now that side is essentially DONE.  The new door is glazed and installed (not without more drama as befitting that task), grab irons re-installed, truck and flanger blade primed and painted, and you have already seen the new windows on that side in previous entries.

Front End

In addition to all the paint removed by Kirk Warner we also continued chipping and cleaning the front left ramp on the plow.  Victor Humphreys is priming that.  Earlier, Bill Peterson worked on the front roof area, and another section is done.

A Stretch

Reaching all these areas to clean them is is a stretch.  No less as Victor continues to prime what are hard to reach areas.

Get a Light

It was not all work on the plow for the entire Museum and many were occupied as the crews for Diesel Days.  On one of my cooling breaks (it only got to about 90F in the shade but there was no shade), I noticed Bill Wulfert has many of the restored 50th Avenue platform light ready to install.  I know this is not plow news but hope you will forgive me - we grow with diversity.