Lots of exciting news today. I was too busy to take many photos, but you'll get the picture. This will be in chronological order.
I did a few minor repairs to the 319; I installed plugs in the holes in the drip rail mentioned before, and installed the one missing trim piece. Charlie has finished sanding down the south side of the car, and today he was working on the ends. If all goes well, he may be able to start painting the 319 by Thursday!
I did a few minor repairs to the 319; I installed plugs in the holes in the drip rail mentioned before, and installed the one missing trim piece. Charlie has finished sanding down the south side of the car, and today he was working on the ends. If all goes well, he may be able to start painting the 319 by Thursday!IRM will be open to visitors starting next weekend, so we needed to clean up Barn 8. We moved the scaffold into the center aisle, and I cleaned up the 308 and 309. They're now ready for the car cleaners next week.
The 409 was moved over to the pit to get it ready for operation. The rest of the day I spent helping Stan, Joe, Joel, Rod, Warren, and Steve.
The 409 was moved over to the pit to get it ready for operation. The rest of the day I spent helping Stan, Joe, Joel, Rod, Warren, and Steve.
Frank and I installed the new frame for the sign box that Rich Witt had made. It looks great!The 409's motors had to be reconnected, the compressor was checked, and we installed trolley poles, hooks, and the roof fuse. One of the line switch contacts had 
come loose, so this was re-attached with considerable difficulty.
come loose, so this was re-attached with considerable difficulty.During all this, I had some free time sitting on the roof, so here's a 
view of the 431 most people don't get to see.
view of the 431 most people don't get to see.Here we see Joel and Stan installing the second pole. Once this was done, we pumped up the car for the first time at IRM, checked the sequencing, and applied power for the first time. There are a few issues that still need to be addressed, but the 409 is getting close to operation!
Randall,
ReplyDeleteI know your first love is the C, A & E car; but what happened with the IRR #205 project? Will you be finishing th exterior paint when it warms up a little more?
Ted Miles
Work will indeed be continuing on the 205 during 2010 but it will be subordinate to work on the Brookins CA&E cars, which are much higher priority. Within the past week I was actually spray painting some parts for the 205.
ReplyDeleteI know the 409 was rebuilt near the end, but my question is about the paint scheme Brookins applied. Is it based on any historic scheme?
ReplyDeleteI suppose you'd have to say it was loosely based on the final red and grey. Gerry's personal paint schemes, such as the blue and white on the 319, generally were not bad looking.
ReplyDeleteYou mean the yellow and green that was on the 451 wasn't part of a deal that fell through to sell the St Louis cars to the Chicago & North Western ??
ReplyDeleteGood thing they just painted it, without cutting them up to make bi-levels.
Hey, it's April Fools week isn't it ?
John C
Some were better than others. The 451's paint scheme was probably based on the TM. We'd have to hold a seance to be sure. John, aren't you a psychic, at least this week?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's true or not but I thought I heard it was based of the paint scheme on the Cleveland and Southwestern interurbans. I heard this somewhere (possibly Trolleyville or NORM) but I can't vouch for the accuracy of the paint scheme from the Cleveland and Southwesterm.
ReplyDelete