Spring is here, and that means inspection season is in full swing, and that means it's time for the annual sermon, O brethren. We always need more help with the inspection process, and on any Saturday or Sunday you can show up and talk to Joel or Gerry or whoever is on duty, and find useful things to do. It's interesting: nearly every car is different from every other, and I believe it's very important for motormen to have a good hands-on understanding of how all the various parts of a car's mechanism work.
When I arrived yesterday, on the other side of the walkway Tim Peters was already at work inside the 1754, sorting and collecting parts, particularly parts from the old doors and windows to be installed on all the new ones he's made. The inside looks a little grim, but much better than the 309 was when I started. For what that's worth.
Here are stacks of old windows, for instance.
In the shop, here's a new door. Of particular interest are the wooden channels on either side of the window opening, which serve as window shade tracks. They are rather complicated.
And Tim continues to harvest parts from old windows.
Frank Sirinek and Mike Stauber are working on new doors for the Kansas City PCC.
The 277 and its train are over the inspection pit. Say, did I mention anything about inspection? The panels are to keep the pit a little warmer. There were several people helping on this car, including some of the new guys. The train is planned for service on the Sunday before Memorial Day as a tribute to Bob Bruneau.
Back in the 319, I more or less finished cleaning up the #2 controller cover.
Last week Greg and I started on the #1 vestibule, and here's part of the ceiling with a new coat of paint.
And this is meant as a before (R) and after (L) comparison:
And back at the #2 end, here's the train door. Backlighting through the window makes the photograph have poor contrast.
On the other hand, this picture of the motorman's window turned out better.
And I cleaned up the controller handle and part of the clock over at the shop. It seems the handle should be entirely red, including the throttle button parts, unfortunately.
I had to leave early because I wanted to go to the visitation for Roger Smessaert in Woodstock. There were many, many IRM people there, most of whom had known Roger for 40 or 50 years. He will certainly be missed.
Randall,
ReplyDeleteJust because the C,A & E had a busy paint brush in later years, you can get away with having some brass controller hardware; they look so much better that way.
Whenever something is in the WRM shop; they clean the paint off the builder's plates and similar parts.
Happy Spring almost! Just a couple of more days!
Ted Miles
FWIW, which may not be much, I would vote for paint on the brass to hide its value, but keep the bakelite exposed on the knobs simply because the red will wear off anyway.
ReplyDeleteWell, thanks for the input. Now let me expound on my thinking. In later years the cars were spray painted, not brushed, including the vestibules which were painted the same color as the exterior. Spraying in such a confined space must have been difficult and uncomfortable, which is why there are so many sags and runs in the paint. First, they would mask off as little as possible. The glass was masked, of course, and they masked off the previous lettering because that saved time, but otherwise everything above the floor turned red. I could not possibly do a reasonable-looking spray job in these circumstances, and I can't afford to hire a professional, so I'm using a brush. But just about everything should get painted, evidently. If the paint rubs off on parts which get a lot of use, that's the way it was in service, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd as a general rule at IRM, I believe, in a conflict between historical accuracy and your or my aesthetic preferences, history wins.