It was hot on Monday, which limited how much work could get done on the 451's roof, but we keep going. I was able to do a little painting: the grab iron needed for climbing onto the roof....
and the rope guard at the #2 end, also the windshield wiper. The car needs to be moved before I can install these parts at the other end. And I started on fixing the way the roof cables run from one end to the other.
And then I took out the lightning arrester and started checking it. This is an oil-filled capacitor, and it meggered OK. With a light box, I was able to verify that what I thought to be the ground connection on the roof was indeed grounded. Generally speaking, you don't want anything on the roof to be grounded to the frame of the car for safety's sake. For instance, there is an insulated pipe joint in the piping to the horns, so they are electrically floating and don't pose a danger to someone working with the trolley poles. But the lightning arrester is an unavoidable exception. One end has to be grounded, and you need to be sure to avoid it when on the roof. You have been warned.
Other regulars were on the job, as usual. John and Gerry were working on the 306:
But I didn't get any pictures of Tim or Pete working on their projects. Sorry!
Other than that, the main thing was that we received a donation of a large collection of stereo slides taken by Richard Hartweg, which I mentioned before, and we can't thank the donor enough! Along with the slides, we got a stereo slide viewer, projector, and a scanner. These are all greatly appreciated. And maybe in the future we can start posting some of the scans. Of course, you'll need a stereo computer monitor or stereo smart phone to get the full effect.
That arrester is a PCB filled capacitor that I would not trust. If that thing shorted out it could make a real mess on that nice new roof. PCB oil won't burn but do you really trust that arrester of unkown condition. You can mount the thing for looks just don't connect it.
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