Wood Shop

Front Windows

Lorne Tweed continues to contribute progress on this car.  It was oppressively hot with a heat index over 100, and hotter still perhaps in the still air inside the barn.  This week he attacked the interior frames and trim on the front windows of CTS 4223.

A Rail Fan

Inside the CTS 4223, on the front dash there was a rail fan.  What else would you call it?  Anyhow, Lorne also carefully removed that as the paint and years of crud are removed and the clean metal primed.

Getting a Handle on It

I could not argue with folks looking for work inside the shop to escape the outside heat.  John Faulhaber was cleaning a rough casting for new seat handles for the Sand Springs 68.  That is the first step in the process.

Getting a Handle on It

Simon Harrison has returned from an exciting trip overseas, and here he is continuing the work on the handles, this representing the final buffing and polishing.  The completed work is sprayed with clear lacquer to help protect them and diminish tarnishing and corrosion.

Engineering Department

Rich Witt is examining the shaft for the cut off saw in our old tenoning machine.  This is the one originally purchased by the Illinois Terminal Railroad and used in their Decatur shops.  Rod Turner has cleaned it up on the lathe in preparation for new babbit bearings to be poured and fitted in a month from now.  Prep work for more window restoration continued (CA&E 36) and then Rich turned to design and fabrication of a die and jig to bend new sheet metal for repairs on our B&O wagon top boxcar.

Speaking of which, the heat did not discourage Victor Humphreys from working outdoors on that all day.  Rod Turner assisted and more rust out areas on the side were cut out and prepped for new patches.

Rear Window

Lorne Tweed is providing some needed help to complete window installation on CTS 4223, our PCC car form Cleveland.  He is working inside the car to clean old paint from the frame areas, and prime the raw metal, prior to fitting glass.

Welding

Mike Alterio is welding new steel repair patches to the sides of the B&0 wagontop boxcar.  Victor Humphreys cut and prepared the new metal, but installing them proved to be a challenge.

New Siding

Tim Peters is installing new tongue and groove siding near one end of CRT 1797, the wood L car he is restoring.  I suppose you could say this was exsiding (exciting) to see.  It is always amazing to see the fast progress and careful work on this car.

Running Boards

Pete Galayda has completed installing the new hood running boards on the west end of Charles City Western 300, one of our steeple car electric locomotives.

Dover Strait

Meanwhile, by Barn 3 the Dover Strait is sunning itself outdoors.  All of the equipment on Track 31 has been pulled from the Barn to allow for replacement of track.  Gene Mackowiak is needlechipping decades of dried gunk and rust from the truck frames, while Bob Hunter follows closely behind applying new black paint.

I am going to post this in the wood shop category since all the pics show work in the Barn 4 shops.  Yes, there is some wood work being done along the way.

Tarp Blocks

John Faulhaber has cut a number of wood blocks to be used on tarps for our B&O boxcar project.  We are struggling mightily with a contractor to make a milestone leap forward on the project and are trying to be prepared for when (AND IF) he shows up.

The Tie That Binds

Toward the end of the day the blocks had been cut and drilled and Rich Witt was practicing tying knots and anchoring yellow rope to each block.

North Shore 757

John McKelvey is well along on the next seat back being re-upholstered for the North Shore 757.

CAE 36

Rich Witt continued on refinishing some windows for the CA&E 36, and was helped out in the afternoon by Fred Zimmerman.  Fred had worked in the morning with Frank Sirinek on the Vera Cruz 19 open car.

West Towns 141

Speaking of Frank Sirinek, he looks on while Vince Alterio and father, Mike, are threading a rod needed to be fabricated from scratch for the door linkage on the Chicago & West Towns 141.