Two For One

Today, friends, you get two exciting features for the low, low price of one -- which is zero, of course.  So first, as a Hicks Car Works exclusive, let's pay a visit to...

THE ELECTROLINER

We were invited to visit the Electroliner today by Steve Sanderson, who has been working on it for quite a while, along with his son Sam and other members of the team.  Because the Liner is located in Barn 7, they need to be pretty independent of the rest of the Car Department, but the Electroliner workers seem to function as a well-oiled machine.

Before we start, though, we must express our deepest sympathy for John Arroyo, who lost his wife recently to cancer.  There's nothing we can say that can help very much, but I hope we will all extend our thoughts and prayers to John in this time of grief.

Steve started by showing me the dining section.  He and Sam have been working to get it ready, and right now the goal is to have the interior ready for public viewing by June.  Of course, that will depend on how the overall virus situation goes.  Anyway, as we have reported before, much of the upholstery work has been done by John McKelvey and Jane Blackburn, and some of the new seats are seen in this photo, while others are stored. 

The whimsical paintings along the upper walls are original and still in excellent condition.  It would be next to impossible to recreate them.

Steve himself has spent a lot of time cleaning up the kitchen/bar area.  When he started it was filthy from neglect over the years, but now it's almost ready for service.

The next car is still being used for storage, but is in good condition.

This is the smoking compartment in the A1 section.

The forward compartment has made great progress.  The ceiling looks great -- we've seen pictures of it before the new panels were installed in years past.

Finally, here's the motorman's compartment again.

So that is quite encouraging.  Our thanks to the entire Electroliner team.   Next up:

BLANK CANVAS

While we're here in Barn 7, let's wander over to the south aisle.  Oh look, somebody brought along a nice cart that might just work for carrying the 453's canvas back to Barn 4.

Well, from here on I don't have many pictures, limited as I am by only having two arms.  But you can imagine how I was able to load the canvas onto the cart while getting the sawhorses out of the way, then out of the barn and over to the shop.  Along the way, I got some help from bystanders in getting the canvas through a narrow door or two.

The 12' x 60' canvas itself weighs 90 lbs when dry, and it was still slightly wet in places, but since you don't have to lift it all at once it can be done.  Over in Barn 4, I then lifted the canvas onto the scaffolds and spread it out on the car.

Those wrinkles have to go.  You look like you slept under a bridge, as my mother would say.

The answer is to start stretching the canvas.  We have a good supply of clamps and ratchet straps to use for just this purpose, so I started on that.  It takes a while, but the stretching process is now in progress.  Here's what one clamp looks like along the side.

And at a corner:

And here's one end of the car.  Of course, there's more to be done, but this is a start.  And it was exhausting, but I needed the exercise.  It will probably be several weeks before I can begin nailing it all down.

Meanwhile, of course, the other guys on the usual crew were hard at work.   Here John is working on his 306 interior parts:

Tim continues to make progress on the 50th Avenue project.  I should have gotten a picture of the new door, but didn't.   It looks great.

Gerry continued to do body and fender work on the 306, and Bill was working on L car parts.  But I  didn't get any pictures -- sorry!

Finally, don't forget the 308!  We'll keep repeating this message until you come up with the money!