Group Efforts

The Car Department at IRM has always operated in the mode of several active projects progressing independently, but cooperating as needed.  And this seems to work well for us.  Today was another busy Saturday, and we have lots of pictures to share.

We'll start with what I was doing on the 451.  On one of the side doors, we still needed a block installed to keep the trap from hitting the door itself.  This requires drilling and tapping a couple of holes to hold the block in place.

When the trap is up, it looks like this:

These parts will eventually be painted red to match the door itsel

And I brought out two new roll-sign frames to paint and install.

After a coat of primer on the back, they look like this:

Here's where cooperation comes in.  Tim Peters helped by cutting a couple of pieces of glass to fit the frames.  This is greatly appreciated! 

 And later, Joel helped by looking for additional screws to hold the frames in place, and since they weren't on hand, we've ordered some.

These signs are mounted to the stepwells.  I had to knock some rusted bolts out of them.  It turns out that these were attached with nuts and bolts, which means it's a two-man job to install them, and that will be easier over the pit.  

Finally, Bill Wulfert helped me with finding lift tabs for the drop windows on the 451.  We went over to Barn 6 and looked into both the 453 and 460.  Those two cars have a total of eight drop sash, but with four different types of lift tabs.  Typical, just bloody typical.  So we don't know for sure what the original type was, but this seems like the best guess.  Thanks, Bill!  I cleaned them up, but ran out of time before installing them.  So that will wait until next time.

The guys working on the 213 are making good progress on making new doors.  These parts were made with matching cutters in exactly the correct way, so when they're done, these will be exact replicas of the original doors.  Well done!

The Cleveland Crew continue their work.  Here Chuck is once again cleaning up truck parts.

It looks great:

Eric and Ed were working on the switch panel for the PCC.  Eric is making a new rubber cover as an electrical insulator for the assembly.

Later in the day, they turned the truck frame over and started on the underside.  Here Ed cleans up the debris.

In the 1754, Tim proudly shows us that all the car light circuits are working.

 Norm and Rich were working on the 28 again.  Most of the floor in the front baggage compartment has been installed and fastened down.

And Norm spent most of his time cleaning up metal parts for the 28.

Joel is working on a set of PCC batteries.  He says these will go to whoever is ready first, since we have more than one PCC project that will need them.

John Sheldon continues his work on the 306.  He spent most of the day chipping out the mastapave from the floor.  This is where the toilet compartment was when the car was built.  At Shaker Heights the compartment was removed, and paved over.  Removing the mastapave is hard work, so he deserves a lot of credit!

At the other end of the car, new wood needs to be installed.  That's coming next.

I wandered over to the 321 to look for parts.  On the way back, I stopped in to see the Pennsy bobber.  Victor and Bill are making good progress, currently working on repairing the cupola.

A lot of the interior is now complete.  There are all sorts of little storage spaces inside.

Looking up into the cupola:

Richard and Nick have completely rebuilt one of the Cineston controllers for the 6100 pair.

Sorry, this would look better in black and white... but that's just my opinion.

Richard and Nick were working on the 141 over the pit.  It's enclosed so that with a heater it's pretty tolerable working on the equipment.  They're trying to fine-tune a few issues with the motors and control, but the car works and should be available for regular service next year.  Here Richard is checking the commutator on one of the motors.

Nick carefully inches the car along to rotate the motor.  Crater is so gooey at these temperatures that you don't have to worry about the car rolling away and crashing through the doors!  (or so they say...)  

And in other news, work has progressed nicely on the MPB.  I didn't get a chance to talk to Dave about it, but it looks like all of the metal studs for the walls in the front section have been installed, and the next step will be to install the wiring conduits and so on.  

So that's it for today.  You will have noticed that these are almost all group efforts, and we can always use more help!