Wood Shop

Here are some quick images of work in the wood shop yesterday.  There was a lot more work going on on other projects, but little opportunity for me to record them.  The theme topic for today - WINDOWS!

New Wood

Roger Kramer worked all day in the wood shop, and brought some nice mahogany to the party.  He hopes to get many new windows fabricated in the shop this winter.

Parts

Roger processed those large slabs of wood into many smaller parts, destined to become rails and stiles for passenger car windows in IC 3996.  There are examples of three very different windows on the bench here.  Can you guess where these are from?  Regular readers here should have no trouble with this pop quiz.

Windows

Simon Harrison works to clean and refurbish aluminum framed windows for CTS 4223.  He and Lorne Tweed were kept busy all day on this and several other aspects of this ongoing project.

More Windows

Rich Witt began finish painting of several new windows that the shop made for Norfolk and Western 2050.  Yes, we work on Steam Projects also.

Window Templates

Victor Humphreys is working on cardboard templates for new cab windows for the N&W 2050.  John Faulhaber helped and I made a few trips to the locomotive also.  These are the rather odd shaped hinged windows facing forward from the engineer's and fireman's sides of the cab.  This is going to be TRICKY!

Polishing

Randy Hicks, famous for his own IRM news website, was caught at the wire wheel cleaning up a hanger form CA&E 319

Trolley Base

Well, you cannot see it in this image but Dave Fullarton is working to bring some trolley bases back to life.  The eventual use is to see them mounted on the roof of our CTA 2000 series rapid transit cars.

Re Paint

Last year this car, CRT 1268, was debuting its new restoration.  Already, Tim Peters cannot leave it alone.  Here he is repainting or touching up the inevitable scuffs and bruises.

Roof Work

It was uncharacteristically warm yesterday and windy!!  But in the shelter of Barn 4 Tim Peters was again working to complete the roof of CRT 1797.  Two grab irons have been mounted and here, a copper flashing rain gutter is being added.

New Siding

George Clark has been painting new siding for LSE 810 as described in earlier BLOG posts.  Here we see the first coat of orange.

New Feeder

Despite high winds and overcast skies, Max Tyms was up in the air on the line truck.  He installed about 400-500 feet of heavy new feeder eastward from the end of Barn 4.

Get a Jump on Spring

Every spring we experience a rush and crush to inspect and maintain our electric cars.  It was pretty smart of Joel Ahrendt to begin work now on Illinois Terminal 415.

New Rope

Joel, Dan Fenlaciki, and Greg Kepka are installing a new rope on the west end of IT 415.

More Roof Work

Jeff Brady is up on the scaffold doing some very complicated woodwork on the Michigan Electric 28.  Tricky business to be sure, made more so as the new slats come down the side of the end roof.

Going Going Gone

Buzz Morisette sent this recent photo of our wood sided gondola, C&WI 1185.  Several years ago I presented a motion to de-accession this car as it was clearly beyond our resources to save.  This was resoundingly rejected by the membership saying this was too valuable a piece of history.  Apparently not too valuable, since not a single dollar of support came in the form of new donations.

Well, it appears mother nature has resolved the issue.  The car is in such poor condition I do not think any significant piece is intact enough to use as a pattern, assuming someone has the time and money to build a replica.  I say replica, since no one can argue that it can be restored.

If we were smart, we should write it off as a lost cause, a case of benign neglect, before someone gets hurt.  I think that it will be necessary to dismantle what is left where it sits, doubting that it can be coupled to a locomotive and moved without collapsing.

But maybe something good can come of this.  FIRST, there remain other wood bodied cars outdoors, rotting away, and needing donations to place them in the next Barn.  And SECOND, can we make a case that since this car has paid TRACK SPACE, can we transfer that paid up account to one of our newer acquisitions, like our MILW covered hopper, or six dome tank car?

Windows

I bet you are getting tired of seeing this caption over and over again.  But here, Tim Peters has a whole stack of windows being worked on, and which will see installation in CRT 1797.  Behind him is a new 'invention' that will allow Tim to basically paint both sides of a single sash at the same sitting.  It is amazing how productive the volunteers are, and how they squeeze every cent of value from every dollar spent.

Signs of the Times

Not of this time exactly but of new signs being painted for the Passenger Car Department, to be used in our Rock Island coaches.  John Faulhaber is doing one, and I am doing the other.  See me?  Right behind the camera?