451 Roof Work

I spent most of the day helping Frank Sirinek on the roof of the 451. He and Mike have been steadily progressing over the past couple of weeks. I finished nailing down the south side, so both sides of the roof are tacked; the ends still need to be completed. I then started with a first coat of black canvas paint. The canvas paint is very thin and soaks in rapidly. Two gallons covered most of one side of the roof, perhaps 120 sq.ft. We will put on a second coat before installing the saddles and other accoutrements, but the second coat should go faster.

Frank spent most of the day nailing down the canvas at the west end. This takes a long time due to the difficulty in getting the canvas to lie flat on the compound curves. Frank can do this better than anyone, so we appreciate his help on the new CA&E cars. Meanwhile, Jeff Obarek was working on the brass window sash back in the car shop.

And Charlie spent most of the day rubbing down the primer on the 319 in preparation for painting this side of the car. We looked at the paint samples again and I quickly agreed on the colors he had matched. The later Aurora Gray for the 319, 409, and 460 is definitely a greenish-blue color, but the original gray for the 451 is just gray, much like the color on the blue paint scheme. So there will be an interesting contrast.

And Gerry was working on the D13. I didn't get a picture of him at work, but as you can see here, one of the cabs needs a new roof. Luckily for him, it's a very small roof!

The next important item will be inspection of the 308 and 309. We should be able to put the 309 over the pit this Sunday.

And Frank announces that the Preserved Electric Cars database has been updated, so check it out!