Entries by Ray Schmid

Roof slats, roof slats, and more roof slats….

Since the Northern Illinois mosquito population decided to hold a meeting in Barn 4 last Saturday, Jeff Brady and Ray Schmid thought it would be better to avoid them by working on cutting the ME 28 roof slats in the woodshop.  Between the high humidity, heat, and the numerous mosquitoes, it was a good decision.

Jeff planned ahead and brought out enough five foot basswood planks to create all the thin roof slats required to cover the car ends with two layers.  We needed to produce over 300 slats.   This was a slow process to begin since you do not want to rush the table saw setup or you will have 300 unusable slats with the wrong dimensions.  But, once the setup was verified, Jeff and Ray stayed at it all day making the saw dust fly. 

Pictured below: Jeff setting up the table saw.  Ray and Jeff making the first cuts.

Pictured below: Jeff measuring the thickness of the thin slat.  Jeff holding up the first good roof slat only 300 more to go!

By day’s end, the count was nearing 250+ slats. 

Additional time was taken to clean-up the Woodshop and put away all the tooling and finished slats.   The remaining slats will be cut next week. 

Pictures by Ray Schmid    

There has been a lot of hot news this summer concerning the ME 28.  Mainly because this summer has been so hot.  Working on the roof of the car in a hot car barn has slowed our progress somewhat.  The good news this week is that we are about to fasten down the last roof panel.  It could have been completed this Sunday, but after fastening one curved panel Norm Krentel and Ray Schmid were feeling the effects from the heat.  Even using a fan didn’t seem to help as the temperature in the car barn reaches 100+ degrees on the ME 28’s roof.  So by mid-afternoon it was time for Norm and Ray to go into the woodshop to cool down.  The remaining center panel was cut to fit and just needs to be screwed down next Sunday to officially finish the roof panel installation. 

Pictured below - Norm (top) and Ray working to finish the roof panels.

Next is the fabrication and installation of the basswood strips to create the curved end portions of the front and rear roof ends.  Two layers of wood strips cut and nailed to fit will replicate what was created by St. Louis Car Company when the car was built in 1913.  Jeff Brady has been working to prepare the carlines to properly contour the basswood strips as they are bent over the ends.  Next week the process to ready the strips for installation will begin.  We are all planning to have the roof ends completed and ready for canvas before winter.

Pictured below - Jeff shapes the end carlines.

Work on the Michigan Electric Co. car 28 continues.  The usual Sunday team is continuing to work on the rear platform of the car.  The team consists of Norm Krentel, Jeff Brady, and Ray Schmid.  This Sunday we were joined by Dan Fenlaciki.   This winter the ME 28 team has been actively working on the interior of the car’s rear platform to finish it in preparation for a new floor.  This week's tasks were focused on installing the two traps that cover the left-hand and right-hand steps leading up into the rear platform.  The picture below shows the newly painted and installed right-hand trap latched in the up position.  The trap was installed by Jeff and Ray. 

In service, these traps were operated by the conductor to allow passengers access to the car.  Since this is a single-ended car, the front has a baggage compartment and thus has no traps and passenger steps.  The traps are normally latched in the down position along with closed side doors when the car is in motion.  When closed, the traps provide additional interior floor space over the steps and seal out the weather.  When in a station, the traps are latched in the up position for passengers to enter or leave the car.  On Friday, March 18^th, Ray Schmid painted the two traps green so that they would have time to dry before Sunday's installation.  In the picture below the left-hand trap is closed to cover the steps leading into the car.  In the future, the top of the trap will be covered with a ribbed rubber mat. 

In the pictures below the right-hand trap has been installed and Jeff Brady is aligning the trap seats so that the trap is level when closed.  Not shown, Norm Krentel was enlarging a bolt hole for the left-hand trap seat.  The trap will latch to the seat when in the down position so it does not open while the car is in motion.  Note that when “up” the traps do not latch to the side doors like in the North Shore cars.  The traps latch directly to the bulkhead, while the side door swings inward toward the rear of the car where it latches to a receptacle mounted near the top of the rear window.  An interesting feature of this design is that the rear train door and the left-hand side door both share the same latching receptacle near the top of the left rear window.  Only one of these two doors can be held open at a time.  This was not a problem for the conductor because normally the rear train door would remain closed during a station stop when the side door would need to be held open using the one receptacle.

#1 Standing on the steps

#2 - Looking down on the trap opening

Not shown, Dan Fenlaciki was busy in the wood shop polishing the numerous window lifts that will be mounted to the restored side sashes in the future.  Thanks Dan!

Next week’s activity will be focused on installing the rear train door threshold.  Also, preparations for resuming work on the roof.

All pictures taken by Ray Schmid.