Frank writes...
I was able to make it out to IRM on Sunday afternoon. The property wasn't terribly busy but there were a few people working. To start with, Joel needed some help installing a replacement headlight resistor in the Commonwealth Edison steeplecab. These are located in a fairly difficult-to-access location inside one of the hoods, shown below. To the left is an air tank, while in the foreground are resistance grids. The resistors are mounted to the far wall of the hood; the second from the right is the one that failed and had already been removed.
Quarters were cramped. Joel snapped a photo - note the new resistor in place.
And voila, the headlight works!
Then I headed over to Barn 13 with Joel and Richard Schauer to take another look at Shaker Heights 18. We did a little bit more tidying up, took an inventory of extra seat cushions, and examined the trolley pole that came with the car. It will need some straightening but after Richard cut some rubber tubing off of it we determined that it's in very good shape. Then Joel, assisted by Richard, was able to get the rear door back onto its track so that it opens and closes smoothly. This was more involved than it sounds but it's done now. Below, Joel at work - both doors (other than the motorman's cab door, the car only has two) open into a pocket between them, and here the window on the inside of this pocket is swung open towards the camera. On its exterior the window still wears the bright yellow that these cars wore along their windows in the 1950s.
And that was about it for the day for me. But Norm and Jeff were hard at work on cutting, drilling, and forming more steel parts for the front end of the Michigan car. Here, Jeff is holding a piece of steel which will go between two of the main framing members and will hold up a steel "pan" that will itself support the insulation under the floor of the car. There's a lot that goes into a project like this that most people will never see.
8 comments:
Frank,
Please tell me about Shaker Heights #18; I can't find it on the roster pages.
Ted Miles
What did you want to know? Actually, I believe that someone knowledgeable about Shaker Heights 18 had submitted a comment about the car to one of our recent posts:
https://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-new-year.html
Then of course, there is the car history written by none other than Frank Hicks. Here is a link to the story: https://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2013/10/h1218.html
Bill Wulfert
how much work will it take to make the Shaker Heights 18 runable?
C Kronenwetter
Hi, I have a question, I know a few years ago IRM acquired two NYCTA Red Birds, lately over the last few years they have been stored outside and have been expose to the elements, is there plans to finish the restoration work on them again?
Not to highjack the conversation away from the 18, but the Red Birds are secure at the moment. The biggest thing that would help promote the restoration would be donations. Currently, there is a lack of money in the fund to promote the restoration effort at this time.
As to making the 18 runable. The shop will have to evaluate the front truck which had been removed at some point. There is some interior things needing to be done. Then an inspection. We are working towards some of those issues, stay tuned.
The 18 was operational at Cleveland around 2000ish. It was then parked because of a bearing issue on the rear truck. The motorman at the time noticed a squealing noise from the car but continued to operate it for several trips before letting anyone else know. The old bearing was toast. I forget which axle but it would heat up very fast even after several attempts to install and blue check the new bearing it would still heat up under power in a short amount of time. I suspected with a few other people that it may have been a grounding issue, but time and other projects did not let us to investigate the theory.
C Emry
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