The truss rods on the 36 have some noticeable bends, otherwise known as groinks, for unknown reasons. It looks like somebody might have tried to jack the car up on the truss rods. In any case, today seemed like a good day to start attacking this problem, with the help of Gerry Dettloff.
It's hard to get a good picture of these groinks in the barn; they're a lot more obvious in person. Each end of the rod is attached to the car with a 1 1/4" steel pin, which is usually rusted in place. We were able to get one pin on each side free, but the others are still frozen. You will notice that near each end casting there is a small bracket to hold the truss rod once the pin is removed; I take this to indicate that it was not unusual to remove the rods for various reasons, such as minor accidents. We seldom do that here; I'm sure we've never removed or even adjusted the rods on the 309, for instance.
And here is one of the rods, disconnected at one end, waiting for Kroil to work its magic on the other end. We'll keep working on this project on Saturday. I might also point out that the truss rods are heavy. But that's good, I need the exercise.
And then it was back to sanding and painting in the vestibule of the 319.
The next big project will probably be the 451. I looked in the car today to find most of the parts we'll need to complete the roof installation. And later, while paint was drying in the 319, I put a first coat of black on the new saddles for the 451.
It's been a while since I've had a chance to run the 451. Since 1979, I think:
This is a four-car train of CA&E steel cars. From front to back: 409, 460, 451, 453. Norm, Jeff, and I all got a chance to run the train around the layout, courtesy of Tim O'Donnell. Our goal is to re-create this train at IRM, with one minor substitution, and more accurate paint. Wouldn't that be nice?
So that's it for today. Several other things were going on, but I didn't get a chance to photograph them.
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