Entries by Robert Kutella

Tack Molding

Randy Hicks and Eddie Pszczolkowski set up the router early in the morning and proceeded to mill out several passes to produce new upper tack molding for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 319.

Ad Panels

Lorne Tweed continued the work on Cleveland Transit System 4223.  The metal curved panels for the interior, which held ad cards, have all been cleaned of old paint and rust.  Lorne applied primer to the last of them, and also some finish paint by the end of the day.

A Survivor

We are resuming work on wood parts for our Pennsylvania Railroad 476199 caboose.  Here is one of the cupola windows which was judged sound, but had beading split off on the bottom rail.  John Faulhaber crafted a new piece of wood after routing away the bad part.  It is epoxied in place and will save us the work of making an entirely new window.

Jointing

Bill Peterson is jointing some new stock for passenger department windows.  Our jointer is the first step in making almost anything if the wood is not true and straight.  Carefully operated, with attention to the way the grain is running, it will eliminate warping, twisting, bowing, and other such defects.  It does this on one surface only which then becomes the reference surface for subsequent steps.  Of course some of the wood is removed in these steps and you may end up with stock that is undersized.  So it is important to do this step first before planing and ripping to size.

Priming

Victor Humphreys was priming new lumber destined for the ceiling on our Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.  On bad weather days we do this work in the shop, and enough material is now primed and stockpiled so we will be able to reach the halfway point of the new ceiling in the plow.

Shop Tools

None of the tools in our wood shop are brand new, in fact many at the century mark or older.  They are of a time when designs were robust, but nothing lasts forever.  Buzz Morisette and Rich Witt were reassembling reconditioned parts for our J C Wright bandsaw.  As soon as it was done, three new jobs were processed as folks awaited its return to service.

Smoke On the Prairie

After the stunning accomplishments of the steam department, I got up early yesterday to spread the good news that the decapod, FRISCO 1630, is alive and well.  No scoop there as there were already two BLOGS here mentioning it, and news spreading on the web.  Here is a shot at about noon, with a lazy plume of smoke and vapor drifting up.  By the time I left it looked and sounded more like a live locomotive with all the sights and sounds of the air pump thumping away, wisps of steam drifting away, and those memorable smells of coal smoke, hot oil, and steam filling the air.  GOOD WORK!!!

Paint

We got a break in the weather to some degree and Jim Leonard, Victor Humphreys, and Dave Rogan made good use of it, by applying finish black paint over much of the front plow roof, ramps, and remaining primer areas.  Of course I am talking about our Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell snow plow.

Looking Good

Victor and Dave are hand painting the many surfaces in and around the front coupler on the plow.  Sharp eyed readers will also note the return of the train line air pipe dropping down form the roof.  Dave and Paul Cronin re-installed that following great efforts by the Steam Department to return a Barco ball joint re-built for use on the plow.  Thanks to TOM SCHNEIDER and crew!!!

Chiseler

Among other shop work, Rich Witt is working on some razor sharp wood chisels which were re-sharpened to perfection by Paul Cronin at home during the week.  Thanks Paul.

Fussy Work

Buzz Morisette is finishing up some new molding for the private car, ELY.  I would have scratched my head for a while to figure this job out, but it did not seem to phase Buzz at all.

Heiroglyphics

Are these some remnant of ancient languages on our Great Northern X 1390 tank car??  Some of the outlines seem almost like the language we are used to.  But those mystery areas??

Mystery Solved

The taped outlines are one of the steps I rely on to apply new lettering to any restored car in the collection.  Here it is, decoded as DIESEL.  Yet this is clearly a railroad tank car and not a new member of our Internal Combustion Department.  Stay tuned as this late breaking story develops.

Tin Knocking

Any tradesman working in sheet metal used to be known as a TIN KNOCKER, for obvious reasons.  Here is Lorne Tweed making quite a din as he pounds out some dimples in sheet metal panels to be used on our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  They are the curved metal panels to go above the standee windows on the inside and are designed to hold ad cards to occupy the riding public.

It looks like this will be another long entry but it should get us current with shop and restoration work.

I am Seeing a Pattern

We have repainted our large Great Northern tank car, it is the largest tank car in our collection at 20,000 gallons.  Now, on to the lettering the car.  I traced what remained of the old lettering before it disappeared in the painting.  Then I re-drew and cleaned up those tracings.  Step three was to cut out the letters, and some might think this is to be used as a stencil.  But no, I use it mounted and aligned on the car and trace the outlines onto the car using the mylar sheet as a TRANSFER PATTERN.

Painting

Then it is off to the slow task of painting to the above outlines.  Here is the result showing the Great Northern name PROUDLY.

The Number Is Up

I then moved on to add the number and identify the car.  Great Northern X-1390.

Main Ceiling

Eric Lorenz is finishing up some of the hardware for hanging the four large ceiling panels in our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  The view and effect is quite a transformation and a testimonial to the hard work of the crew.

Rear Seals

Rich Witt is applying epoxy sealer to some new rear seals for a freight car truck.  We have had quite a tutorial on freight car trucks as we work to remediate and make repairs to our DODX tank car following  filming of the Chicago Fire episode.  These seals are no longer available so we are making our own.

New Saw

Is this a new saw?  Or better described as a 90 year old saw that is new to operation in the wood shop?  Either way, Tim Peters makes use of it as he continues wood work for restoration efforts on Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.

SCOOP

I have finally manged to scoop the Hicks Car Works website with this photo of Randy Hicks cutting new roof moldings for the Chicago Aurora & Elgin 319.

Painting

And while all the other work goes on, the crew on our Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow quietly goes on about their work.  New lumber for the interior lining was recovered from storage, and Victor Humphreys is prime painting it before cutting and fitting for the new ceiling.  A good deal of the exterior black paint was applied to the right side during infrequent breaks in the bad weather.