Let Us Level With You

Frank and I don't often get to work together, but on Saturday we completed two major projects.  We were busy and don't have much to show of the various trains that were running; we'll catch up on that later.  But it was great to hear steam whistles every so often as we were working.  And also the sound of CA&E trombones -- the 308 and 319 were in service, with Dan Buck as motorman and Larry Stone as conductor.

In the morning, I helped Frank paint the 205, our Indiana Railroad streetcar, as posted earlier

And in the afternoon, he helped me put CA&E 36 on the level.  The problem was explained in an earlier post here.  We had all the necessary parts and tools available, and I had finished the prep work, so this seemed like an opportune time.  While the 308 and 319 were in revenue service, the 36 was moved to the door.  The sidewalk provides a good surface for supporting the jacks.  The body did not have to be raised very far, and the kingpin remained in position.


We then let the car down onto blocks between the side bearings for added safety.  The arrows point to the new 2" thick shims inserted above the old 1" shims, and new bolts were used to hold it all together.

It took a while, but everything went well.  The shims are heavy, but Frank was able to lift them into position in spite of the inconvenient location. And thanks to Rod Turner for supplying the new hardware.

When we were done, of course we wanted to try it out.  The 36 and 309 were run out to the road on a brief fan trip.









And this is the result of all that effort: the two cars are parallel!  It looks much better, and both ends now have couplers at the correct height.  Who would think 2" could make that much difference?