On a cold day, it's nice to have a heated area in which to work. In my case, this was mostly the #2 vestibule of the 36, which is easily warmed up by a space heater. So there was a lot of sanding, cleaning, and repainting done. About half of the vestibule got a second coat of blue. It still looks a little splotchy in some of these flash pictures, though not to the naked eye, so I may have to pull the car out of the barn on the next sunny day to see what it actually looks like.
In any case, this is an improvement.
One of the dummy couplings on the 319 was missing when we got it, so I found another one in stock, which needed a new chain. Rod said he'd weld it for me tomorrow or sometime. There are always little details like this to work on for variety's sake.
And I looked at the control system on the Charles City Western 300 again with Pete Galayda. I should have taken a picture, but as it stands now, the forward and reverse positions on the controllers seem to be opposite to what one would expect. Generally, you push the reverse lever away from you to go forward, and toward you to back up. On the 300 it's the other way, and as far as we can tell, that must have been how it was on the CCW, the Counter-Clockwise Route. But as a safety matter, all the experts seem to agree that it should be consistent with our other electric cars, so sometime soon I will swap the wires at the main junction box, and keep everything more obvious for the operator.
The only other active project I saw was Tim Peters and Frank Kehoe working on finishing up the wooden slats for the outside platforms on the 24. The wood has been repaired or replaced as needed.
So they took them outside, and here Frank is spray-painting the wood black while Tim supervises.
After spraying, they were brought back into the shop to dry. There are only a few minor details to finish up on the 24.
Happy Holidays Railway will be here in a few days, so get your tickets now!
1 comment:
Randall and all,
i am a great believer in cosmetic restorations; many of the visitors on my Car barn tours could care less about traction motors, wheel size or other technical matters that make a car move. They want to see the craftsmanships of the wood workers, painters and upholstery people. They seem to understand that a rail car built in 1910 is an entirely different animal than the plastic seats they see in rail cars today.
There are a bunch of LSE car bodies at Ohio Museum and private collections; but no cars have yet been restored. Perhaps some parts may come from those. Or they can be made as have so many rail car parts at IRM. Just think of how many windows and doors are not on the cars at the museum!
But every car can or will ever run again. But every can be made to look good!
Ted Miles, IRM Member
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