Making Gladhands Tight

Is it spring yet?  The Electroliner (actually just a quarter Liner) pokes its nose out the door to see.

Meanwhile, in the shop, a DH-25 compressor is slated for use on the 451.  If the armature resistance is too low, an easy thing to do is to put a light bulb inside to drive out the moisture.   So keep your fingers crossed.   

Now for some vocational instruction, in case you ever want to make brakes hoses for a living.  Gerry Dettloff demonstrates how to use our banding machine for attaching gladhands and fittings to  the hoses.  Here's the device with a new band in place, ready to tighten down.

Helped by Bob Olson, he puts the hose into the band, and then the gladhand is put into the hose.

Then he starts cranking to tighten the band until it refuses to move any more.

Now Jeron also lends a hand, and shows how the band is crimped and cut in one motion.

And when it's done, it looks like this.  This will be used on the 810.

And here's a before and after shot of the two hoses for the car.

And here's another mystery photo contest: what exactly is this?  It's a clamp of some sort, with handles for manipulating it, but what is it used for?  Send in your suggestions.  I have dibs on the medieval torture device theory.

Tim continues to produce new doors and windows, as seen here.

This is a motorman's door for the 1754.   Tim points out that this door was reversed by moving both the hinges and the door latch from one side to the other when the Northwestern Elevated switched from left-hand to right-hand running.

And several new window frames are in the big press.

As for me, I was mostly working in the 319's vestibule again. 

 Some more sanding and scraping, but it's getting close to completion.  Surface prep is followed by a first coat of white primer, which is usually enough.

Then there were several parts of the vestibule that were ready for a first coat of finish red.  Brilliant!

The red does not cover very well, and two or three coats will be required.

And then I put the second new clerestory window in place in the 150 (on the left).  

And I spent some time looking for a replacement brake cutout for the 309.  The original is the black one at lower left.  I tested three from the Museum's supply of these things, but so far without success.  The flunkers are tagged and put back into storage.  But I'll keep looking.