451 Progress Report

Under the current conditions, there isn't a lot of hob-nobbing going on to liven things up.  Today Tim and I were the only guys working in the car shop, along with John McKelvey restoring seats for the John McGloughlin Pullman car, as he does on a very reliable basis.  So here's what got done on the 451.

To start with, I fastened down the fuse box on the roof.  This particular box could probably use some work, but it will be OK for now.  When was the last time we blew a roof fuse on one of these cars?

Most of the rest of the time I worked on the train door thresholds.  I located the other threshold casting; all I can say is that I'm not the only person around here who stores things away and then can't remember where they went.  Evidently the door frames were rebuilt at some point, as the casting at the #1 end didn't fit at first...

But after some adjustments were made, it fit just fine.  Notice that I had to remove the train door to get the casting into place, but when the door was re-attached it fits snugly over the threshold casting.

And then I attached the safety tread plates.  All it needs now is more paint -- like several other places on this car.

And then I installed the casting at the #2 end.  For whatever reason the two castings are slightly different in length.  I would have thought than when they switched over to steel construction things would be more uniform, but evidently not.

Anyway, it looks fine now:

So it's nice to have that finished.

Tim was working on the 1754, of course, in several places.  Here are three reupholstered backs for the bowling alley seats.  It's simple; they were stored on this rack in the Lean-3, and he just rolled it over to the barn so they could be loaded into the car.

This is the west end of the car.

So we're in a race.  Joel recently pointed out that every car in Barn 4 is an active project; that hasn't been true for a long time.  Of course, some are much closer than others.  The 160, for instance, is completely operable; Pete is refinishing windows and woodwork, but that could be closed up quickly for service.  The 1754 and 757 are also operable.  The 451's interior is shabby, but when some more mechanical issues are addressed it could be ready for service.  And so on.

So in spite of the restrictions, we keep making progress.  And don't touch that dial!