Cleveland Transit System 4223

I think I will split the Wednesday work into two reports this time, since we had a large and productive crew working almost exclusively on the Cleveland PCC.

Rear Interior Trim

Simon Harrison was taking no chances as he is geared up to removing old paint from a piece of sheet metal to go on the left rear interior of the PCC.

Preparation

There are a lot of old broken off screw stubs inside the PCC.  Dave Diaz took a turn at removing them, Simon did more in the afternoon.  We are doing that now as it will soon be time to mount more of the interior panels.

Out in the Barn

Out in the Barn on a workbench, Jim Leonard processed several of the curved ad card panels, removing dirt, rust, and paint from the back side of these.

Priming

As fast as they were cleaned, Jonathan Soucek was priming them, along with a sign box, and some of the other trim panels.

A Straight Shot

Many of these ad card panels suffered through years of storage and had some bent corners or other dings in them.  Dave Diaz did a very good job of taking all those out.

Wow

By the end of the day all these seven were primed, and three more, two other miscellaneous panels, and the sign box.

We will start with some views of the new work going on in the Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  In the old reports we explained how there are many layers of parts for the interior and windows which must go in a specific order.  The critical delay was to have new window post caps made, after it was determined the old ones could not be salvaged and repaired to look and perform well.  They have arrived and the team has wasted no time in installing.

Right Side

Lorne Tweed is working on the right side of the car, forward of the center door.  It is easy to see the finished look and large improvement.  If only it was not so cold and damp in the barn I bet you would see more speed.

Right Side Rear

Eric Lorenz was just as busy working on the post caps on the right side, to the rear of the center door.

Left Side

Then Eric moved to the left side and began working his way forward.  Six in a row installed in this image.  At the very front and rear of the car and alongside the center door, these sheet metal caps are 'special' requiring more fitting and fussing.

I have a number of images for one project today, Cleveland Transit System 4223, a PCC car.  Lorne Tweed took several of these so I will split this weeks news into two BLOG entries

Switch Cabinet

Dave Diaz is painting a new switch cabinet for the car.  It has been fabricated new, and a lot of prep work has gone into adding the needed attachments and holes for mounting under the front dash of the car.

Left Rear

The next few images were taken inside the car, left side rear.  We have all the panels and trim for the car, but they have been out of it for many years.  It is like trying to do a jigsaw puzzle without benefit of the picture on the box.  Wise advice to budding restorationists:  Take a lot of pics, mark each piece where it came from with a paper tag, and write the id on each piece.  Surely one of those pieces of information will be lost to memory or time.

Wall Panel

There are wide wall panels to be mounted below the row of standee windows and above the ordinary passenger windows.  Simon Harrison is holding the first one, working from the rear to front on the left side.

Upper Trim

Simon Harrison is now fitting a piece of trim above the row of standee windows.  Many of these pieces appear to be the same, but have subtle differences, different hole patterns.  You really need to lay out and sort out each group of pieces.

Side Windows

In the shop the seemingly endless task of preparing the side windows, passenger windows, goes on.  For this car there is an upper and lower for each opening.  Simon is applying a clear protective finish to the cleaned aluminum frames, in this case one of the lower sash.