Monday, August 16, 2010

205 Progress

I was traveling on business this past weekend, but the prior weekend some progress was made on the 205. I laid out the location on the east end of the car for the hole for the headlight, and on Sunday Rod Turner cut the hole using a 6-1/2" hole saw that he researched and purchased specifically for this project. A giant "thank you" to Rod for his work on this! The 205 had streetcar-style headlights mounted in the dash while it was on the Indiana Railroad, but when it went to Portland these were removed, the holes plated over, and hang-on headlights were used. At some point in Portland it must have gotten into an accident because the end sheet at one end was replaced - hence the need to cut the hole back into the car. A bit more work is necessary to complete the hole, after which the headlight will be installed. Next step after that will be installation of the MU jumper socket at the east end of the car. Below, the last photo of the car's east end dash in its Portland configuration sans headlight.

3 comments:

Bruce Duensing said...

Is this going to be a walk through exhibit, or a more static display?

Frank Hicks said...

The 205 will be a static exhibit, not a walk-through. Due to lack of guides and docents, there really aren't any electric cars at IRM that are open for walk-through display. However the windows on the 205 are low enough for people to easily look into the car's interior, so the interior will be cleaned up before the cosmetic restoration project is finished.

Anonymous said...

Randy,
i thought you might like to know that the project to restore to operation the Portland 4001 ex IRR#202 for operation has been approved by the trustees of the Western Railway Museum. It will take some time however.

Ted Miles