Entries by Robert Kutella

I think I will split the Wednesday work into two reports this time, since we had a large and productive crew working almost exclusively on the Cleveland PCC.

Rear Interior Trim

Simon Harrison was taking no chances as he is geared up to removing old paint from a piece of sheet metal to go on the left rear interior of the PCC.

Preparation

There are a lot of old broken off screw stubs inside the PCC.  Dave Diaz took a turn at removing them, Simon did more in the afternoon.  We are doing that now as it will soon be time to mount more of the interior panels.

Out in the Barn

Out in the Barn on a workbench, Jim Leonard processed several of the curved ad card panels, removing dirt, rust, and paint from the back side of these.

Priming

As fast as they were cleaned, Jonathan Soucek was priming them, along with a sign box, and some of the other trim panels.

A Straight Shot

Many of these ad card panels suffered through years of storage and had some bent corners or other dings in them.  Dave Diaz did a very good job of taking all those out.

Wow

By the end of the day all these seven were primed, and three more, two other miscellaneous panels, and the sign box.

Door Panels

Rich Witt is working on the new solid panel inserts for a new station door.  We did a pretty good job machining them but go the extra mile to sand them out and get them ready for prime painting.

More Panels

Victor Humphreys is working on one of the long panels for the doors as in total some time had to be spent.  He is doing that in this image after glazing three more windows (new) for the Chicago Great Western X 38.

Jointing

Rich Witt is running some fresh mahogany stock through the jointer for the new round top windows for Boston & Maine 1094.

Routing

Then Rich and Paul Cronin passed the stock through the router and followed that up on the table saw to set the quarter round pieces 'free'.  We hope to try steam bending them on Wednesday and if successful, that will be the last of the parts needed for these two windows.

Puzzle Solved

A few more days of head scratching and it appears the puzzle is solved.  These are the ad card panels that will get cleaned and repainted to go inside Cleveland Transit System 4223.  As the arrangement grew one panel by one panel we were very optimistic until it seemed we were one short panel missing.  Where could it be, in storage, forgotten in some work area?  As luck would have it fate was on our side.  As we had given up and started to gather up the above display to return to shelving, we FOUND the missing panel sitting in an area separate from all the others.  Paul Cronin is in the background marking reference data so we will not have to solve this puzzle again.

Wiring

While the above drama was playing out on the shop floor, Eric Lorenz continued to make up harnesses and string cable through the ceiling ribs.  Later it would be very difficult to do this after more of the interior panels go in place.  Unintentional, but I really like the halo effect surrounding Eric's head here.

A Roof

We have all watched the work being done on Michigan Electric 28.  But it seems like all the preparation is paying off as Norm Krentel, Jeff Brady, and Bill Peterson were installing panels at seemingly warp speed.  There was little to show and presto they were almost to the end of the car!

In Stile

Meanwhile back in the shop, Tim Peters continues on the Chicago Rapid Transit 1024 project.  Here is a repair in style, of a stile, for one of the doors.  Lots of tricky angles and fitting.

Where it Goes

And here Tim is checking for the exact fit that a perfectionist like him insists upon.  I guess it gets easier after you have done this twenty times or so.