Freight Car Department

I recently asked for volunteer help to document cars in our collection where the lettering and other important information is succumbing to the weather.  I had two replies from folks that had some interest in helping but no results, and winter is coming on.

This week I had a very pleasant surprise from long time member Kevin Brown.  THANK YOU KEVIN!!!  Kevin took it upon himself to photograph and improve our records for the MILWAUKEE ROAD 970954 covered hopper.

The Whole Picture

Here is the north side of the car (the best side), and you can only see the shadow or hint of where much of the lettering once was.  Kevin trooped out to Yard 14, took several images, and sent me very good prints.  WOW!

Details

In this view of one area, even a good photo will not allow us to reproduce the entire text and data.  Look above the white dot symbol and tell me what is there.  What was put in the area of the consolidated inspection blocks?  Kevin was unable to get a good spot to record the ends of the car with photos.  So the work is not done.

As good as these photos are, there is a process to reproducing any of the lettering on a repainted car.  We need good measurements for placement of the blocks of lettering.  In the case of the above image, I would take a heavy black Sharpee marker and ruler and carefully trace the shadows remaining so they are legible.  Then I would recommend taking a sheet of mylar, again with ruler, and trace over the Sharpee letters with pencil to have a full size hard copy of what remains.  Include the size or height of each letter line, the spacing between lines, and measurements to reference points on the car for placement.

With this info, I can redraw and clean up the tracing, and cut it out.  This should be done for each block or large character on the car.  We can work to some degree with these very good photos but it is inexact due to the angle of the pics not being 100% dead on straight.  Not a criticism of Kevin, but without some help or a ladder to use, it can be difficult.  Anyone out there in webland with PHOTOSHOP and the software skills could help here by 'correcting' for parallax and shoot angle.  And when taking the pics it would help a lot for corrections if two yardsticks, ruler, or homemade story boards were placed at right angles, sort of framing the lettering block.  The real goal is for a record as exact and accurate as possible. 

And Kevin put his money where his mouth is by including a substantial donation to fund R97054.  The other part of the equation is that I have been assured that we have money on hand to place this car inside the next Barn.  But as previously mentioned, it has not yet cleared all acquisition charges and track space, so it is not 'eligible' to go inside in a  technical sense.  Several donations have been received into this car fund since my first request for help to clear the red ink and we are on the way.  Please do not let this car be left out in the cold.

And of course this is not the only piece of equipment where DISAPPEARING DATA continues.  We cannot as a Museum let this happen to other pieces, yet I have limited time and ability.  It is not challenging, hard, physical labor and if you contact me in advance, I will furnish material and instruction on exactly what is needed.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The first order of business is to wish you and yours a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.  And to give all of you THANKS for your support and participation in ALL of the various IRM projects in 2012.  THANK YOU.

Yesterday at the IRM wood shop there was but a skeleton crew on hand.  I can assume many were making preparations for today's time with family and friends, or traveling to do the same.  That is entirely fitting and appropriate.

In the shop we used the time to work on more windows.  There was a time not too long ago when constructing and fabricating ONE new window from rough stock was a BIG EVENT.  Yet here we are well along the process for making ELEVEN new windows, in the space of a few short weeks.

Routed

Victor Humphreys and Dick Cubabge worked on eight new windows for the cupola cab of the CGW snowplow.  All these share the same profile and shape, but of course there are four different sizes, and each pair has both a right hand and left hand version.  Last week you saw the pile of prepared blanks, we referred to as 'window kits'.  Victor and Dick worked to rout a unique profile for the beading on that stock as you can see above.

Full Profile

The next steps were done on the table saw to slice two thin grooves and drop out  the remainder resulting in the rabbet, which will be used to place the glass in the finished window.  Here that is all done, three steps on each of 32 pieces of stock.  We made fabrication drawings on the computer for each type and are using those to set dimensions and sizes.  Four of the drawings lay before you in the above image, resting on three completed glue ups of windows.  Behind them are the stacks of window kits, now with each piece shaped and rabbeted as needed.  Maybe only barely visible but the pair of stiles facing the camera has had the layout lines added for plunging 3/8 inch slots on the mortising machine - the next steps.

I was not getting around too well yesterday so this may seem short to you all.  I am posting under the CGW X38 header since most of this entry is about that work.

Gluing

We started the day with John Faulhaber and Victor Humphreys (not shown) assembling, gluing and clamping three new windows for the snowplow.  Yes the winter season is upon us and we hope to produce a steady stream of new windows  These are quite recognizable already but remember there remain seven more steps in the process to complete them.

Kits

With the frames glued and squared, John and I moved on to the next batch of windows.  A lot of headscratching and layout work on two large planks of fresh stock, use of three of our major shop tools, and the result?  A stack of parts to be used as KITS for eight more windows, destined for the cupola cab of the snowplow.  John seems quite pleased at the results (I was also - see me smiling behind the lens?).  We are doing them this way since they all share the same profiles and rabbets.  Once that tooling is set up, it makes sense to do them all at the same time, sort of mass production.

Floored

Meanwhile Victor was in and out of the shop, lending a hand where needed and yet returning to his work on the B&O wagon top boxcar.  Even in marginal weather there is work to be done, sometimes darting in and out of the great outdoors.  Earlier this week more bad steel was removed, and this revealed some flooring in pretty bad shape.  Here, Victor is grooving out one of the new boards so it can be correctly fit around obstructions and rivets.

Earlier he had completed finish painting of the door weatherstripping for the snowplow.  And of course the usual suspects were on hand.  Buzz Morisette was working on restoring deteriorated headlining and car structure in the rear end of the the private car ELY, Tim Peters working on his marathon speed run for a new roof on an L car, assisted by Frank Sirinek, Mike Stauber, Fred Zimmerman, and Bill Wulfert, Randy Hicks (guru for all things CA&E wood), and a host of others.

I even managed some sit down time and worked on new brass seat handle castings for the Sand Springs 68.