Trucks and Steps

After a Mothers Day lunch at a restaurant looking out onto the C&NW main line (I didn't pick the place, I swear!) I headed out to IRM for a few hours of work. An unknown volunteer had already painted most of the 319 step well black (thanks!) and I painted the rest of the step well; it is now ready to install on the car, thereafter to receive a second coat of black in place. The treads will receive the same blue-grey as the upper car sides and grab irons.

After that I headed over to Barn 2, where Charlie Strong helped get me set up with a needle-chipper. I was able to remove all of the encrusted paint from both queen posts (see right, after needle-chipping) and about 60% of the truss rod on the north side of the 319. Eventually I would like to needle-chip and repaint most or all of the car's underbody in a similar fashion to what we did on the 308.

In other CA&E wood car news, Norm Krentel and Jeff Brady were working on preparations for the 36's truck swap which was mentioned on the blog a few weeks ago. They did some work on polishing the axles of the truck we're sending to Connecticut and also made some preparations on the CTA 4000 trailer truck we'll be using as a temporary "shop truck" for the 36 while the trade is going on. Below, Norm and Jeff are seen taking measurements for side bearing clearance on the 4000 truck.