Wood Shop

Door Assembly

The early morning job was to assemble and glue up the new station door we are making.  I am sure you are enjoying the images of the many steps and the drama we encountered.  Wait - I was up to my elbows in that so did not have a chance to take pics.  The door is all together and John Faulhaber and Victor Humphreys are setting it into place in our glue press - manufactured by GREENLEE in nearby Rockford in 1926.

Squared and Set

Once down on the press (Victor had previously set the clamping dogs and opened it up wide enough) we proceeded to square it up and added a few more bar clamps to help hold this large assembly together.  Do not ask them how heavy it is - they will gladly and quickly inform you of the answer!

Finish Paint

Randy Hicks stopped by the shop to check on some of the work we are doing for him.  Of course he could not resist picking up a paintbrush and applying the first finish coat of red to the end door of Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36.

Grids

Quick as a flash I found Randy and Paul Cronin working on a resistance box from CA&E 36.  Several grids are broken, one of the span rods is bent, and everything is coated with heavy rust.

Steam Bending

Jeff Brady had designed and set up some equipment to help him bend some of the wood for the new roof on Michigan Electric 28.  Here, he set it up for one of our projects and went on the train and explain how it is supposed to work.  Paul Cronin, John Faulhaber, and Rich Witt are ready to give it a try.

Load it Up

Rich Witt and Paul Cronin are loading one of the thin mahogany pieces of quarter round, made expressly for the new windows for Boston & Maine 1094.  After the required time under steam at low pressure, it was all hands to extract it (HOT! HOT!) and place it on our custom designed bending and clamping jig.

Wiring

Meanwhile Eric Lorenz continued to make good progress routing new wiring in Cleveland Transit System 4223.  The harnesses in the ceiling have reached the front end of the PCC.  Out in the shop we did a bit more work on the next set of metal interior ad panels, and have now started making new tempered hardboard panels for the reminder of the ceiling.

AERIAL VIEW

This is the west end of Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  A new piece of ash was made by Tim Peters and is in place on the roof.  You can see how repairs are being made, and the extent of deterioration in some places.  Tim gave me a ride up in the air using his electric lift so I could look down on his work.

Metal Fab

Jeff Brady is fabricating a metal splice plate as he and the rest of the crew (Norm Krentel and Bill Peterson) continue the roof work on Michigan Electric 28.

The Stile

Paul Cronin started making this new walnut stile for one of the passenger cars compartment doors that Roger Kramer is restoring.  We did the start of this last Wednesday and today did a lot mortising, routing, chiseling and fitting.

It Fits

Paul and Victor seem quite pleased that the book matched original walnut door panel fits right into place.  Roger Kramer was on hand for the work and also brought in an armload of mahogany window parts.  He and Rich Witt measured them all up and have a plan to make three more new windows for our heavyweight fleet.