Wood Shop

I will continue on with this BLOG ENTRY under the Wood Shop banner, although, as in the past, there are many projects being worked on and you deserve to know about them.

Sign of Spring

The old adage states that the sighting of the first robin is a sure sign of spring, here in the Midwest.  At IRM it is the parade of electric cars visiting the pit area in Barn 4 for annual maintenance, lubrication, and inspections.  Above we see CTA 4391 getting attention from Frank Sirinek and several others who helped in the tasks.  This is a necessary but unsung ritual to maintain the cars and provide reliable transportation every year.

Get A Handle On it

In previous posts you have seen a number of volunteers working to finish up surfaces and polish brass hardware for the Sand Springs 68.  This marked the installation of the first seat handle, from an IRM pattern and rough foundry castings, and slowly finished over previous months.  Victor Humphreys is snugging up the last screw.

The Line Up

By the end of the day, Victor and I had installed half of them (nine) and here he is trying out one of them, on a stiff seat back.

Brown Paint

Tim Peters applied the first coat of brown paint to Chicago Rapid Transit 1797 on Friday, and here has just finished sanding that down.  The second coat went on after this photo.

Up for Grabs

In the shop Tim has been preparing, cleaning, and painting the grab irons, soon to be installed by each side door.

Signage

In keeping with the Rapid Transit string of photos, Bill Wulfert was working to restore a vintage UNION STATION sign rescued years ago from one of the L platforms.

Passenger Windows

Victor Humphreys was removing old layers of paint and varnish from a Boston & Maine 1094 passenger car window.  This and another one were in from the SPC department for repair and help as we were able.

At the Saw

As fast as Victor handled paint removal, Buzz Morisette was making new wood parts for those items too far gone to salvage.

After Winter

Our Great Northern 70104 hopper car rested outdoors over winter, and still looks good.  We are working to complete all the lettering on this car.

Rear Bench Seat

Lorne Tweed is working on our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  He has cleaned out the rear area of the interior and is prepping the sheet metal for paintwork, repairs as needed.  Note the first interior trim panel installed to the left of the rear window.

Window Tracks

Eric Lorenz is throwing the sparks as he fabricates a special drilling jig to be used for mounting the cleaned window track elements for CTS 4223.

A Side Job

Joe Luciani and Jerry Saunders are working on restoration of our two NYCTA R-28 'redbird' cars.  The sides do not look too bad, but many of the panels have a LOT of body filler and the car framing behind some of them is almost non-existent, having disappeared from rust and corrosion.  Selected areas are being cut out, new steel ordered and on the way.

Mystery Car

I saw this unknown car on Track 41 as I was preparing to leave the Museum.  Do any of you sharp eyed readers notice some of the characteristic spotting features?

Lift Pockets

Earlier, back in the woodshop, Victor Humphries and John Faulhaber did a lot to ensure that all of the lift pockets got routed out in the nine new IC 3996 windows.  Using a combination of a purpose constructed jig, and many clamps, the task involved much less setup for each window.

Tapped Out

Eric Lorenz was drilling and tapping threaded holes in the window posts to allow subsequent installation of the window track assemblies.  Recent posts have shown other volunteers laboring over those tracks.  Lorne Tweed was also active on this project, doing window frame work and several other tasks.

The End

Bill Wulfert and Tim Peters were installing new sheet metal panels on Chicago Rapid Transit 1797.  Last year some of the original panels had been quickly painted and placed there for cosmetic purposes only.  Now the new panels have been installed.

Back to the mystery car.  It is Illinois Terminal 415, the first trolley to be operated at IRM.  For many years it has been the stalwart backbone of service for the public, serving many more years than for any previous railroad owner.  We had an aggressive and perhaps optimistic plan to have the car re-painted over the winter, but a lot of things had to fall into place.  As in any volunteer program that does not always work out perfectly.  So in the above picture Joel Arendt and Dan Fenlaciki are up on the roof and applying a new coat of sealing gray paint.  It will help buy us more time until the day the 415 can retire to some much needed maintenance, painting, and repairs.

Most days in the shop, I never seem to take the time to snap a photo.  This week it seemed that whenever I turned around there was one of the many volunteers working on one of many projects.  So this will be more of a quick photo tour rather than long or not so long stories.

Window Trim

Buzz Morisette is shown setting up to make new exterior window jamb and trim pieces for some of the many new windows he fabricated over the winter for caboose ATSF 1400.  Later in the day he was seen working on wood for a new ELECTRIC PARK station sign for Dave Diamond and our B&G Department.

Window Details

Victor Humphreys is demonstrating how we routed a weatherstrip half round recess into the bottom of the new windows for IC 3996.  The step ahead of this was squaring up exactly the bottom of each sash.  And after the routing, he and Dick Cubbage helped cut a 10 degree bevel on each sash to match the sills on the car.

Jointing

I was not immune from the photo taking spree as Al Reinschmidt snuck one in unknown to me, while I was running some wood through our jointer to try to take out any warp, cup, or twist.

Hand Brake

Frank Sirinek is shown by the drill press with a modified hand brake assembly for Chicago & West Towns 141.  He and Mike Alterio worked on those for the two ends of that car.

Getting Even

I got even with Al Reinschmidt by catching him renewing some of the hundreds of window tracks needed for our PCC project car, Cleveland Transit 4223.

Window Frames

For the same CTS 4223 project Lorne Tweed continued on the often frustrating task of dismantling aluminum window frames so defective glass and weatherstipping can be replaced.  It seems that they are assembled with hardened self tapping screws and galvanic action and years of exposure make removing each screw a project in itself.

4223 Paint

Dave Rogan pitched in on a number of things throughout the day, seen here painting primed interior panels for the rear area of the PCC.

Pipe Dreams

Pete Galayda is showing Jan Nunez, our Office Manager, some of the finer restoration points of electric conduit piping for Charles City Western 300 steeple cab locomotive.  John Nelligan also worked on this project, among other things, fabricating new Crouse Hinds conduit box covers.

EX Siding

We are always excited about new pieces for any of the old warhorses.  George Clark continues here, painting a new batch of siding boards for Lake Shore Electric 810, an interurban freight trailer.

Brakes

A very dedicated group of volunteers has made remarkable progress in rebuilding a truck for Milwaukee Electric 972.  This work is being funded by donations to the TMS (Two Milwaukee Streetcar) project.  Over 70 new hardened bushings have been fabricated in our own shops and installed, and all of the new hardened pins have been made.  This photo shows the reassembled set of levers for one of the car's brake heads.

The Hopper

No, not the current tv ad for a video gadget called the HOPPER.  But Victor and I crawled underneath our GN 70104 three bay open hopper to take some measurements of the mechanism for releasing the doors.