Bad news: It now appears that one of the motors on the 308 flashed over and grounded the commutator, so the car is out of service for the indefinite future. We have spare GE-66 traction motors, but none of them are in serviceable condition; at a minimum, an armature would need to be pulled out, inspected, dipped and baked, etc. This is neither easy nor inexpensive, to put it mildly. So that's probably far in the future.
For the immediate future, on Saturday we should still have the other three wood cars (36, 309, and 319) in operation, weather permitting. We will continue on the 309 bearing project with increased urgency, and take care of other mechanical issues as they arise. Meanwhile, the 453 project still deserves your attention. Thanks!
And also, our thanks to Nick Espevik for inspecting the motors for us and reporting on the results.
5 comments:
I think the people at IRM know about Swigor Coil in Cleveland; they are considered the best shop in the country for working on antique electric motors and equipment.
Ted Miles, IRM member
Ted- Yes, we know all about Swiger.
R. W. Schauer
Is it possible to run the car with the defective motor cut out or are the other motors also suspect as well?
C Kronenwetter
Charlie- Running it as a trailer with no motors cut in would be possible.
R.W. Schauer
Richard is exactly right. The 308 is a two-motor car, or "half motor," so cutting out this pair of motors means it's now unpowered. It can be run as a control trailer at this point but we probably wouldn't do that much more than we have to due to the added strain on whichever car is towing it.
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