The goal for this winter is to repaint the main compartment of the 36, and work essentially started today. So I have about six months to get it all done.
I had started last time to put plastic covers over the seat backs, and moved all the cushions into the smoker. The interior now looks like this.
Work starts at the smoker bulkhead. For whatever reason, much of the paint here is badly alligatored. By removing most of the old paint with the heat gun, sanding it down smooth goes much quicker. I don't have to worry about getting every last bit out of the grain. On the other hand, I don't want to use the heat gun anywhere near the big plate glass windows, so those require more elbow grease.
By the end of the day, some progress has been made. Filling up the cracks may require multiple coats of primer. Get ready to see lots of pictures like this, it's going to be step by step, inch by inch, slowly I turn....
Meanwhile, it's the tail end of the operating season. We had more visitors than I would have expected. The signal crew are working hard on the crossing gates for the entrance. It will be nice to have some working gates, even if they're not at our actual grade crossings.
And Tim continues to make progress on the 24. Here are some pictures he sent me from Member's Day, which I have adjusted to bring out the shadows. As Tim says, "Enjoy the mellow glow of carbon filaments."
Stop! Can't you read?!? The new floor ribs have been installed, but not varnished yet. This project requires exacting attention to detail at every level. I get tired just thinking about it.
Sometimes we forget how great this site is and how the tireless work of the team doing the restoration steadily provides us and the young railfans to come with a window into the actual process of bringing 100+ year old rolling stock into near-actual service condition. We see a little of what must have happened in Wheaton doing actual car maintenance, and the result are cars that demonstrate the experience of the heyday of rail travel in this country. The service that IRM and its volunteers provide is more than just getting a bunch of old railfans to ride obsolete rolling stock. The restorations bring these cars back to where they were in actual revenue service. Whether CA&E (my favorite), other interurbans, or steam, diesel or freight trains, IRM provides a mechanism to share our childhoods with our grandchildren and children. My thanks to you all, and especially to those who post to this blog, providing us a ring side seat to hard, dirty and difficult work to keep this rolling stock running, after many decades beyond their actual service time. And, you have provided insights into how these trains were designed, used and maintained, whether how to roof one, or how to maintain electrical resistance grids. Thank you.
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