This was another busy day at the Museum, at least in the car shop. Let's start by looking at what some of the other guys are doing.
Victor H. and Bill Peterson are working hard on the Pennsy bobber, which is now in Barn 10. That's quite a distance from the car shop, so they need some hefty tools at the job site. Here Bill is prepping a metal stand for the cutoff saw to be placed in the barn.
Rich Witt and Buzz Morisette are building new doors for the Museum's oldest artifact, the Marengo depot.
And Tim is making new doors for CRT 1754.
And then Jon and Dan Fenlaciki and Joel were switching out Barn 7 to put the 65 at the door. Canadian National has made some generous donations to the Museum, for the 65 project in particular, and they are going to want to take some pictures of the progress for their employee newsletter. We certainly appreciate this sort of corporate generosity!
I'm still working on the 319 vestibule. It's nice to be able to take some of the parts to the shop for stripping. This is the flag box and one of the molding pieces for an end window. They were later painted with white primer, but I forgot to get a picture.
Then there was more stripping to be done in the vestibule. Among other things, the ceiling is badly alligatored, so it's being stripped. Not a fun job, I must admit.
And finally, there's the clerestory window for the 150. The first frame was made at home, and its interior got a first coat of stain. It's nice to work with cherry for a change, and it's been many years (since the 309 was finished) that I've done any stained and varnished woodworking.
And here's the polished brass handle for the window installed in the car.
Because the original frame fell apart, I wasn't sure of the exact dimensions, so the replacement was made slightly too large. After checking it on the car, I wanted to remove about 1/8" on the big table saw. But Tim had it set up for his door project, as seen above, so he volunteered to cut the frame for me using the even bigger table saw ("Big Bertha") that was recently put into service. And I'm not qualified on it yet. So now the frame is ready to be finished. Thanks!
And of course the Happy Holiday train (and trolley buses) were running, although I didn't get a picture. Thanks to all those helping out.
3 comments:
Nice work on the replacement clerestory window. I recall Bill McGregor manufactured a new door for the west end of the Marengo depot in the early 1980s. It was one of the first projects out of the lean-to. Without many of todays tools, he did a lot with a sharp straight chisel.
It is always great to read your updates! How many of the clerestory Windows doe you intend to make? From the photos, it appears that a number of them need replacement. Your work on the CA&E cars continues to impress me. They are looking great!
Thanks, Kirk. I only bought enough wood to do two for now. Really, I'm only doing this to amuse myself. Probably I should start working on exterior trim pieces, there's a lot that could be done that would make a bigger cosmetic improvement.
Also, I should admit that I probably made this first clerestory frame wrong. The lower right hand corner had entirely disintegrated on the one I removed, and it now appears that the lower rail should be tennoned into the stile, rather than the way I made it. The mechanism applies force to the rail, so that seemed like a better way to make it. For the second frame, which won't open, I'll do it the opposite way. As though anybody would ever notice.
Our tennoning machine is a big help if you're doing quantities of heavy-duty work, such as the doors for the depot and the Jewett. But a drill and some chisels will do the job, and for a project where nearly every joint is different, you save the effort of setting up the machine again and again. And Bill could do things like that by hand faster and more accurately than anybody else I've ever known. He was unforgettable.
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