Wood Shop

I do not think I can compete with the Steam Shop news posted by Nigel Bennet, and in any event the turnout of volunteers was lower than recent weeks.  Perhaps due to the evening event scheduled.  On the down side we now have torn sandpaper on two of the three drums on our Berlin Sander and work will have to commence at once to dismantle the machine and replace the media.  Can it be done in a day?

Many to Go

With the Berlin out of service we moved to Plan B, that to continue milling stock for new roof boards for Michigan Electric 28.  Paul Cronin and Bill Peterson are set up run all those slats through the shaper, and that is only PART of them.

Done

WHEW!  Over 100 pieces done with new grooves milled to match the tongue side.  Bill and Paul look as proud as new parents.  Maybe that is only the relief at completing the shaper work on the third similar shop order in the last month.  Three differing profiles totaling about 2000 linear feet.

End View

Here is what they look like, each only two inches wide.  But there was still one more operation since these are to installed above the curved carlines on the roof and need to fit together closely.  Just as the carbuilders did, we ran than all through the table saw to create an 8.5 degree bevel undercut on the groove side.

Stacking Off

Finally Paul and Bill stack off the completed work for the last time.  You would not think that too hard a job, but it gets old and tiresome when every day starts by picking up the over one hundred pieces and now for the last time, stacking off the completed stock.

Locks

Victor Humphreys and Bill are pawing through the BUCKET-O-LOCKS to pick out door hardware for the new Chicago Great Western X 38 doors.

Glass

Victor measured and cut some glass for the new CGW X 38 windows and here shows that off to to Bill and Paul.

Second Door

Tim Peters was working on the second door to be restored for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  How many doors are there on that one car?  Maybe FOUR I can count right now.

Lamp Sockets

Keith Letsche was repairing lamp sockets for the 1024.  That includes cleaning the many layers of paint, inspecting, and repairing as needed.

Lamp Bases

On a different bench Bill Wulfert, now becoming known as the King of Lamps, was doing many of the same operations to a production line of lamp bases.

Molding

Finally, here is a picture of molding produced by the Pullman plant over 100 years ago.  Two similar types are found in many places throughout the 1024 and of course, nothing even close is contemporary today.  It presents several challenges to make and will require special tooling to be ground for our machines.  All of those steps may take several weeks so it is timely to start contacting suppliers now.

And in the wood shop area, as is our custom, we produced a lot of sawdust and chips.  Production is at such a high level, the collection barrel needs to be emptied more than once every day the machines are running.

Painting

Victor Humphreys is our 'go to guy' for painting and he does a fine job.  Here are the new cupola cab windows for Chicago Great Western X 38 getting the first coat of maroon.

Fitting

Dave Rogan does careful work in fine tuning the mortise and tenon joints for the second CGW X 38 door.  We make it a practice to completely assemble and dry fit the door before gluing, and on occasion, fine adjustments need to be made.

Worth It

And at the end of the day it is worth it.  The second door is in the glue press curing as Dave makes a final check.  The first door  is done to this stage and can be seen in the background.

Trimming

John Faulhaber and Rich Witt are trimming a new roof board for the Lake Shore Electric 810.  The new boards are being installed from the top down towards the tack molding. 

Sanding

John is on the belt sander now making the final fit fpr this piece.  Nothing ever comes out exactly perfect when working on an eighty year old car body, so the last piece is a custom work of art.

Results Count

And here is the car, outside in Barn 4.  Three or four rows of roof boards are done, and the new tack molding has been installed.  Wednesday morning it was about plus 7 F and these guys were on the scaffold first thing.  At least they were out of the wind!

Door Repair

Henry Vincent has completed the new pieces for the repair on this door for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36.  He has moved forward and is sanding old paint off, and preparing the mating surfaces for new finish before final assembly. 

Speaking in Tongues

Well, more properly, speaking OF tongues.  A good sized crew worked again throughout the day on new roof boards for Michigan Electric 28.  I think the goal is for something in excess of 1200 linear feet to be made.  That is not a trivial effort.  Here are the first boards off the shaper showing the new tongues.

Crew

Paul Cronin is acting as catcher getting the stock as it comes off the shaper, and Buzz Morisette is feeding the machine.  Not the only two working this project, others helped, but were not in this image.  Jeff Brady and Norm Krentel were outside in the barn, working on the top roof sheathing.

Progress was also made with the new Boston & Maine windows - beading, planing, and ripping.

A very busy day in the shop Saturday and a lot of hands at work!

Plow Door

Work continued apace on the second new door for Chicago Great Western X 38.  John Faulhaber did a lot of the fussy work of fitting the joints and I pitched in when I had some free time.  The second door is ready for assembly and glue up.

Jointing

The BIG job of the day, volume wise and manpower wise was making stock for new roof boards for Michigan Electric 28.  So you will see a lot of pics of those steps.  The goal is to have about 1200 linear feet of stock sized and planed for milling a tongue and groove on each piece.  Henry Vincent, Paul Cronin, and Buzz Morisette got the ball rolling by running the remaining rough boards through the jointer to make one edge true and straight.  I should note that Paul Cronin had knee replacement surgery a little over four weeks ago and he is back in the shop working.  TWO THUMBS UP for Paul!

Ripping Done

All the wide boards were cut to the needed two inch wide strips and Paul, Bill Peterson, Henry, and Buzz were stacking them completed around midday.  But these guys are like the EverReady bunny, they just will not stop.  They were ready for MORE!

Planing

So we have this stack of something over 100 pieces of stock and the next step is to plane to about 7/16 inch thickness.  Buzz, Henry, Paul and Bill took on that task.  It is fairly simple if you have two or four pieces, but 100?  A lot of handling and the consideration of where do you stack it up along the process.

Planing

Buzz and Henry were feeding the stock, and Paul and Bill were acting as catchers.  Every 15 minutes or so an intermission was called.  We have a pretty good system to collect the dust and chips.  But you have to watch the collection barrel and make sure it gets emptied!

Second Wind

Henry and Buzz continue feeding the planer while Greg Kepka pitched in moving and staging still more stock to feed that voracious machine.

Second Pass

Still these guys wanted more.  Paul and Henry are at the infeed end of the planer for the second and final pass to produce the finished 3/8 inch thickness.  Bill and Greg are at the outfeed end acting as catchers.

The Result

Whew! With all that done, now what do we do with it?  Bill, Henry, and Paul are stacking off the finished work while others help to clean up the work area near the planer.  A BIG job DONE!  With much of the center stage area of the wood shop and its machines busy, that did not mean all the other work stopped.  You merely had to take a number and wait your turn.

Windows

Rich Witt was measuring and laying out cuts on new beautiful mahogany stock for the Boston & Maine windows we are making.  That got processed and is ready for the next step.

Fittings

Tim Peters filled some of his time waiting for machines to be available by cleaning and wire brushing some castings needed in the next steps for rebuilding a door for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.

The Skin

Then Tim was back on the saw with a tricky set up for slicing a thin skin of quarter sawn white oak to be applied to one of the stiles on the above door.  The skin was not particularly loud but the nearby planer was still howling away, thus the ear protection.  Either that or he thought it was cold in the shop and likes warm ears.

PCC Cars

Two of our PCC cars saw more work.  Frank Sirinek and Mike Stauber were in the shop stripping old paint and cleaning interior panels and trim for the Kansas City Public Service PCC car.

Cleveland Too

Lorne Tweed and Eric Lorenz continue work on the Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  They claim they were involved in some planning and engineering work, but it looks to me more like something shady was being discussed as I caught them in the act with some drawings and plans.