Back to Work

I must say it's nice to be able to get back to work at the car shop after my spring break in Florida.  As usual, plenty of things were happening, but here's a few highlights.

I was finally able to megger the control jumper I rewired a couple of months ago, and it's ready for service.

Many of the regular projects were being worked on, but the only one I got a picture of was this door, one of the several that John is making for the 306.  

The next major project for the CA&E wood cars will be to take the motors out of the 308 so they can be rewound and refurbished.  In order to do that, we have to pull the truck out from under the car, and in order to do that, we have to remove the third rail beams, steps, and pilot.  Among other things.

I was able to disconnect everything and loosen the bolts holding both beams to the truck, as seen here.  Lifting them down safely will be a two-man job, but that should go quickly.  The steps are not hard to remove.  I only detached one, since the other is where we enter the car, but it won't take long.  The pilot is going to be more of a challenge.  Then there's the motor leads and the brake rigging.

And I should remind everybody that this project is possible due to the many generous contributions from people like you.  Motors will always be an ongoing maintenance issue.

Then I started stripping a door from the 460, but this turns out to be more difficult than we had thought.  The paint was badly alligatored, but it still doesn't want to let go even with the application of heat.  And I hate working with chemical stripper, especially in the confines of the shop, so this will take some work.

Nearby, Dan Fenlaciki was working on stripping a couple of the clerestory windows from the Tri-City car 483.  This was another time-consuming project.

But it looks nice when done.

Before and after:

Dan wants to try to raise funds for indoor storage for the car, and this is a first step.

Finally, Dave Diamond and his crew were working on cleaning up the kitchen side of the Central Avenue Diner, as seen here.  Old appliances were removed so that they can evaluate the underlying structure and make any necessary repairs.  This work will continue as time permits.

If you don't have time to stop in, we have a take-out menu!

This is really going to look nice!