Freight Car Department

SEE THE MAGIC HAPPEN!!

After a summer of brutally hot weather the temperatures seem to have become more moderate.  The past few months the car work has continued although the order of certain tasks had to change to protect the health of the volunteers.  Body repairs continued in the form of removing rust, cleaning old paint, repairing dents and dings, repairing the interior car floor, emptying the car of much stored equipment, cutting away rust outs, fabricating new steel panel plugs, welding them in, grinding, installing new rivets, and prime painting.

If you were to walk by the car, much of this progress might not be noticed except by a very detailed look by a trained observer.

The Magic

But the day dawned clear and Victor Humphreys was on hand early in the day, cleaned and wiped down sides, and in short order the first finish paint was being applied to the south side of the car.  It was an almost instant transformation from an ugly duckling to a swan of princely stature.

Third Panel

Three of the panels on that side were painted with the correct finished color and the effect is spectacular, and gratifying to see the work.  Thank you Victor for being the champion on this project and doing much of the work yourself.

As mentioned previously, the weather was good, and we had a good sized crew for the project.

Sanding

Dave Rogan and Jim Leonard started the day by setting up the scaffold and sanding down the maroon paint applied two weeks ago.  Just one of the necessary steps before applying the second coat of the finish paint.

Painting

Victor Humphreys took over and we now have smoother shiny maroon on all that area.

Rear Window

The new rear window sill was installed, and new molding added for stop jambs on the top and each side of the opening.  Jim Leonard is adding the last one here.  The temporary plywood blank was cut down and installed and for now this opening will live that way through the winter.

South Door

Dave Rogan needlechipped below the south door opening.  It got primed and then they moved on to fitting the steel threshold.  That may involve a little more than we first thought.  Dave did some more neddlechipping on the rear wall and Fred Ash also helped out there for awhile.

A Frame Up

Jim Leonard is fitting into place and bolting in new framing timber for the window on the north side.  The rough timbers had been planed and sized previously, now to make them conform to the exact needs.  Rich Witt helped manning the shop drill presses and boring and counterboring the needed holes 'on demand'.  All four were installed at the end of the day.

The Nose

As soon as one task was done, the volunteers were ready and eager to move to the next.  Soon, we hope to finish cleaning the rear wall and some work got done on that today.  But as soon as the finish paint was being applied to the north side, we did not think it was a good idea to work right next to that operation.  So, the crew moved forward to the nose and began more needlechipping and wire brushing on the wedge face and knife metal.  It also helped reduce the noise in the rear areas where other work was being done on the plow.