Thursday, July 26, 2012

Side 1 Done

The first finish coat of paint is essentially finished on the first side of car 36, as seen dimly here. Both ends and the other side need to be stripped and painted, of course. We will want to do the final finish coat all at once, after the first layer is complete.


And I've started on end #1. One gets used to the steamy weather after a while. Did you know that IRM is affiliated with the prestigious School of Adversity and offers several advanced programs in overcoming hardships of all sorts? This is training you cannot get online, by the way. If you're interested, Dean Kallas will be glad to send you a brochure!





Here are some step-by-step progress shots on the drop sash for the side door, which I had talked about last time. The plugs are deliberately cut slightly too long, then glued in place with epoxy.





After the glue is set, they are rasped down to nearly flush. I started sanding all the paint off the sash, but ran out of energy.






So let's see what the indefatigable Tim Peters is up to. He's making great progress on the interior of the 1797. I had never really focused on the modifications to the ceiling inside this car. After a heater fire in 1938, it was heavily rebuilt by CRT with a drop ceiling, blocked-off clerestory, a new ventilation pattern, and bulls-eye lighting.


(L) This metal duct serves only as a mounting for the light fixtures.


(R) The framing for the drop ceiling can be seen clearly here, I hope. The original ceiling was removed after the fire, we should think, and this framing was installed. A layer of Masonite will be attached to it.

The space above the new ceiling serves as a ventilation duct. There are ventilators down the middle of the ceiling to admit air into the car, fed through Utility ventilators in the clerestory. The purpose of the oddly shaped crosspiece is a mystery. Exactly why this whole construction was supposed to be an improvement has me stumped, I must say. But Tim generously offered to help install a similar system in the 36, so send in your contributions today. Thanks!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am fairly certain the baffle with the v-shapes cut out was in order to slow winds that might move through the duct, especially such that dust lying on the top of the ceiling does not lift and move into a ventilator inside the car.

Randall Hicks said...

Thanks, that seems as likely an explanation as any. Tim described to me a couple of different designs they were trying out at that time. It seems to have been pretty much hit or miss.