Wood Shop

It always seems to generate a lot of interest when a project is active and you can see work being done.  Case in point is the Cleveland PCC, CTS 4223, which has taken enormous steps forward with the painting of the exterior.

Interior Trim

The car is now back in Barn 4 and Eric Lorenz is fitting interior sheet metal moldings under each of the standee windows.  Part of the plan is to soon start installing glass in the many openings in the car body.

Will it Fit

Here is the tie in to the wood shop.  A plywood template was made and Eric checks each opening so we can assure that when new glass is cut, it will fit the openings.

Jack Block

Yes that is an odd caption.  For Michigan Electric 28, Jeff Brady is repairing a large block of wood to be installed in the roof framing where a smoke jack will go through.

Brass

We continue to clean and polish brass window lifts for the Sand Springs 68 as a sort of fill in task.  They sure do shine, but it takes a fair amount of time to get this far.  Once clean they receive a coat of clear lacquer, and then we will start to install them.

More Brass

John Fenlaciki continues the seemingly endless task of restoring windows for CA&E 451.  These are brass sash which must be cleaned and then clear coated, latches made to work, and new rubber weatherstripping installed at the bottom.  In spite of doing all 'his' work he showed me some of his magic, by cleaning up the worst crud off of three of the SS 68 latches.  Thank you, Jon.

Passenger Car

Shelly Van Der Schagen and Mike Baksic were in the wood shop, working on the latest seat frame for the Santa Fe heavyweight car.

For a change of pace I will shake up the order in which I usually report things this time.

Fast Work

Last Saturday I mentioned about an upcoming project to extend the north (west) end of our Electric Trolley Bus line.  Less than a week later the grass and topsoil has been removed, and new crushed limestone sub grade spread and leveled.  The Thomas Event entry area will certainly look different this year.

All about Wood

Rich Witt is constructing a new fixture to be used on the Glen Springs windows and behind him Victor Humphreys is sanding panels for the new station door.  These are a bit tricky to be fit absolutely the best way we can.

Passenger Department

John Mc Kelvey has been doing a lot of work all related to his particular expertise in upholstering.  This week he has repaired and reupholstered a chair back for the INGLEHOME. Seen here, he is cutting the new fabric.

Welding Mysteries

Gerry Dettloff is helping out on the Lake Shore Electric 810.  Much of the structural woodwork has been repaired on the north side.  Now he is pulling down the tie rods within the side framing, one at a time, and welding threaded extensions on them.  The existing ends were so corroded and rust thinned as to be useless.  Hmm, he seems skeptical of my new camera.

This entry will be short since almost three hours of the day were spent with members of the OWWM group.  That is short for Old Wood Working Machines.  We are again hosting their annual meet - for the seventh consecutive year!  We had few members of the planning committee on hand - from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois and time was spent surveying the improvements and changes at IRM and planning some of the activities to be held in September.

This is a loose knit informal organization, with website, that has visited us often, conducting clinics, demos, and any manner of other activities for 2.5 days each year.  They have been very generous in helping to support our wood shop.  If any of you guys are really interested in old such machinery, contact me for more information; but beware, any machine made after 1970 is considered TOO NEW!

While we were walking around, we noticed some white lines painted on the grass near the Thomas Event entrance gate.  This is the proposed new paving and construction for the west end Electric Trolley Bus loop.  It will be exciting to see that take shape.  But back to the Wood Shop - - -

Raising a Panel

Victor Humphreys is shown "raising a panel" for the new station door.  That is where the inserted panel in the door openings have a raised center field.  The operation is called "raising the panel" although in practice it is the surrounding areas that are lowered.  John Faulhaber and Victor worked on those tasks in the morning.

Panels in Place

Victor is checking the fit for two of the panels in the new door frame.  These must be made to float or fit somewhat loosely in their grooves to account for seasonal expansion of the wood.  We saw them for a fairly snug fit and then hand sand to fine tune for each opening.  When all are in place, they will be inserted as the frame is glued and assembled.