Thursday, December 12, 2019

Building for the Future

Another busy Wednesday has come and gone, and here's just a partial report of what was going on.

On the 451, I ground off the rivets and removed the rusted-out piece that wraps around the outside edge, for use as a pattern.  Next step will be to take it to a metal-working shop and have a new piece made, hoping they can produce something that looks the same.


And then I spent a while cleaning off all, or at least most of the loose paint on the walls and ceiling.  And then cleaning it all up and sorting out parts.  It actually looks much better.



For unknown reasons, there are a few sections where the paint is in excellent condition.


Next, let's pay a visit to the 306.  With the canvas over it, it's warm enough to be comfortable for all sorts of work on the interior.


John Sheldon is focusing on rebuilding the floor at the east (#1) end of the car.


Much of the floor has been removed so the framing can be repaired as needed.



And meanwhile, John Faulhaber is helping with cleaning up seat frames.  Several others have also been helping on a part-time basis.


Tim has several new and rebuilt seats for the 1754 under construction.


And Buzz has started assembling the rebuilt velocipede.  This will be fun!





Finally, we have news on progress inside the Multi-Purpose Building.  The interior firewall appears to be complete.  This is the south half of the building, where the Pullman Library will be.




And in the north half, some contractors were working on the ventilation system.



So that's pretty exciting!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to see the progress on the 306, picking up where things were left off and tackling new problems. Has it been decided to proceed with the original restoration plan, to rebuild the missing bulkheads, and add the toilet compartment?
O. Anderson

Randall Hicks said...

I believe so. There are still several unanswered questions about the details of the car's original configuration, but for the time being most of the restoration work can continue unabated. That's our prescription for success.