Wood Shop

New Arrival

I guess we should start with a TEASE.  On Tuesday we had a new arrival all wrapped up for under the Christmas Tree.  Any guesses on its identity?  Hints include that it was built east of the Mississippi River 99 years ago.  When I left Wednesday, another car was loaded and on the road.  More to come this week?  YES!!

Department Work

A freight train on a Wednesday!  Thanks to crew work by JIM WEST and PAUL CRONIN, the cars shown here were dug out of storage and on the move to Track 41 for maintenance and inspections. 

And the Work

Now on Track 41 where a crew of Paul Cronin, Dave Rogan, Simon Harrison and Victor Humphreys went over them with a fine tooth comb.  These cars were approved for operations and you will likely see them on two different assignments before the end of the month.

Up in the Air

For a change we had a sunny day on a Wednesday and Dave Rogan was in the bucket truck needlechipping while Jim Leonard did the same on the roof of Chicago Great Western X 38.  Progress with several areas cleaned and primed by the end of the day.

On the Other End

Dick Cubbage worked on the other end up on the roof to wire brush and clean up an area previously chipped free of paint.

Trolley Bases

Randy Hicks was in the shop fairly late in the day priming two trolley bases.  If I know Randy, these will soon be painted and on the roof of one of the wood cars in our CA&E collection.

Getting Bent

John Faulhaber and Gerry Dettloff bent two pieces of milled tack molding and the process took several weeks of soaking and then drying in forms.  With the pieces free of the restraints, they were fitting and trimming them to be soon mounted on the ends of Lake Shore Electric 810.

Caboose Work

Several weeks ago you saw reports of a wheel change on ICG 199458 steel caboose.  It has been relocated to Yard 5 and now our Wednesday Special Projects crew is on the move to clean up the interior, scrape, prime, and repaint it.

Here is a short report on the last two days.  There is a lot of activity that goes unreported.  Partly I do not get around well anymore, and if engaged in a project, I do not take the time off from the work.  So- anyone out there want to sign up as our official "unofficial" roving photographer and reporter?

PCC

Let's start out with Simon Harrison who spent the entire day cleaning up Cleveland Transit System 4223.  It is stunning when clean as we have come to expect some settling of dust in the shop areas and may not remember the paint scheme this bright and clean.  The purpose is that the car will be moved outdoors west of Barn 4 for public display by Saturday.  The transformation of the car in the last year is stunning with a motivated and active crew installing interior panels and wiring, and that led to most of the windows being installed.  Come out and look it over, you will not believe your eyes.  And of course the Trolley Parade is also on Saturday.

Corner Post

Tim Peters has completed the new corner post on the northwest corner of the Chicago Rapid Transit 1024 as he slowly moves from the 'take it apart' phase to the 'put it back together' work.  This a what you might call a "deep restoration" of this more than century old car.  Definitely not a quickie repaint.

Slicing

Time shuttles back and forth from the work on the car, and back again to the shop to make up the next piece of the puzzle.  I saw him here, slicing some thin poplar 'veneer'.

Cab Seat

Here is the first of the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow cab seats, with the metal work done (finally).  That due in no small part to help from Buzz Morisette and John McKelvey.  We have sanded and brushed out the aluminum passenger car seat frames, and then cleaned, primed, and painted the angle iron support frame.  Seen here upside down as the paint dries.  Buzz managed to continue work on the cupola framing and new sills and window framing, and as mentioned above, there was a lot of work ongoing on Wednesday, maybe not so much a large crew on the 4th.  But we noted the Electric Car Department working feverishly switching out equipment, putting together lashups for multiple car electric trains, staging the order of equipment, all for the Parade on Saturday.  It will be worth the trip to see this and the weather promises to be pretty good.  Come on out and bring a friend!

Lots of news, lots of pics, lots of work, despite rain for at least the first half of the day.  Here we go:

Seat Frame

Bill Peterson volunteered to attack the old paint and rust on one of the seat frames for the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.  There were not a lot of guys waiting in line to do this job, so we all have to thank Bill for the good job.  Looking closely you will say "No that is a passenger seat".  The railroad recycled some old passenger car seats and married them to a fabricated angle iron frame.

Interior Siding

Victor Humphreys installed a lot more interior siding on the left side of the plow.

Prime Condition

With the old scud cleaned off, Bill moved on to priming the bare metal.

More Priming

We fabricated another framing timber for the plow with help from Lorne Tweed and then made eight filler blocks needed before we can consider adding ceiling boards.  Victor attacked them with primer at once.

Lights

Lighting for the 50th avenue station platform is being re-done and here, Fred Zimmerman is working on some of the porcelain glazed light shades.

Sockets

Meanwhile, Bill Wulfert was cleaning and reassembling some of the sockets for the new lights.

Boxes

Rich Witt continues work on the CA&E replica first aid boxes.  I think there are ten different parts for each box and all have to fit very exact.

Getting Legs

The Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car project is really getting legs.  No so much for Ray Pollice who is working on wainscotting panels.  Actually, the temporary plywood flooring was removed to let Ray stand upright on the ground beneath the car.  But at first glance - - -

Front End

Eric Lorenz installed the new special rubber gasket material in the two front windows.  Such a simple thing, such a big impact.

More Windows

Lorne Tweed and Eric continued on the window work on the left side of the car.  Eric has just installed one of the missing standee windows at the front of the left side.

New Wood

Tim Peters has completed a lot of work on the southwest corner of Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  Previously we showed new framing and sill work; now the side filler panels are all in, as is the corner post work complete.  Tim is checking how new siding will match up.

Easy Sitting

We took the CGW seat frame away for cleaning and painting and so John McKelvey is now busy with a passenger car lounge seat.  It really looks good and very comfortable.  But I bet John will not let us try it out with our grimy work duds on.