Wood Car Training

Today's first task was training.  Larry Stone was trained on the wood cars, although we were worried about the weather.  But it never rained, so that was good.  We needed to switch the order of the cars again, as we're planning to run the 36 and 319 (the "Brookins Limited") on Monday, Memorial Day.  So Larry got a chance to run all four cars, which is important because they all have minor differences.  And then we had a chance to make up the train, and take it out on the road.   And here he is down at the east end.  

He did well, and so the next step will be to sign up for line training at some time soon.

Meanwhile, Ed Oslowski was hard at work cleaning up the interior of Illinois Terminal 277.  They're planning to run the three-car IT train on Monday in honor of the late Bob Bruneau, so Ed wanted to clean things up somewhat.  He's been working more on the Electroliner lately.  But at least the main compartment will be ready for passengers.

And this is the front smoking/baggage compartment:

On Memorial Day, there will also be a dedication of the Robert Bruneau Car Shop at 1 PM.  

While running the 36 and 319, we found there was a problem with one of the retrievers on the 319.  It was not always taking up slack on the rope.  I left it on the table for retriever repair with a note, and I'm hoping we can get this fixed by Monday.   Otherwise we can take a retriever from the 309, and hope nobody notices the odd color.

I also spent some time discussing the casting of new bearings with the Department experts.  The next step will be to start shopping around for a foundry we can work with, preferably within our area.

After all that work, I'd say it's time to relax with a good cigar.  Buzz is fixing up some of the Museum's collection of parlor-car ashtrays for display in the Lake City and other Pullman cars.  Just don't drop your ashes on the floor, please.

Finally, my old friend Jack Biesterfeld has been working hard on the GB&W 110.  It's a big project, but Jack always works hard and efficiently.  He's been doing a lot of paint stripping on the interior.

Below is the original ceiling color, a light green.  It's been covered up with several different layers of paint of every sort.

Much of the interior woodwork is still in pretty good condition.

They have found a builder's photo of the interior of this series of car, which is a great help.

One of the original clerestory windows.

In one place, Jack also started removing the exterior sheet metal that covers up the upper sash.   Underneath, you can see the arched stained glass windows, almost all of which are still there.  That's quite interesting.

Finally, Jack demonstrates how after letting the stripper sit for several minutes, the original woodwork appears.  There's just a lot to do.