Grid Project Completed

Now it can be revealed: the roof-mounted marker lights for our CRT open platform car 24 (1024) are essentially complete.  They're in the process of being painted, as you can see, but that's a simple if time-consuming process.  These fixtures were removed about 1915 or so, and none of them survive.  The new fixtures were re-engineered based on photographs such as the one seen in the picture.

Tim made the wooden forms for the brass castings, and Rod did the machining on the rough cast parts.  He estimates it would cost about $5,000 to produce these commercially.  And we wanted to wait until today so Frank Kehoe could see them in person, since he's put in a lot of effort on this project.

This picture was taken on Saturday.  It's unfortunate that the beautiful brass castings have to be painted, but that's the way it often happens.  It will be exciting to see these in service!

 

In the morning I finished the grid box project.  The remaining old beam was cut apart with the help of Tim's Sawzall, and then the new beam was placed and all the bolts installed and tightened up.

Then the platform was removed, and I collected the old parts and cleaned up.  I checked the electrical connections to make sure they were still tight.  I didn't find any loose wires, but I did find a loose bolt sitting on top of one of the grids.  That wouldn't be good!

And the afternoon was mostly spent in prepping various parts of the vestibule.  This part of the bulkhead now has first primer.  There are many nooks and crannies, so it takes a while.

And Gerry showed me the new 40x40 tarp they've acquired for the Electroliner.  Once the first unit is over the pit, the tarp can be placed over it and fastened down to keep the heat in for people working in the pit.  There should be enough room for the motors in both motor trucks at this end to be removed for rebuilding.  Then, presumably, the train can be wyed and the other end get the same treatment.  The center truck has no motors.  So I promise we'll be keeping an eye on this project.