Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Visit to 315 at Rockhill

On my trip to Boston, I was able to stop at the Rockhill Trolley Museum to see the progress that has been made on the restoration of CA&E 315, and it's very impressive.  The car is being restored to its as-built condition, and the work is beautiful.



This particular car has dual sets of DB-131 contactors, and the boxes are the same as on the 308.


The roof looks great too:


The original ceiling panels and many other parts are neatly stored nearby.


New ceiling panels were fabricated, then painted and stenciled by hand, and then installed.  The result is stunning.




The wall panels have all been stripped down, then stained and varnished.
This is the smoker section:




With all of the seat frames removed, it was relatively easy to remove the covers on the heaters.  This is something we've never done with the wood cars.


The toilet compartment on this car was removed by the CA&E in later years, so it has been rebuilt.  Looks just like new.




This is really something to look forward to!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Randy, I believe that their plans were to paint this car with linseed oil paints. Was there any discussion of this? What was your impression of the paint? Thanks, David Johnston

Randall Hicks said...

Well, it's hard to say since it was rather dark in the barn, and I didn't focus on the exterior, which has been painted for a while. The paint now appears to be somewhat dull, but I'm sure that will change with a few coats of varnish.

Ted Miles said...

Randy,
I just love all those stained glass eyebrow windows; at least some of IRM's cars still have them. Maybe some day they can be uncovered.

Ted Miles, long time IRM Member

Randall Hicks said...

I'm sorry, Ted, but there's nothing to uncover. However, I covered this whole subject a couple of months ago in "More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Streamer Sash".

Anonymous said...

The car is painted with linseed oil-based paint called Allback linseed oil paint "Allback Linseed Paint: Exterior/Interior" https://www.solventfreepaint.com/linseed_paint.htm

It will probably require one more coat which we hope to get applied this year.

Joel Salomon

Randall Hicks said...

Thanks, Joel!