Wood Shop

Today will be a series of short posts - lots going on with MANY projects.

Sign Frame

Henry Vincent has designed and is building a substantial frame toward displaying a vintage Pennsylvania photo mural.

Trimming

Rich Witt assists Henry in trimming off a ragged edge on the mural.  This had been stored and moved for many years at IRM and some damage resulted from the handling.  Volunteer Bill Leiter has promised to use his graphic arts experience to help restore some of the damaged areas.

Canvasing

I know this is a poor image but a tough environment to get a better one.  Tim Peters and Frank Sirinek spent most of the day stretching and tacking down new canvas on the roof of wood car CRT 1979.

Siding

Henry Vincent and Gerry Dettloff spent part of the afternoon installing new siding on Lake Shore Electric 810.

Lettering Class

A change of pace, as we are working on signs for our Rock Island commuter cars.  You see here an original window sign, a new black blank ready for lettering, and a new stencil to be used to transfer the pattern.

CAE 36

No, this is not the same window you have been seeing the past weeks.  Rich Witt is restoring yet another window for this old wood bodied car.  Come on out and help, there are plenty left!

Upholstery

John Mc Kelvey has a smile on his face as he recovers the last of the large two person seat backs for North Shore 757

NP 230

The Wednesday Special Projects Group enjoyed another late fall day of pleasant weather.  Lee Regione applies some dark green paint to the end.

Needle Chipping

Joe Luciani is up on the scaffold removing layers of old paint on CGW 4160.  These pneumatic tools are variously referred to as a needle chipper, needle scaler, or, in this case, if you heard the noise, a NEEDLE GUN!

Here are some pics I got while doing work on another MAJOR restoration project.  I am holding that story until the end is in sight.

The Old Saw

Tim Peters was on our large band saw running stock for roof parts for CRT 1797.  Each of these panels has to be custom cut to fit the sags and droops in the carbody roof.  Tim explained that this car was originally built as a trailer, and when converted to a motor car, the weight of the current collection equipment on the roof probably led to some 'settling' of the structure.

Fancy Work

And he followed cutting those new panels for the outside of the clerestory area, on to the bench for painting.  I should note that these were being cut last week, and by today, they were primed, painted, and being installed on the car.  Maybe we should set up a time lapse camera in the barn, and shoot the record of his fine work.

Stoned

No, not an early winter snowdrift, but about 100 TONS of new stone ballast piled at the east end of Barn 3.  We have previously reported progress on the project to replace virtually all of Track 31, and the track guys are doing a great job.  Next on the list - to place all this stone on the new track inside Barn 3; then jack, level, and tamp it.  Anyone got a shovel??