Today's News Today

 Here's what was happening earlier today, Wednesday, Aug. 17.

As mentioned above, we're getting close to raising enough money to have a traction motor rewound, and put the 308 back into regular service.  The first thing to do will be to send a spare motor to the motor shop for evaluation and a quote.  I went to the container and started trying to rotate the armatures to check for any obvious problems with the commutators.  These armatures haven't rotated for a while, so it takes some torque to get them going.

The first one at the door is from the 309, and it didn't take long to find what I was looking for.  This comm has a big hole in it from a flashover here at IRM.  Ouch.

Numbers 2 and 3 were from the 318, and they may not have rotated since 1977.  I was able to rotate #3 about half-way, then it just stopped and wouldn't move.  Half of it looked fine, at least.  I could not get #2 to rotate at all.  Part of the problem is the way the motors are wedged together in the container; if we can bring them out, it will be much easier.  I have no reason to think either of these 318 motors had a flashover, but we don't know they're still good either.  So they need to be examined.

And you guessed it, #4, the farthest from the door, was the best of the lot.  The mark on the commutator is to show when I'd got it completely rotated.

So we have some work ahead of us, as expected.

Also, some of our spare motors are missing parts.  I went to the 321 and found a spare brush holder.  This one was somewhat rusted together, and put together wrong, so after some Kroil and so forth...

It looks a little better.  It still probably should be sand-blasted.

For something more amusing, Buzz showed me a window sill from the Milwaukee Road caboose he's been working on.  This sill was installed by the railroad shop when they rebuilt it most recently.

And it turns out they made it out of wood from a packing crate:

I'd call this "Cheap & Nothing Wasted", but that must be the slogan of some other railroad.

Then I went over to Barn 8 to check on a few things in the 308.  Gregg was hard at work on the IT line car again.

But while he's taking a break to work on the spray gun, we have a chance to tour the inside of the 1702.   Want to come along?   I know you do!

The interior has been carefully maintained and is close to its condition at the end of service in 1956.  The shelves and bins were used for storing parts.

Tools are stacked against the other wall.

The control position at the west (platform) end:

And at the other end.  These are C6 controllers.

The workbench:

And above it, fuses are stored by rating.

And when it gets cold, you just start burning scrap wood:

Looking out at the platform:

After Gregg had painted this side, it looks great.

Meanwhile, over in Barn 8, Tim was working as usual on the 1808.  He is applying the siding with a pneumatic nail gun.

Pete and Fritz were busy on the 160, as usual.  The #1 vestibule is basically finished and looks great.  They are very proud of the floor, among other things.

... such as the nicely repaired motorman's stool.  And the other vestibule is seeing great progress.

Finally, I should remember to thank Rick Marzec for help with the traction motors.  He was working in the model train building, but took some time to go over to the Steam Shop and let me borrow a couple of large wrenches for turning the armatures.  His help was much appreciated.

And when we're in the Steam Shop, it's nice to see a friendly smile.

In case you're wondering, this is the IC 3719.   You may recall that it was covered in the latest issue of Rail & Wire, along with a myriad of other fascinating subjects. What? You aren't subscribed to Rail & Wire as an IRM member? Well, what are you waiting for?