Wednesday Report

It would have been good to switch the cars around today so that the 309 was at the door, as it is the next (and last) in line for inspection.  But it was raining off and on in the morning, so we can only hope the switching can be done this Saturday.

So as a first project, we had heard rumors that the Car Dept. is conducting a replica WWII scrap drive in Barn 4.  We certainly didn't want the top rod from the 319, which was recently replaced, to take a trip to the blast furnace, so here it is on its way over to Barn 8 where it has gone into hiding.  I can't tell you where.   I know nussink....

Don Bosan-Bruno showed up to help, and we removed a side door from the 308 for adjustment.  It had never worked well since the end was rebuilt, and we needed to take about 3/8" off the bottom.  We noticed that there were several small nails along the bottom of the door, which had held a piece of weather stripping at one time, so these needed to be carefully removed.   Then the door was run through the big table saw without incident.  A metal strip at the bottom needed to be moved up, and here Don is fastening it down in its new location.  Then we took the door back to the car and installed it, and it works much better.

As usual, Norm, Jeff, and the two Belvidere guys are working on the Michigan Electric car.

And Tim has moved the 1754 into Barn 4, where the 24 was, and work has started on the carbody.

Let's get on the elevator and take a ride up to the roof.   You can see where the roof-mounted destination sign was located at one point, long ago.  (Outlined in red)  There are also holes for the conduit, and so on.

The roof is kind of ugly, but I've seen worse.  In the foreground is a little metal white plate, used for patching holes in the wood.  Tim points out that it was attached with staples.

Reminds of the 309 many years ago.

I had more or less run out of things for Don to do productively, so he switched over to helping Tim.

A dark, rainy day is an excellent time to work on window shades.  So a rebuilt window shade was installed at the #1 end of the 308.  It doesn't adjust up and down very well because the brackets aren't located quite right, but I left it as is for today.  It's certainly better than nothing.

While walking back and forth, I notice that Bob Olson and Bill Halsted are working on this signal for the switch to the turntable leads.  The transformer had burned out and needed to be replaced.  Now I remember clearly from my youth that you're supposed to unplug the transformer when you're done playing with trains.   Can't you guys follow instructions?

Let's check up on how the guys are doing on the 1754.  Tim continues to strip the roof.

Don is working on the rather complicated mechanism for opening the clerestory windows.

The repainted controller cover was installed in the 319.  Isn't it pretty?

The 308 is the only car that is missing some of the window shades in the vestibules.  They all have shades for every side window, used by the visitors.  In the vestibule, there's a shade for the motorman, to keep the sun out of his eyes (on the "Sunset Lines"), and then there are shades for the train door window and the side window, so that after dark, when lights are on inside the car,  the glare won't bother the motorman.  

The side window shades are a different style from the rest.   Here's one in the 319, in the down position.  A hole in the shade fits over a small latch.

I walked over the 321, and in a box of parts of old shades, most of which were junk, I found a nice side window shade.  Unfortunately, the roller was not quite long enough for the brackets on the 308, so that will have to wait until I can find the right roller.

Because the 308 has pocket doors, the shades that cover the window are large and mounted vertically.  Fortunately we have both shades for the 308, although one of them doesn't unroll all the way.  

Landmark Demolished

In other news, our friend Ron Smolen sends along a link to newspaper article telling us that what's left of the old Chicago and Joliet Electric carbarn in Bedford Park is being demolished to make way for a gas station.  The article mentions Dellwood Park in Lockport, which is an interesting place to visit, by the way.