We were all happy to see Al Reinschmidt visit the shop. Al is a long time member, volunteer, supporter, booster, and worker in many of our missions. Circumstances have curtailed his participation but he managed a visit yesterday to the delight of many, and got updated on many of the projects.
Simon Harrison resumed work on our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car. Here is one of the salvaged ceiling panels made of hardboard composition material. The goal is to preserve and use as many of these as possible. In the near corner you may see the first work in trying to sand off the many old layers of cracked and failing paint.
By the end of the day Simon has completed about 1/4 of the paint removal, and doing a very fine job. This is a new task so many techniques and tools were needed to see what was most effective. The panels are of a size that merely replacing them is not an option.
Henry Vincent and Pete Galayda have just succeeded in removing the arbor nuts and old saw blades on this double arbor table saw. One task at a time, Henry is doing well along the path to restoring this to operations and providing another tool in the restoration wood shop arsenal.
Now, on to the 'making sawdust' tasks, where I spent most of my time. All the following is for work on our Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.
John Faulhaber and Dave Rogan are slicing new 3/8 inch hardwood quarter round from stock on our table saw. We have to make this ourselves, it cannot be purchased from any of our suppliers. The process involves a sort of production line, setting up the router table to make a roundover profile, and then taking that stock to the saw to cut the piece free.
John Faulhaber, Jim Leonard, and Dave Rogan all were involved. Here they show off almost eighty lineal feet of completed moldings. That should be enough for the eight new cupola windows on the plow.
The next steps involve cutting tenons on the two rails for each window. Dave Rogan and Jim Leonard draw an audience - everybody is fascinated by work. There are about five distinct steps for producing the tenon, each requiring a different set up on the tools. And each pair of these new windows is a different size or shape. Tenons are now done on four sets of the parts.
As fast as the rails could be tenoned, John Faulhaber started the custom fitting of the parts for each one window. Haunch the tenon, trim to length and thickness, clean out and adjust the mortise, miter the beading. Times FOUR for each frame.
All of this does not happen by magic. Each window must be designed, drafted, and drawings created for the sawdust guys to make the cuts. Rich Witt is very reliable in this task and spent much of the day on the drawings. Sometimes we were pushing him hard to complete a set for one design, and the tools were put to use at once.
Comments
Fri, 03-29-2024 21:26
We're slackers and spend more time working on the equipment in the shop than keeping all you readers updated. We'll work on it, but I'm sure updates [...]
Thu, 03-14-2024 08:02
What happened to the Department Blog? It's been over 2 years and I still regularly check for updates, but nothing comes...
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]
Fri, 04-09-2021 19:56
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be [...]
Wed, 03-31-2021 11:37
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's [...]