Over the past two days I finished inspection and lubrication on the 308, so that we now have all three of the wood CA&E cars ready for service. The interior of the 308 looks very good. On Wednesday all of the inspection items were finished, including such things as testing the air system and adjusting the safety valve and feed valve, but it was raining off and on so lubrication had to wait until Thursday.
And then there was more paint stripping on the 36, and miscellaneous tasks.On Thursday I did the lubrication, and switched cars again so the standard two-car revenue train will be the 319 and 308. It's good to be able to change the consist every so often.
Three of the eight main journals on the 319 are still packed with waste, and they tend to run dry. So I've wanted to replace them with the more modern pad lubricators, like all the other journals have. 
So I went out to the material yard and extracted three pads from a 318 truck that hasn't been used since 1971, and then showed them to Bob Heinlein. The material still seems to be pretty soft and absorbent. I scraped off as much of the accumulated grease and junk as I could, and set them out in the sun to dry. It's probable they've absorbed water over the years, and we want them to dry out as much as possible. They will then be soaked in journal oil and installed.
So I went out to the material yard and extracted three pads from a 318 truck that hasn't been used since 1971, and then showed them to Bob Heinlein. The material still seems to be pretty soft and absorbent. I scraped off as much of the accumulated grease and junk as I could, and set them out in the sun to dry. It's probable they've absorbed water over the years, and we want them to dry out as much as possible. They will then be soaked in journal oil and installed. 
Finally, I got to help Bob with testing the 1268, shown here at Jefferson with the 4290. Tim recently fixed the wiring problem, and it now seems to run correctly with one or more 4000's. This two-car train should be running on Saturday for Chicago Day.
Don't miss it!
Finally, here's some scenery. The creek is still high and running rather brown.
And John McKelvey has been working for a while with recovering plush seats in the car shop. Here some of his work is being tested and approved by our resident expert on comfort.
3 comments:
I'm trying to remember...was the 36's paint scheme supposed to represent one of the Cleveland-area interurbans, like the 451's scheme was supposed to represent the Cleveland Southwestern line?
I always thought it was supposed to represent the original CA&E paint scheme, with Pullman Green changed to forest green or whatever it is, and the varnished trim represented by red.
You can still see the outlines where the covered wagon emblems were attached, although I don't think they will show up on a photo. The most bizarre aspect is the stenciled words "Capacity 46 seats" at each corner, as if it were a freight car.
Speaking of your resident comfort expert, he seems to pretty much own the shop space. Last Saturday AM we uncovered the big Berlin sander to run the new station door through it. To our surprise, and HIS, we found that dratted cat nestled down on a sanding drum between the feed rollers. I do not know who was more startled, but he jumped way in the air and skedaddled. MEOW!
Bob Kutella
Post a Comment