Entries by Robert Kutella

New Window In

I was not too optimistic about outdoor work at IRM, after leaving home in the morning with about a half inch of ice and snow needing to be scraped and thawed off the automobile.  By mid morning most of that had melted away, and in the afternoon Victor Humphreys took the challenge and he and I dared to open up the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.  As he said, we have been working in the shop all winter and both were beginning to suffer cabin fever.  Success.  The first of the new windows we made in the shop is complete and installed on the rear wall.  And the north side opening was opened up and the new window for that fitted into place, ready to install on the next fair weather day.

Roof Work

As Nigel mentioned in his report there were many members on hand but most shuttled back and forth to meetings (an annual ritual at IRM this time of year).  Here we see Ray Schmidt, Jeff Brady (hidden by Ray) and Bill Peterson working on the new roof for Michigan Electric 28.  If you look carefully you will see the new tongue and groove slats made in our shop going on the carline stringers.

A Big Door

This is the new door we are making for our station.  The extensions of the vertical stiles were trimmed off and then some more finish sanding by Victor.  At the left of this picture you will see John Faulhaber working on a new children's activity item at the request of Ray Bellock.

In Its Prime

In between other tasks Victor found time to add the first coat of primer to the door.  Not many steps left now - almost ready to deliver to our Buildings and Grounds Department.

Ceiling

Jim Leonard is making all the sawcuts for the last large ceiling panel for Cleveland Transit System 4223.

Wiring

Meanwhile out in the carbody for the 4223, Eric Lorenz continues the task of routing and running all new wiring.  Look at it all!  I wonder how he knows where it all goes?

The watchword for the day was - EYES ON THE SKY!  There were several waves of thunderstorms which resulted in four or five power outages in the shops.  Luckily none of the outages occurred when we were in the middle of a major operation on the machines - such as the Berlin Sander.  Lots of rain - SEVEN inches reported by some some towns in the last 24 hours and maybe 2-3 more today (Thursday).  Lots of puddles on the grounds and if one of them went up another 2 inches there would have been water coming in the shop.  At least one of our regular volunteers woke up at 3 AM to find 18 inches of water INSIDE his basement.  Lots of closures, flooding, and more rain in the area.

Berlin Sander

Dave Rogan, Paul Cronin, and Victor Humphreys are wrestling the heavy station door we recently made through the infeed end of the Berlin Sander.  This is a heavy complex machine but one which does a good job of finishing projects, achieving smooth and flat frames on doors and windows, results not easily possible by hand sanding.  The operation of this machine in recent months was almost always accompanied by some drama.

Outfeed

John Faulhaber joined the above crew at the outfeed end of the sander as we made pass after pass, checking after each one.  With the door done, we moved on to run the two new windows for Boston & Maine 1094 through the machine.

Ceiling Panel

We continue to have a pretty good sized weekday crew working on the Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  Paul Cronin and Dave Rogan are set up to try a fearsome looking circle cutter in a half inch drill motor to cut a hole in one of the new panels.

The Hole Thing

We were somewhat surprised the first hole went without incident and two more holes were completed in this panel.  Then some hand sanding and cleanup - finally primer applied to this by the end of the day.  There are many of these narrow panels needed, with holes to accept the bulls eye light fixtures.

Large Ceiling Panel

The project team had determined that most of the original panels, saved for many years, could not be restored.  So the first order of business is shown here as Lorne Tweed, Dave Rogan, and Simon Harrison remove blanking panels installed by Toronto.  Then on to trace exactly the length and width, and the openings in a new piece of stock.  Cut that out and then on to the next one.  Three completed this day.

STEAM

Yes, you are seeing Nigel Bennett of the Steam Department in our shop prime painting the many panels and parts for the 4223 almost as fast as we could make them.  Thanks Nigel, you are always welcome to volunteer to help out here.

At the Table Saw

Jeff Brady was caught in the act at the table saw as he made new wood repair parts for the roof work on Michigan Electric 28.  Norm Krentel was also on site and we saw a steady stream of panel goods leaving the storage shelves and making their way onto the roof.

Windows

Rich Witt was checking our first piece of steam bent window beading after the new round top windows for Boston & Maine 1094 came from the Berlin Sander.

Leaded Glass

Ted Anderson stopped by the shop to check on the windows.  Here, he and Rich are checking dimension for planned leaded glass to be made for these.  You will see copies of original Pullman drawings for these windows, those found in our Pullman Library and printed by Ted.  The wood shop work is about done on these as we completed trimming off the stile extensions and cutting the bevel on the bottom rail.

Grids

With all the start-stops caused by the spotty power, Paul Cronin managed to dis-assemble the failed grid box for Chicago Aurora and Elgin 36.  He sorted through the parts and cleaned up several grids on the wire wheel, those not too far gone or broken.

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.