Freight Car Department

Here is a short review and tour of one of our tank cars, restored perhaps over 20 years ago.

Switch Move

Tank car?  I don't see any tank car.  Yet this often the first step in any work at IRM.  US Army 8537 is lugging a string of cars out of Yard 14 so that the subject car can be pulled to a better location.  A great example of how IRM works and how it preserves so many aspects of railroad history.  This could have been a period photo from decades ago, in countless locations.

Left Side

The left side of the tank shows the DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE lettering on the silver tank car body with black trim.  The car was used to haul heating oil and possibly other petroleum based cargoes to air bases and defense silos during the height of the cold war era.  I will guess this would have carried heavy oil products, since the car is equipped with interior piping and heating coils to thin and liquify a heavy product.

Warning

There is lettering on the right side of the tank defining an AAR warning.

Dome

Here is the dome with it long string of lettering.  You can see that decades of outdoor storage has resulted in the upper areas of the dome and tank suffering mightily from sun and weather.

Right Side

The right side of the tank has much lettering and info, most of it mandated by RULE for cars in interchange service.

Tank End

The end had the standard array of lettering containing the reporting marks, capacity, and other data.

COTS

For this era, of the restoration, a set of consolidated lube stencils were used.

As shown above the car has suffered from being stored outdoors, setting us up to doing another restoration of what was once COMPLETE.  The car is on our short list to repaint and I expect it may yet see some significant 'wear and tear' in the coming weeks.  If we are to repaint and letter it yet again, should not we work to store it indoors so the work will last?  Yes this is the commercial asking for donations to fund R12661.  Thanks in advance.

Just a short note to explain the lack of new posts.  I know many look for and read these, and I appreciate the support.  I am involved at IRM in two major efforts and it is basically a dawn to dusk effort for me for the past several days.  I have been taking some pics so prepare for several long posts in a week or two when we 'get over the hump'.  (NO WE ARE NOT BUILDING A HUMP!!)  Add to that computer problems generated by software upgrades.  UGH!!

Bob Kutella

The weather was not the best but the crew soldiered on through some periods of drizzle.

Under the Roof

Jim Leonard was up in the bucket truck and working under the front roof overhang.  That surface was previously needlechipped and now it was more overhead work.  Jim wirebrushed large ares of this steel in the morning.  I bet his arms were hanging heavy by lunchtime.

Priming

And Jim followed through on the job with prime painting up there.  Nick Rindt finished needlechipping some more area on the right side plow wing, and that also got primed.

Operators Seat

Victor Humprheys painted some more finish gray in the cab cupola in the morning and here we see Buzz Morisette wrestling with the restored operators seat on the right side.  Not much room to work up there, and not much room to stage a good photo.

Ready To Go

The seat is in, and most of the cab painted.  Victor Humphreys is enjoying this setting as though they were ready to pull out for plow duty.  Come out Saturday for our open house from 1-3 pm and place yourself in the spotlight.  Paul Cronin and Kirk Warner tested the operation and both wings work.  Paul and Kirk also did some blacksmith work by straightening a floor mounting plate for one of the flanger cylinder rods.

Pipe Dreams

We will close this entry with the last of the small diameter piping that had to be removed to allow the new windows to be installed.  Here is a gauge branch tee, two sets of window defoggers, and the whistle valve and piping.