Roof Reports

At the present time, we have two roof projects going on in Barn 4, more or less side-by-side.  (Among other things, of course....)  And from Monday, we have the photographic evidence of what was happening.  First, John wanted to show me the final color samples for the Fox River 306.  From top to bottom, there's the roof canvas, the matching body red color, and the orange and yellow.  Pretty sharp!

I did some more adjustments on this replacement piece for the 460's tack molding, and then decided it wasn't bent enough, so it was taken home for more water torture.  This time the victim will either bend or break.

Pete and Fritz continued painting parts for the 160.

And the Chemistry Dept. mixed the canvas paint for the 306.

I continued plugging up holes in the tack molding on the 460.  The moldings are attached with machine screws, covered with little wooden plugs.  But many of them fell out when the old canvas was removed.  Replacement plugs are made by cutting up a 5/8" hardwood dowel, pounding them in place, and then painting them with liquid epoxy.  I had started on this last time I was out, until I was interrupted.  Both sides are now done; the ends may need some more work.

Then it was time for some plumbing.  I need to modify slightly the way the canvas is stretched.  At the east end of the car there was a pipe to keep people from plunging off the platform, but it was held in place just with ropes.  That was OK for the original purpose, but I will need to run the straps over it.  And obviously these ropes won't hold when the straps are tensioned.

Luckily the Museum has a large supply of pipe elbows, tees, and so on, so I put some together to make an unbreakable support for the cross pipe.  

Similarly at the west end:

Meanwhile Gerry was busily tacking down the canvas at the east end of the 306.  Or as he calls it, upholstering the roof.  It looks great!

Tim continued working on the 1808, but I didn't get any pictures.  Like the 306, this is a top-to-bottom restoration, which will include a new roof, of course.

And then some more painting on the 460's roof, including primer on the north side tack molding.  Since the tack molding will be partly exposed, and has to hold the tacks, it gets the real treatment of brown primer plus gloss black.

If you look closely, you may notice that the plastic is doing its job of protecting the car from dripping paint.  Nobody's perfect!

Now the next priority is that the summer operating season is approaching rapidly.  The wood cars will be in shuttle service on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, so we have less than two weeks to complete inspection on two of the cars, probably the 309 and 319.  And we still have an opening for a trainman on this cushy job, so don't let a marvelous opportunity pass you by!