Thursday, April 5, 2012

36 Update


Al Reinschmidt
and I spent the day doing surface prep and painting on the 36. We are planning to repaint the car in the blue paint scheme, like the 308 and 309, so we're using brown primer where it will be blue and white primer where it will be red or grey. We found that the red, in particular, just does not cover the brown primer effectively. The most time-consuming part of the task is the window openings. There's just an awful lot of nooks and crannies in a wooden car like this that we need to take care of. But with two people, of course, a lot more gets done. And part of the time while Al was working, I was able to straighten up some of our stuff stored in the barn.






But the most important advantage by far of having two people working on a project is that we can take pictures of each other.









In the trivia department, I'd noticed a while back that one of the side sills on the 36 is in two pieces, patched together with a rivet plate behind the web. I find it hard to imagine the car was built this way, but it's about a third of the way down the car, so how could it be due to an accident? At least this is one thing I won't try to blame on the guys at Cleveland.





And it was a nice day to walk out and look at the wildflowers along the creek. Still rather early, though.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my all-time favorite classes was a spring Wildflower I.D. class offerred through the Morton Arboretum and C.O.D. Wasn't the West Towns known as the Wildflower Line?
O.

Anonymous said...

Randall,
What colorscheme are you going to put in the #36?

I take it that the color you are covering up is an invention of the Trolleyville, USA era?

Ted Miles

Randall Hicks said...

Ted: That's a good question. I have updated the post to answer your question about the paint scheme. As for the Trolleyville paint, we're not covering it up, we're removing it. I always thought it had been intended to represent the original Pullman green paint scheme.

Anonymous said...

Why not paint it in the maroon scheme like 321 since that doesn't run any more, or is that not hysterically accurate? Is there anything it could be painted in BESIDES the blue scheme and be correct? We already have two blue cars, why do we need a third?

Randall Hicks said...

The 36 was rebuilt in 1946, and we do not have the resources to undo this rebuilding and go further back. So the decision is between blue and red. If we were to paint it red, we would want to have a contractor spray it so it would match the 319, but we don't even have the money for that. The blue paint scheme can be brushed, so it will match the others. So we're going with three blue cars, five red, and one maroon.

The 321 was painted maroon because we found through research that the only rebuilding needed would be changing the wood trim, which we could do ourselves at minimal expense. That's not true for any of the other wood cars.

Alex W. said...

What ever happened to the 451? Last I heard, it was in the diesel shop being painted but haven't seen any updates for months. Is it still in there, or is it finished and in a barn? My grandfather rode on it in service and would like to ride it.

Bruce Duensing said...

What a mystery that side sill is that is integral to the history of the car, and structure if not it's restoration. It appears to defy logic or any theory.

Jeron said...

For the side sill, it could've very well just been a steel mill defect that cracked and got really bad over time. It also could've been hit by an auto at a grade crossing. Enough of an impact to crack the steel, but not enough to cause a severe dent in the side.

As far as the 451 goes, it's still sitting in the Diesel Shop with its paint job finished. We covered it up so we could continue with other painting projects. CNW green and yellow just wouldn't look right on that car. The car hasn't had a mechanical inspection yet, and never yet run at IRM. It's also sans all four step wells right now. As far as when it's vacating the premises, Randy or Frank might have more info.

Randy said...

Randy:

Great to see that the 36 will be painted blue to match the 308 & 309. What a stunning 3 car train that will make, and with the added benefit of being easy on the power since the 36 and 308 are both 2 motor cars.

Randy Anderson
Kenansville NC

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Randall Hicks said...

The question about the 451 has excited some unnecessarily sharp comments - please calm down. Now I was hoping that someone who knows the situation better than I would comment. but I can say this: a lot of work has been done on the car, but much more needs to be done, and other priorities have to be met first. As usual, we are trying to do many things at once, and it is beyond human ingenuity to find a solution that will satisfy everyone. While the 451 is unlikely to operate this year, we'll try to let you know when the 460 will be in service. That should be a real treat!

Anonymous said...

I had heard that the four vestibule doors for the 451 were off site at a shop since they need some rebuilding and repair. When they return to IRM repainted, they will be mounted in the car and new drop windows constructed in our shop have to be fit and installed. Roof work remains to be completed although I believe all the new saddles are made. We need some young bucks to assist on the high work since many of us are aging to where it may not be prudent to scramble around on a high smooth roof. You should also note that Jon Fenlaciki has spent almost a year of volunteer time with the result that all the side windows are gleaming polished brass, and have new weatherstripping.

Bob Kutella

Randall Hicks said...

Thanks, Bob. That helps answer the question very well. And I can vouch for all the hard work Jon has been putting in on the brass windows.