You're Getting Under My Skin

Everyone seems to be interested in what's happening to Barn 9, which is good.  The contractors weren't working today, and that gave me an opportunity to take some close-ups of what's underneath the skin without getting in their way.   Here's where they are as of today, about 2/3 of the way north along the east side.

 This is probably the most important part.  Where the bottoms of the posts have rotted out, the post is cut off, and a new base is installed with brackets holding up the post, similar to the construction of barns 13 and 14, which we saw earlier.  This should greatly extend the life of our older barns.

New splashboards are being installed as work progresses.  And as Dave mentioned, the side doors are being relocated to better fit the equipment stored inside.

And here is what's being replaced: rotten wood and worn-out skins.

And as a result, we have this big pile of firewood next to Barn 8.   I imagine you can help yourself to whatever you want, but watch out for those nails.  I can only hope nobody tries to have a bonfire.

As for actual work, such as the 36's vestibule, I started by getting the big wire wheeler and cleaning off the brake valve, which was easier than taking it to the shop.  

And I tried and I tried, but the hand brake could not be removed, so it got wire-wheeled in place also.  And then more sanding and scraping on other surfaces.

I went into the 321 to check on it; everything seems pretty much the same as before.   The new tarp is doing a good job of keeping things relatively dry.

And then painting in the vestibule.  There was finish blue on several parts, such as this:

And primer on the parts cleaned up earlier.

In gardening news, Bill's collection of hot-house flowers is doing well in this rather incongruous location.

All of the various parts of the 24's motor truck have been painted.   Tim was complaining that the black was too shiny, so in the foreground we see that somebody brought in a can of Floquil Grimy Black so he can make it look weathered.  The more authentic the better.

Finally, among other things, in preparation for painting I tried to remove all of the remaining red paint from the threshold casting between the smoker and main compartment in the 36.  It's more obvious when you see it in person, but this casting definitely broke along the indicated line, and was welded back together.  I cannot imagine how it could have broken apart from a serious wreck, such as the one that caused one of the side sills to be patched, so it's a miracle the car has held together as well as it has all these years.  This casting is there to keep the bottom of the pocket door aligned, and you'll notice that one of the ridges also broke off somehow.  These cars must have had a rough life.