This past Saturday, Frank and I accomplished several tasks out at the Museum. The main goal of the day was to attend the annual Safety Meeting, which Harold Krewer officiated. In addition, Frank helped me take extensive interior photos of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad dining car, Galt House. The photos are for the Kentucky Railway Museum, which owns a similar L&N diner, that was later converted into work train service. The conversion left the dinning compartment intact, but gutted the kitchen and pantry areas. KRM has a long-term plan to return the interior to an in-service appearance, with a more modern kitchen. Here, we see an interior photo of the diner. 
The next item we tackled was grid repair. On Members' Day in 2010, as we were putting the 3-car CA&E train into Barn 8 at the end of the day, a grid in 308 "opened up." Due to age, a portion of the grid element for notch 1 failed, and literally melted from the rest of the element. Of course, this broke the circuit, and rendered the car inoperable for the time being. Here is Frank under the 308, assessing the situation.
Frank and I fixed the grid element with a temporary repair. On the CA&E wood cars, the grid boxes are located in the middle of the underframe. Of course, the preferred repair would entail removing the box from the car tearing it apart and replacing the mica washers and tubes, cleaning up the grid elements and replacing the broken element. However, that is a labor intensive project, and is best left to next winter.
As you can see above, the simple repair entailed a short bolt, two washers and a nut. In the above photo, you can also see the portion of the grid element that failed. The bolt and washer set is used to bridge the gap. After Frank installed the bolt, we powered up the car, very briefly applying power to notch 1, with the brakes set. This brief application of power "welded" the repair in place. Now, the 308 is ready for inspection and for potential service this year.
The next item we tackled was grid repair. On Members' Day in 2010, as we were putting the 3-car CA&E train into Barn 8 at the end of the day, a grid in 308 "opened up." Due to age, a portion of the grid element for notch 1 failed, and literally melted from the rest of the element. Of course, this broke the circuit, and rendered the car inoperable for the time being. Here is Frank under the 308, assessing the situation.Frank and I fixed the grid element with a temporary repair. On the CA&E wood cars, the grid boxes are located in the middle of the underframe. Of course, the preferred repair would entail removing the box from the car tearing it apart and replacing the mica washers and tubes, cleaning up the grid elements and replacing the broken element. However, that is a labor intensive project, and is best left to next winter.As you can see above, the simple repair entailed a short bolt, two washers and a nut. In the above photo, you can also see the portion of the grid element that failed. The bolt and washer set is used to bridge the gap. After Frank installed the bolt, we powered up the car, very briefly applying power to notch 1, with the brakes set. This brief application of power "welded" the repair in place. Now, the 308 is ready for inspection and for potential service this year.In other news, it looks like Bob Kutella and the freight car department may start working on the B&O "wagon top" boxcar soon, as it was parked near the car shop. What a neat car!
3 comments:
Your posts would be improved greatly, David, if we could expand the photos.
Art,
I agree. I originally thought the issue was the Mac browser I was using for my personal laptop. However, as a test, I uploaded this post and the photos from my work computer early this morning, same result. I will investigate further.
Yes, the Freight Department hopes to make some significant progress on our B&O wagontop boxcar. The car has been switched into position on our outdoor shop track, and largely emptied of stored material which has lived in there for years. New steel has been ordered and delivered.
We await better weather and hopefully you will see some real progress.
SHAMELESS PLUG: Money is needed for the restoration work and hopefully when complete, to allow us to house the finished result in our next barn. Donations welcome to fund R370465.
Bob Kutella
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