New Bearings Arrive

It was snowing steadily this morning, which is perhaps why there were fewer than usual people at work today.   But it was rather pretty, as shown here by the snow-covered trees on the property.

If this doesn't make you think about Happy Holiday Railway, nothing will.

But the major news in my corner is that we have the first set of axle bearings for the 309.   Frank Kehoe picked them up yesterday and then delivered them to the car shop.   They look good, and we greatly appreciate Frank's help, as well as all those who contributed to make these castings possible.

Here are the new castings in front, and behind them the patterns, still covered with mold release agent.  That was later washed off.  

I naturally want to do this as scientifically as possible, so I started by taking careful measurements of both the new castings and the patterns.  I find that the shrinkage factor is generally just about what was predicted, about 1.5%.  I think there will be some slight adjustments to the patterns needed for the next casting, but first I'll want to have Bob Sundelin check them over.  I also checked them against the spare axle cap, and they seem to fit perfectly.   Little machining on the outer surface should be needed.

They were then placed in the machine shop next to the milling machine.

There was nobody else from the 306 project, so I didn't do too much.  I studied the arrangement of the wiring, what's left of it, and tried ringing out some of the circuits from end to end of the car, just for practice.   It would certainly be nice if we had a wiring diagram for the original lighting system.  The lights, among other things, were completely changed while the car was on Shaker Heights, and exactly how we'll deal with this needs to be determined.

Work continues on the 1754.  Bill shows off a repainted cab heater. 

Tim, Bill, and Keith were all working on the interior.  Bill is repairing the ceiling.

Notice the nice new floor at this end.

Keith carefully applies paint stripper to the light fixtures and other parts.

Tim continues to install flooring.

Also, our old friend Steve Iversen was visiting from Oklahoma, and was helping Frank Sirinek on the Kansas City car, as usual.   Here he's making a test installation of new marker lights.

Finally, I had some time to do some more cosmetic work on the 150.  I got around to installing some Masonite on the front of the car.  This is somewhat of an improvement, but the next step will be to put some sheet metal around it, and then attach it with round-head wood screws, and fill the slots with putty to make them look like rivets.  And maybe we'll have something that looks like a real bumper, but weighs very little.  The car's structure is weak, and I don't want to add too much extra weight.   Or spend much money, for that matter.

But for the important bearing project, I'm hoping we'll have some progress to report on a regular basis.  So stay tuned!