How to Cope

Midwesterners have various ways of coping with the cold weather at this time of year.   Some migrate to Florida, some get a supply of drinks and snacks and watch TV all winter.  Others of us are more creative.

Joel is doing inspection on the 415, and with our recently-acquired heating unit and a number of panels as a makeshift barrier, is able to heat up the underside of the car to a comfortable level.  

At the other end, Nick is inspecting the controller.  As you probably know, the 415 was our first operating car, has done most of the weekday operations ever since, and for all I know it may have put in more miles at Union than the rest of the collection combined.

Luckily, of course, the car shop is not far away.  Say, did I ever mention that we have a heated shop to work in?   It's true!  And as usual, there were several other projects being worked on that I didn't get a chance to photograph.  Sorry!

Tim continues to work on the 1754.  One end looks quite nice.

The other end, not so nice, not yet.  He is pondering exactly what to do next.

Ed and Lorne continue to work on the Cleveland PCC.  The front sign box was being finished up in the shop.   Meanwhile Lorne is wire-wheeling some more parts for the interior.

And then, if you want to work on the interior of a car, you get a space heater or two and have your own private work space.  Zach is repainting the smoker of North Shore 757.  The walls are nearly done. 

Once the walls are done, the lineoleum flooring can be installed, and then the seats put back in place.  There are some other things that need to be finished, but it would be nice to have this Silverliner back in service.

Another way to cope with the cold weather is to dress in layers, and continue to work outside.   That's what the B&G guys have to do.   Here Al Choutka, Jerry Lynn, and Dave Diamond are finishing up the entryways for the Schroeder Store.

The grand opening of the Schroeder Store will be in just a couple of weeks, so don't miss it!

As for me, I spent most of the day painting the interior of the 319.  It's looking much better.

However, after putting all the light bulbs back in the fixtures, I found that one, exactly one, of them didn't light.  Since they're wired five in series, that means there must be a shorted light fixture.  If we were running on straight 600V, that means the other four lights would be seeing 150V, which would shorten their life drastically.  But since I was using one of my patented resistor stingers, the supply voltage is closer to 500V, and each bulb is dropping about 125V, well within tolerances.  But of course this needs to be fixed.

The lower casting around the socket is held on by three tiny set screws.  Once it's removed, we see the fiber insulating sleeve.  This is at least an improvement on the cardboard cylinders used on earlier light fixtures.

 Once that is unscrewed and the socket is disconnected, the lead wires are exposed.  And sure enough, the insulation at the ends of the wires has disintegrated.  It's no wonder the circuit was shorted.

And with the fixture removed, the wires look like this.

 I worked on it some more, but finally decided to take the fixture home where I'll have more time and better working conditions.  Once it's complete, the new wires will be soldered onto the ends of the wires in the car, insulated with heat shrink tubing, and all will be well.  

Anyway, the moral of this story is that there are lots of things that can be accomplished no matter what the weather.  And we can always use more help!

In personnel news, Ted Anderson has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the year.  Ted has been the director of the Pullman Library for many years, and under his leadership a great deal of progress has been made.   As I understand it, a replacement has not yet been named.   In any case, he deserves our thanks for a job well done, and we look forward to seeing him out at the Museum every so often.