Freight Car Department

Priming

Paul Cronin is priming the many new boards for the interior lining, cut and sized in the shop last Wednesday.

The Flanger

It did not matter that the skies were gray and promised some drizzle.  Ray Pollice is sheltered from it as he operates a needle scaler attacking the flanger blade.

Will It Fit

Over the winter season we constructed two new doors for the plow.  Victor Humphreys and Jim Leonard are checking to see how it fits.

Yes It Does

There were a few trims and cuts to perfect the door into the opening, but minor really, in the scheme of things.  Victor and Jim hoisted it up into the plow body more than once and here are enjoying the view out the window.

The string of two consecutive good weather workdays was broken yesterday with intermittent rain, some of it heavy.  So we worked in the shop and inside the plow body.

Framing

Buzz Morisette was in the shop fabricating and shaping new framing timbers for the cab cupola on the plow.  Most of the wood around the windows and sills was rotted and will be replaced.

Priming

Dave Rogan worked inside the cupola between downpours and needlechipped and wire brushed a lot of the steel.  In an afternoon dry spell he is applying primer here, and then the temporary window blanks were re-installed to help keep it dry.

Lining

Victor Humphreys and I fussed with the next piece of lining inside the plow.  For some reason it was troublesome to fit into place.  I bet we went through five fits and they gave us fits.  Each time the wood notches seemed to expand (high humidity?) to prevent the piece from slipping in cleanly.

To the Corner

With the long piece installed below the side window, Victor quickly marched up the wall toward the right front corner.  These are some of the pieces measured and cut last weekend and now ready for nailing.

Looking Ahead

Paul Cronin is just completing the last of 32 more new pieces of interior lining and framing for the plow body.  Whoever arrives first on Saturday will have some painting ready for them!

Control Cupola

Buzz Morisette is up inside the control cab as we try to re-engineer how all the windows, sills, and stops will go together.  Note that much of this was totally useless and rotted away.  He is holding up one of the original windows for size and placement

Ceiling Lettering

Before too much dismantling was done to replace the bad parts, Buzz took many pictures to help document the areas.  Kind of unusual to find instructions painted on the ceiling - but here it is.

Center Front

Left Front

Right Front

Here is an experiment in formatting so you may see the front of the cab by stitching together the three views.  The left front view shows faint traces of more lettering; the right front view shows "EMERGENCY VALVE" stenciled in red. Lots of piping, electrical, gauges - most of which will have to be removed to replace the spongy wood behind them.

Step One

A lot of the work is now started with removal of the window post and corner posts on the left side.  Look closely and you will see the empty mounting holes in the steel members.  And what a scenic view out the window!  Freight cars, of course - that is our department.

Look Closely

This view looks downward at the left front corner.  the wood has been removed to the bare steel framing.  And another trace at the very top of this image of more lettering and flaky paint - we figured this one out - but not without some headscratching and creative railroad archeology.