Wood Shop

I guess the monsoon season is over for a while since we had another clear day.  But it was HOT!  When I left it was 95 F and some suburbs reporting at 98 F.  Add to that we had intermittent power outages from Com Ed restricting what work we could do.  In the morning, outages limited shop compressed air for work on cars, and car inspections, three phase motors in the wood shop were out, some of the diner and restrooms were without power.

Inspections

In Freight Department News, another five cars were brought over to track 41 for their annual inspections and lubrication.  These included GATX 75470, IRCX 1277, RI 19135, UP 3786, and URTX 26640.  It was brutally hot in the afternoon and the hardy souls who did this work should have earned a few days off, or at least a cold shower!

Records

Paul Cronin led the inspection team including working on the switch crew that brought the cars over and put them away at night.  Here he is completing some of the recordkeeping and paperwork.  He was assisted by Simon Harrison and John Faulhaber.  Anyone seeing these in operation should send a thank you their way.  I do not know how they did it without more cooling breaks.

Now That is a BOX

Without any fuss or ado, Rich Witt is quietly going about the business of completing the replica first aid boxes he has been making.  He was adding hinges and latches today so we are within sight of the goalposts.

Bucket List

It is very popular today to talk about your life BUCKET LIST.  Is bucket work on it?  Jim Leonard is up there priming the frame channel on the end of the roof on our Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.  He and Dave Rogan soldiered on most of the day with nowhere near enough breaks.

New Windows

Here are some new windows on the north side of the plow, installed this week by Buzz Morisette.  Now, both sides have these in place.

A Glazed Look

Victor Humphreys installed the new window glass in the snowplow door that we have been working on.  Brian Patterson was walking by and he stopped to check out a new trim strip we were fitting.

Ramp

Henry Vincent and Brian Patterson were making an access ramp to bridge the gap from our elevated walkways in Barn 3 to one of our passenger cars.  The reason?  Read on.

Mens Lavatory

We have a special chartered tour group that will be walking through the Great Northern John McLoughlin Pullman car.  It is very much a work in progress and here Brian is showing us the Men's Lavatory.  This is a 1929 8-1-2 car which was built for the original launch of the EMPIRE BUILDER, a name train which survives today with AMTRAK.

Open Sections

The "8" in the car layout description is for eight open section Pullman sleeping accommodations.  This is what would greet you as you entered the car.  The facing seats on each side of the aisle would make up into a lower berth at night, and the curved sections of a sort of ceiling above that seating would fold down to create an upper berth.  I wish displays like this could be open all the time, but it takes some planning and volunteer effort.  We need to thank Foreman Roger Kramer for the work and opening the car, and Brian for his work to make it accessible and safe.

This post will cover a lot of ground and a lot of projects, not strictly like the winter work centered in the woodshop

On the Pit

Aging

I suppose some will consider this preaching, but hopefully preaching to the converted.  On the left is CNS&M 749 over our Barn 4 pit for inspections and maintenance.  It was painted and lettered a handful of years ago, and has enjoyed Barn Space.  It looks as good as the day it was completed. Clean, sparkling, and glossy.  On the right is a shot of one of our Rock Island coaches, also painted and restored in the last ten years or so.  The paint job is weathered, dull, spotty, chalky, and the carefully applied lettering has all but disappeared.  I bet you will come to the same conclusion I did - that the best investment we can make is to protect the equipment under roof inside Barns.  We cannot afford to start doing things twice.

A Polecat

Maybe I left a space out on the above caption.  What I meant was that Randy Hicks is a hard working 'cat', here working on restoring two trolley poles (a pole cat) for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36.

Roof Priming

The next series of pics will focus on the good progress made on Chicago Great Western X 38, our Russell snowplow.  Bill Peterson withstood the unusually sunny day and scrubbed a lot more paint from the roof, and is seen here closing the deal by applying primer.

More Priming

Victor Humphreys continues with the priming theme working on the truck sideframes and flanger blade of the X 38.  Ray Pollice finished cleaning the last of the rust and paint from half the blade earlier in the day.

New Sills

Buzz Morisette worked to custom make some new window sills for the X 38 early in the day.

Windows Without Sills

Buzz moved out into the heat and was working in the cab/cupola of the X 38 to prepare the framing and openings for the sills he made earlier.  Note the north end of Bill Peterson facing south as he continues priming the roof.

Plow Side Door

Victor and I continue the exercise to hang the first new door in the X 38 plow body.  Should be simple, right?  Well, needless to say a lot of fussing and adjustments although now looking good and ready for glazing.  We also finished the interior lining on what is now the south side of the plow body.

Wired

Eric Lorenz made a milestone step forward by routing and installing a lot of the interior wiring in the front end of Cleveland Transit System 4223.

Boxes

And Rich Witt continues on his mission to make several replica First Aid Boxes for the CA&E cars.  A few weeks ago there was an incomprehensible pile of odd looking pieces of wood.  Now it becomes clear as the boxes and their hinged covers take shape.

New Arrival

I guess we should start with a TEASE.  On Tuesday we had a new arrival all wrapped up for under the Christmas Tree.  Any guesses on its identity?  Hints include that it was built east of the Mississippi River 99 years ago.  When I left Wednesday, another car was loaded and on the road.  More to come this week?  YES!!

Department Work

A freight train on a Wednesday!  Thanks to crew work by JIM WEST and PAUL CRONIN, the cars shown here were dug out of storage and on the move to Track 41 for maintenance and inspections. 

And the Work

Now on Track 41 where a crew of Paul Cronin, Dave Rogan, Simon Harrison and Victor Humphreys went over them with a fine tooth comb.  These cars were approved for operations and you will likely see them on two different assignments before the end of the month.

Up in the Air

For a change we had a sunny day on a Wednesday and Dave Rogan was in the bucket truck needlechipping while Jim Leonard did the same on the roof of Chicago Great Western X 38.  Progress with several areas cleaned and primed by the end of the day.

On the Other End

Dick Cubbage worked on the other end up on the roof to wire brush and clean up an area previously chipped free of paint.

Trolley Bases

Randy Hicks was in the shop fairly late in the day priming two trolley bases.  If I know Randy, these will soon be painted and on the roof of one of the wood cars in our CA&E collection.

Getting Bent

John Faulhaber and Gerry Dettloff bent two pieces of milled tack molding and the process took several weeks of soaking and then drying in forms.  With the pieces free of the restraints, they were fitting and trimming them to be soon mounted on the ends of Lake Shore Electric 810.

Caboose Work

Several weeks ago you saw reports of a wheel change on ICG 199458 steel caboose.  It has been relocated to Yard 5 and now our Wednesday Special Projects crew is on the move to clean up the interior, scrape, prime, and repaint it.