Midweek Variety Show

One of the first things I did today was to walk over to the shop to get the big wire-wheeler for a project back in Barn 8.  At the shop, I met Gerry and Pete.  They had some questions about the difference between photons and protons, which I answered as best I could.  The wave-particle duality of matter is not easy to compress into a few easily-comprehended sentences.  But I enjoy challenges -- who doesn't?

Gerry showed me the spray-painting booth recently fabricated by Buzz at little or no cost, using recycled parts found around the property.  On the middle shelf, the board with a hole in it is the window blank for exhausting the air out the window behind the booth.  This is quite impressive.

Here Pete is working on another window for the Class B.

Later in the day, it looked like this:

Pete also showed off the replacement covers for the armature bearings on the 300, recently made by R&B Metals in Woodstock.   Two of them were missing on the locomotive.   The originals were cast, but the metal shop was able to fabricate replacement parts from pressed steel.   Note how the hinge parts are at odd angles.

And here is the motor from the L4, sitting in the shop.  This is a box frame motor, which means there is a single large casting for the frame, with open ends closed up with bolted-on end castings incorporating the armature bearings.

In front of it you can see the axle bearings and gear pan parts.

This is the pinion end of the motor.  To access the armature bearing, the motor will be placed so this end is on top, then the circular end plate can be unbolted and the bearing can be removed, if that's all you want to do.  If the armature itself requires work, it is then carefully lifted straight up out of the case.  I've read all about this in books, but never had a chance to help with something like this in person.

And under the L4, you can see the shiny parts of the axle where the axle caps were.

Outside, among other things progress has been made on repainting 50th Avenue station.   This has required a huge amount of effort on the part of B&G.

Well, enough of that.  It was warm enough for painting, so in the vestibules of the 319 one of the last things to be done is this vertical conduit which was badly alligatored for some reason.  Hand sanding and scraping didn't do much good, so I got out the big wire-wheeler to strip it down to bare metal.

Ah, this is much better.   As my Russian teacher would say,  "Any sing worse doing is worse doing well."  And after this was finished at both ends, the conduits were painted with white primer.

I also tested the air on the 309, to make sure the recently-replaced hose didn't leak.

While the paint is drying in the 319, let's drive over to the 321.  There's always more stuff to be sorted through, and plenty of junk to be discarded.  This is a dirty and depressing job, but somebody's got to do it.   Each time, though, more of the car gets cleaned up and it starts to look a little better.

The #1 vestibule, for instance, has been a junk pile for years, but I managed to clean it up and find most of the floor.  And we can even open the train door again.   That could be useful.

And the main compartment is slowly getting organized.  At least I have a table and chair for sorting parts.  Now all I need is a radio.

Sorting through car parts, I found another buzzer which may possibly be fixable, and four spare 125 ohm control resistors that were made for this car back in 1998.  Somebody else may have a need for them, so they were brought back to the 150, and a trunkload of unwanted detritus was transported to the dumpster.  Good riddance!

And then I replaced a broken window in the 150.  So all in all, another rewarding day at IRM.