Freight Car Department

We will start this entry out with some images from Mike Alterio, who also did the work.

New Link on Left

The Pocket

These are of our caboose UP 3786 which was restored in recent years by our group of 'regulars' who come out every Wednesday.  We are trying to ready the car to run in train service and had three issues needing to be addressed.  Brake shoes were incorrectly installed, broken or missing on some wheels.  We fixed that last week.  In these views you with see a sort of coupler shank carrier supported by swing links to allow for some side to side motion.  We have not seen this design on our other cars.  On one end it was disabled and broken parts missing in action.  Mike was able to make and install a new link in a very short time.  Done and ready to go.  The third issue is a cracked coupler head which was removed for replacement.  The old one is out, and still some 'engineering' to be done on getting the replacemnt one installed.

More Mike Alterio help occurred on our ICG caboose which had missing air valves and manifold on one end.  Mike fabricated this new, and yesterday Victor Humphreys and Henry Vincent installed it.  A perfect fit!

CGW 601

Continuing with the caboose theme of this entry, we worked again (for the third week in a row) to get air brakes properly operating on our CGW 601.  A tricky problem and we followed some false paths but finally resolved the problem yesterday.  The final issue revolved around a defective retainer valve.  Seen above complete and ready to go back to Barn 11 after being on Track 41 for the work.  Many helped on this project throughout the day.  Now complete and in running order, the fourth caboose for the service pool in 2010.

Henry V and John F

And finally, since this a Wood Shop report, at least in name, Henry Vincent arranged for the donation of a tool cabinet to be used in the wood shop, seen here after he picked it up and delivered it.  Other wood shop work included assembly for a new window for Sand Springs 68 and some troubleshooting along the way on our new planer.