West Shops

Frank writes...

I was able to make it to IRM for a few hours Sunday afternoon. When I arrived there was a gang of department volunteers working on the annual inspection for the 144, our CSL "Old Pullman." Just like West Shops! Joel, Greg, Richard, Thomas, and Jeron were all contributing to this. It took a bit of time to iron out some minor issues with the car but by the end of the afternoon it was completed and ready for service.

As for me, I headed over to Barn 13 and made a bit more progress on the Shaker Heights car. The steel panel just inside the forward door had completely rusted through, as seen below, so the main job was to remove this to get it replaced. Previously we had ground off some bolts and this time I just needed to drill out some obstinate wood screws - not a particularly difficult job. I was able to get that done with a bit of work and remove the panel, seen below leaning against the wall of the car. This piece of steel used to be rectangular! Replacing this will improve the interior appearance of the car noticeably and will also permit us to reinstall the small storage locker and cross seats at this location.

By this time the car shop guys were switching the 144 back over to Barn 7 and pulled out the 3142 to put the Pullman in behind it. I caught the below vignette. There's no better place for a CSL fan!

There were other projects being worked on too. Ed was over in the Electroliner and Norm and Jeff were doing steel work on Michigan 28. There were also guys from the Coach Department and Track Department who were out working, plus possibly more people that I didn't see. There's never a shortage of activity.