36 Report

Now that most of the operating fun is over for the year, it's back to work on painting and things like that.  My first priority will be to finish repainting the #2 vestibule of the 36.  It was raining most of the day, with plenty of lightning and thunder.  So, keeping the word "Sheboygan" in mind, I did not want to have the DC traction power turned on in the barn or lights in the car.  Drop lights provide enough illumination to do pretty much everything.  A lot of it is sanding down the wood in various corners and odd places.

The grab irons in the vestibule need to be wire-wheeled, so that's an opportunity to go over to the shop and see what other guys are doing.

Rich Witt is our one-man drafting department, and here he is working on the design for the "banquettes" in the Dover Strait.  This is part of the seating arrangement in the car, sort of a small partition.  Only one is left and five more are needed, so Rich is trying to make a plan that a metal shop can use.  Without destroying the one remaining original, he can only make his best guess as to how the parts were fabricated.

After the grab irons have been stripped, they can be reinstalled. 

While most of the old paint is in pretty good condition on the ceiling, you may notice that the trim pieces around the vestibule light are badly alligatored.   So they go back to the shop to be heat-treated.

Down to the original Pullman Green finish.

Meanwhile, in between thunderstorms, the contractors continue to make progress on the Central Avenue streetcar tracks.   Ballast is being dumped so they can be raised.

Big threaded rods are used as gauge bars about every ten feet.  The rails are spiked without tie plates so they will be level, but axle loadings for anything using this track will be low.

 And by the end of the day, it's time for primer on most of the center ceiling, including the trim around the dome light.

And more progress on the new track.  Nick stops over to check it out.