Saturday Report

 We'll start with the 453 this time: I started by sanding down the most recent application of filler on the holes at both ends, followed by more filler.  Both are pretty close to being smooth enough for canvas, I believe.

Then more epoxy on the tack molding on the south side of the car.

And paint on other parts of the tack molding:

And while I had the paint out, I did some of the east end, which would be hard to do with a roller.

Zach was working on the end windows on the 757 most of the day; they needed new metal strips installed on each side.

And by the way, IT'S OFFICIAL:  IRM is planning a new type of holiday event this year to meet the needs for public safety, called the Holiday Light Experience.  So we need festive lights.  On Saturday Dave Dobson and Jane Blackwell were putting up lights in Barn 3.

I'm told that Santa will be safely enthroned here in the rear compartment of the Lake City, so people will be able to stand on the rear platform and talk to him, and take pictures.

You can also stand on the platform of the Inglehome. and so on.  More details to come!

Back on the 453, a more difficult problem will be fixing the rotted tack molding at the southwest corner.  I started chopping away the rotted wood, and found that it's a more complicated construction than I thought, but it will be possible to replace it with some work.

It's bolted to the steel framing, but the bolts all seem to be removable.

Other people were working on various projects, as usual.

Finally, the 1268 is over the pit while work is done on the control system.   A control wire shorted out, and it was found that some of the conduit was rusted, so that has to be replaced.

And while we're here, let's look at our favorite subject these days, the couplers!  This car has Stearns & Ward couplers, as many Chicago rapid transit cars did in the wooden era.  The coupler has a special plate with one flat side and one formed side, and held into the body with a removable pin.  On the right side of the body you can see the rotating shaft with a lever on top.  When two couplers are brought together, the flat sufaces slide along each other, and the rotating part moves aside to let them join up; it then holds the cars together.  The advantage of this over the Van Dorn design is that there are no loose parts.  With Van Dorn, if you want to couple two cars and don't have a spare link, you're out of luck.

And one nice thing is that unlike most adapter couplers, the Van Dorn to Stearns & Ward adapter is relatively small and easy to use.

Stearns & Ward was even less widely used than Van Dorn, but these couplers are still in everyday use at IRM, along with lots of other technologies you won't find anywhere else.  And it's the support of people like you that keeps it all going.  Thanks!