Saturday, October 10, 2009

Putting a Better Floor on the Roof

This may seem like one of the strangest things I've done yet, and that's a hard act to follow.

The 321 will need to be moved outside to make room for the new cars from Cleveland, and to protect it will be tarped. The roof needs lots of work, and it quickly became obvious that I didn't have time to do the necessary wood work. So pieces of carpet will be used to protect the tarp from nail pops, loose boards, sharp edges, and so on. I started installing them as seen here.

(L) Before
(R) After




The roof of the 4001, which will also be tarped.

I also had to finish removing all of the old tacks left over from the tar paper which was installed at North Chicago. That took a while.

And I disconnected the motor leads and brake rigging from the #2 truck, so the car can be put on shop trucks.

Tom Cornillie was visiting, so we looked at the 277.





By the end of the day I had done most of the center part of the roof, but ran out of carpet. I'll need to find some more, if I can. Or if you have a pile of rolls of used carpet, please let me know. Condition isn't important. Of course, I'd like the color to be as sophisticated and stylish as possible, but otherwise anything goes.

3 comments:

David Wilkins said...

Looks like a commerical for Stainmaster, wear-dated carpet from Monsanto, back when they made such things.

patentable said...

Looks like a lot of work! Question, while I understand the need to keep the tarp from getting damaged, is carpet going to hold moisture against the roof which in turn will cause problems under the tarp?

Thanks. Great to get the Brookins cars to IRM.
Bob

Randall Hicks said...

It's a lot less work than having to actually fix the problems with the roof. I just roll it out and nail it down in a few places so it won't slide as the tarp is being installed. The hardest part is getting the rolls up the ladder.

As for moisture, I hope not. If the tarp doesn't have any holes, it shouldn't be too wet underneath. Tarping is only a temporary expedient, and we're hoping the 321 will only have to stay outside for some months.