Great Northern 70104 Three Bay Hopper

In between other activity, work on the trucks continues and new lettering continues to be applied to the hopper car.

Truck Bolsters

Victor Humphreys was in an uncomfortable position as he has worked his way under the car, here removing years of dirt and crud from the truck bolsters.  By the end of the day the bolsters on both trucks had been cleaned and primed.  Why you ask?  We try not to ignore the hard parts and these are quite visible through the open framing on the ends of this car.

Builders Data

Car builders often applied lettering to blow their own horns, and Pullman was no exception when these cars were built.

Lube

The Great northern was a classy outfit and stenciled a record of when the car received grease and lubrication.  The "Y" indicates this work was done in Superior, Wisconsin.

In Date Testing

Rules required application of an IDT stencil.

Turning Time

As the fall leaves turn, so it was time to turn the car, end for end.  This presents the unlettered side for more work in its location.  And presented another rare opportunity for a photo.  This right hand side now has all lettering completed except for the 'medallion' graphics.

B End

The B end also has all its lettering.  On Sunday I did not grab any more images but work continued with a second coat on some of the applied lettering, more lettering applied to the A end, and the left hand side.  I have been carrying around rolls of transfer patterns and stencils.  Now, several of them have been used as needed and are complete on the car.  So I gratefully now have a pile of 'DONE WORK' sheets.

The weather turned nasty this week, but we did get some lettering done before the bottom fell out of the thermometer in the afternoon.  This is one of the groups, a lot of letters to be drawn and cut out with two days of 'homework' earlier this week for me.

B End

This almost completes the lettering needed on the end sheet for this end of the car.  We did some more on the left side, but tight quarters and poor light resulted in no images.

You did not think I would let you get away without some views of our hopper car restoration, did you?  I know it may not seem to be balanced reporting but this major effort by the Freight Car Department is near to my heart, and I could not help but take a lot of images.

Trucks

Victor Humphreys continued work on the truck sideframes, completing the finish painting on the right side of this car.

Dimensional Data

I suppose modelers treat such notations with only passing interest as long as some generic stuff is shown on a car.  Not so with our restorations, seen here complete on the right side of the car.  There are a lot of letters and numbers painted here, each one having a meaning and significance to this car.

Coming Out

There were needed switch moves in Barn 8 and also Barn 4.  Our beloved hopper got outdoors for the first time since lettering efforts began and this 3/4 view from the B end shows much of the efforts to advantage.

A End

A similar pose is this view from the A end, and yes, some lettering has been applied here also.  Keep hoping for good weather for this pace to continue.

Right Side

This is a more traditional straight on view of the right side.  Amazingly, there are four more blocks of decorations to be painted on this side.

On the Move

Too soon, the locomotive coupled up and the hopper was off to be put away.

B End

This close up of the B end, shows nearly complete lettering for this end, some of it still wet from being painted an hour previous.