Today was a great day for working. I started by checking the blue cars and was pleased to find that Jeff, Sam, and Ron did a fine job of putting them away and locking them up. That's better than I sometimes do.
On the 36, the next job was to remove one of the end windows, which had received a sheet metal patch at Cleveland. That's not good.
Yust vaht I taught. After removing the metal, there's a large rotten section. I'm still undecided whether to patch it with epoxy, or replace the whole wooden frame. I'm leaning toward replacement, but I'll let the others look at it on Saturday.
Meanwhile, two repainted side windows were installed, and a blank put in the end window.
The next job was to raise one of the third-rail beams on the 308, since it had been noted on the car report. As you may be able to see here, it has dropped down, but the bolts are tight and it's in no danger of coming loose. Still, it looks wrong. After some considerable effort, I managed to get it aligned. And I think I know what the problem is: there's a metal plate behind the beam with ridges that are supposed to mesh with ridges cut into the mounting bracket. If the plate is slightly askew, they don't mesh properly and the plate can slide down while the truck is vibrating in service. It's not easily noticed, but once I know what to look for, we can go around and check all of the others.
Ed Oslowski has been hard at work on the 277. Usually he and I are not out at the same time, but he was there today, and I was able to help him a little with locating the spare parts he'll need. He's making great progress on refinishing all of the windows in the car.
I'm now much more of an DM&IR fan than before, so as I was wandering about, I noticed this beautiful coach being repainted. Now where I have seen a similar car recently?
Then I met up with my old friend Roger, who let me into the Lake City so I could take some pictures. Maybe I'm missing something, but I hadn't seen any interior shots yet. So that will be posted next!
Then I spent some time stripping paint from the lower part of the #1 end on the 36. It really wasn't as unpleasant as one might have feared. Three of the boards just could not be stripped, for some reason, so I sanded them down vigorously, and everything will be fine with two coats of primer.
Finally, the Car Dept. regulars were staging the North Shore fleet for a calendar shot: the Electroliner meeting a five-car steel train. It will be much better than these grab shots, I'm sure. Only at IRM!
I can say that you did a pretty interesting and tedious task. From the photos alone, I can already see myself with trickles of sweat on my forehead. Thanks for sharing.
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