I was on vacation in Arizona since my last report, but there isn't much of railroad interest to see from the trip, although we had a great time visiting with family. I just missed seeing the 4014 at Casa Grande. And while doing some off-roading, we crossed what appears to be a railroad to nowhere:
But now that we're back in Illinois, there's plenty to report.
First of all, while I was gone, Gerry Dettloff and Chuck Meter installed the second pilot on the 451, at the #1 end, along with the diagonal braces. That's a big help and is much appreciated.
Then I went over to the 453 to check out its roof. It certainly appears that nothing has been done to it since leaving Wheaton, other than removing the bases and fuse box. But it makes clear how everything should be arranged on the 451. Bob Albertson helped by coming along to hold the ladder, and I wouldn't want to be climbing onto the car in an empty barn all by myself. I took these pictures of the 453 mostly for my own reference.
This is the #2 end. I noticed immediately that the horn appeared to be slightly offset to one side. I later figured out why.
I spent the rest of the day working on the roof of the 451. I installed six more saddles before running out of caulk, since I was trying a different brand. It worked well. Only six more to go.
Then, it was time to work on other parts. There's no reason not to install the rest of the roof apparatus. Here we're looking up into the attic at the #2 end of the 451. You can see where the roof cable will go up through the canvas at one side, and also the piping for the horn. There is a longitudinal bar supporting the roof right in the middle, which is why the pipe has to be slightly offset to one side.
And here's another part of the attic at the #1 end.
So I started installing the pipes for the horns. This is the #1 end, and I had just enough caulk to install the casting. Victor wandered by and helped by pushing the pipe up through the canvas until I could thread the casting onto it.
And also we need to install the roof vents. There's one at each end, over the motorman's position. The #1 vent has already been painted black and will be installed next time. The #2 vent needs primer and finish black, so I left it on the table in the barn with our other parts.
You will wonder what else was going on. The 1754 was temporarily over the pit.
And the 757 is now at the west end of 43.
Bill is busily painting the siding for the Pennsy bobber.
And roof work is progressing nicely on the 65. By the end of the day, Jon had started tacking.
And the Cleveland PCC truck now has all four wheels. Chuck has really been working hard on this project.
Pete Galayda has been working on the interior of the 160. A lot of the nice woodwork is ready for varnish, and in the second picture below we see what it will look like. Almost like the 309!
Anyway, in spite of the weather, there's always more to be done, and we can certainly use more help.
See you soon!
8 comments:
Randall,
It sure does appear that the people in Cleveland were much better at taking things apart; than putting anything back together.
I sure do like to see the new varnish going onto the #460.
Ted Miles, IRM Member
What's that deflector looking thingy in front of the horn on the 453 roof? I don't think that I've ever seen anything quite like it before. It seems counter-intuitive that one might want to deflect the horn noise away from whatever is ahead of the car? (Or was it to make the horn less deafening to the motorman?
C Kronenwetter
I know, those are rather unusual. But all of the 450's had them by the end of service. I don't know, it's possible that the horns don't work correctly if air is blowing straight into them at high speed. In any case, they were not installed on the cars as delivered, so the 451 will probably not have them.
I had heard those cars had aa-2 or other 2 chime horns as delivered and they did not last long due to loudness. Different kinds of guards are somewhat common on horns.
In photo #9, what are those two donut looking things on what I take to be the piping for the air horn? Unions or what?
C Kronenwetter
Charlie- The donuts are pipe insulators. They are commonly used on cars wherever the possibility of unwanted current flow in air piping exists. In this case, because a live trolley pole may touch items on the roof including the horn, it is electrically isolated. You will also often find one on the output of an air compressor or the air inlet to a control group, as protection in case of flashover or insulation failure.
R. W. Schauer
In this case, there's also a U-shaped bracket over each horn to keep a pole from hitting it, as you can see in picture #3 above. That also keeps the horns from getting dented or bent. I really don't know how effective those pipe insulators might be after all these years. I suppose we ought to megger them.
Thanks, I never really considered that possibility. I suppose all metal things on the roof (including the ventilators) could get charged. Is that common in other cars or just a few?
C Kronenwetter
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