Feeling Blue

Frank writes...

It's Chicago, so if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes. From 80 and sunny on Saturday, it was a swift transition to low-30s and light snow on Sunday. The weather was positively miserable, windy and precipitating pretty constantly all day, so the crowd of attendees for our first non-special event day of the year was pretty small. In the shop, it was a different story - a lot was going on.

For me, it was time to break out the blue paint and get to work on the smoker of the 460. Pretty much my entire afternoon was spent proceeding slowly around the compartment with a trim roller and brush, turning almost everything blue from the bottom of the car card racks down to the heater ducts. It looks pretty sharp, if I do say so myself! This is the only one of the four preserved 450s that doesn't have a tan interior.

These first two views are looking toward the main compartment, of course. The paint on the bulkhead door was left original because it wasn't in terrible shape, or at least it didn't look terrible when it was in better shape than the walls around it. We may decide to remove that door next winter and strip and repaint it on the bench.

And here we are looking toward the end of the car. For some "before" views from last spring, click here.

Good Nick was nice enough to get a shot of me painting. The next time I'm out, I'll do a final check to make sure I didn't miss any spots, then all the masking tape will be removed and it will be time to start reinstalling the fixtures and furniture. Speaking of which...

Many thanks to the weekday "second shift" guys for completing the job of priming the baggage racks, and to Will O'Malley, who on Sunday sprayed them with silver. These are now ready to install back in the smoking compartment, after which the seats will be brought back in from the main compartment. With luck, this will all go back together quickly.

At the end of the day, I removed, wire-wheeled and primed a small ventilator cover from the 460's ceiling which had badly peeling paint. I also spent time stripping more paint off the bulkhead door from the smoker to the vestibule. When I arrived, the door was festooned with various tools and supplies from the "roof booth" which my father has occupied for the last two or three years.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a lot happening. Tim was working in the 1808, as usual. Zach was replacing a window in the 749. Nick and Greg were working on the 415, which is being prepped to move to Barn 2 for repainting; that switch move was supposed to happen Sunday but the weather put it off. They also did some troubleshooting on the CA&E steel cars, both of which were in operation at one point or another during the day. Dan was disassembling the famous Holland trolley base we received from Trolleyville that is destined someday to go atop the Tri-City car; John was finishing up with installing glass in the doors for the 306; Mikey and Jimmy were both helping with the 415; and Joel was around working on various shop tasks. Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of any of this work. Oops.

One additional piece of exciting news is shown above: the new brake shoes for Shaker Heights 18 have arrived! These were made by a foundry in Colorado using a pattern created some 15 years ago by the Seashore Trolley Museum. We went in on this order together with the Northern Ohio Railway Museum. This will allow us to replace one or two brake shoes on the 18 that aren't fit for service, meaning that - with luck - the car may see public operation this year. Stay tuned...