Saturday, January 25, 2014

Tour of Car 36

Our friend Ted Miles wanted to see more pictures of the interior of the 36, so why not?  There are several points of interest to look at.

Here's a spot that was stripped of its paint at Cleveland, as a test.  You'll notice that there's still noticeable paint in the grain.  Stripping the whole interior would be an awful project.



Here's the wrecking tool box.  By the way, I also received a donation of some more wrecking tools from our old friend and long-time IRM member Dick Lukin.  Thanks!

The bulkhead windows are hinged so that the inside surfaces can be cleaned.


And if you look closely, you can see that the panel over the pocket door is hinged so that the rollers can be lubricated.  First, you have to disconnect the buzzer cord, so I didn't fold it down.


At the other end, there are two light bulbs over the door.  When the dash light fixtures were no longer used, the bulbs on this car were disconnected, and replaced by a bulb over each end door.  This bulb is on if the vestibule light is off and vice versa

 


 
The single electrical cabinet is rather crowded.





  
The vestibules have pocket doors, and the window shades are mounted vertically, as seen here.  When the door is closed, the shade can be pulled right to left across it.


This is the only preserved wood car that didn't have the Utility ventilators installed in the clerestory.  Instead, there's a simpler system, and I don't know if it has a name.  Ventilation is controlled by opening these little doors.

 
Each of the window posts has a little wooden button, as seen here below the ticket clip.  I don't know what these do, or what they replaced.  They're all in place, and I'm certainly not going to try to pry one off just out of idle curiosity.  Perhaps the car had buzzer buttons at one time?


 In spite of the ice and snow, a lot got done today.  Several other members were working in the wood shop on various projects, and we all had a good time.  On the 36, windows 15 and 16 were put into place, as seen here.  17 and 18 got finish paint on both sides.  19 and 20 were removed, taken to the shop, sanded down both sides, and first white primer on both sides.

And as for gossip, we heard that Frank Sirinek was in a bad accident on 47 yesterday, but fortunately neither he nor his dog were injured.  Of course he was upset that his Jeep was badly damaged, but is taking it in stride, especially as he has a new PCC to work on.  He was sideswiped by a careless driver, and it behooves everybody to take it easy during this treacherous weather.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Randall,
Thank you for the tour of a really ancient wooden Interurban. They all seem to have such interesting details to show us; all those hinged doors and windows in that car.

By the way none of the Interurbans at the Western Railway museum have any of the tool kits or First aid kits that you have been working on recently.

I guess that Illinois had some forward thinking railway designers.

And a question: doesn't the IRM have a Twin Cities Rapid Transit street car already?

Ted Miles
IRM Member

Anonymous said...

Hello, Ted, Randy, and all.

Different museums have different skill-sets and "luck sets." At IRM, we try to display our exhibits in as "complete" a condition as possible. This includes visible accessories that a passenger would have observed during the regular service lives of our displays. We go beyond "je ne sais quoi" all the way to "Je sais quoi, et elle est ici."

Thanks.

Brian J. Patterson.