We'll Keep Working

... until either hell or IRM freezes over, whichever comes first.

Another cold wave has arrived, so it's not surprising that there were fewer people than average out today.  Furthermore there was a Board meeting and some other meetings scheduled, just to provide a distraction from actually working.  One of the best things about being retired is that you never have to go to meetings.  But I digress.

I am working on refinishing one of the train doors from the 36.  Today the rest of the paint was removed and the outside surface was sanded down.  This door was still in good physical condition, so no woodwork needs to be done.

Everybody who walks by comments on how thick and heavy these train doors are.  All of the CA&E wood cars have train doors like this.

An ERR article about the 309 explains the thinking behind this:

The construction is of a very substantial type, comprising, in fact, two doors separated with filler pieces and securely mounted, so that they may be supported on one set of hinges.  Inasmuch as the air pressure on the door at the head end of the train is very severe at high speeds, this solid type is demanded.

Of course, the North Shore cars don't have doors like this, and by the time the CA&E steel cars came around, this idea had been abandoned.  You will also notice that the bottom of the door had never been painted; when the cars were repainted, it appears Wheaton never bothered to disassemble them very much.  I decided, however, that while we're at it, the door might as well be painted everywhere.

And by the end of the day, all of the outside parts were in first primer.  The sides will be painted blue.

Many of the regulars were hard at work also.   Here Tim Peters is applying epoxy to rebuilt doors for the 1754, being carefully supervised by Mike Stauber.

You asking for a punch, buddy?!?  We've got one right here.

Tim has put some effort into sealing up the east vestibule on the 1754, so he can continue to strip paint even during the current Arctic conditions.

From inside the car:

Several layers of paint have to be removed.

Buzz set up the mortising machine and was making stiles for window frames, but I never got around to asking him which car these were for.  Anyway, the mortiser is always fun to watch.

Once the 36 door was painted, I ran out of things to do in the shop.  So I started resorting the spare seat frames that we got a couple of years ago for the 309.  It's too cold to actually work on reinstalling frames, but sorting them out is a start.  The most common defects are that the arms attached to the center rod won't stay in the slot in the seat bracket, and that the end castings have pieces broken out where the brackets have been forced out.  (It's easier to see in person than to explain in words, I know.)  This one illustrates both:

Most of these defects can probably be fixed.  But we only need a couple more seats in the 309 to be replaced at present, so I might as well put the worse ones into storage in the 321.

Our golf cart is well designed for tasks like this.  Much better than having to load them into the trunk of my car.  And lifting weights is a good way to keep warm.

The 1797 has been over the pit for inspection.   We have so many operating cars now that inspection is getting close to a year-round activity.  But the car was pulled out today....

And here it is passing our South Side Rapid Transit car from 1893:

On its way to pick up the 1268 and put it over the pit.  Nick is the motorman.

And of course there were many other things going on that I didn't photograph.  Bill Wulfert, Roger Kramer, Jeron Glander,  John Faulhaber, Victor, Bill Peterson, Jerry Lynn, and others were there.  As I say, we'll keep working.