Sunday Update

Frank writes...

Sunday was yet another cold and rainy day at the museum, but as it turned out, I was able to get a lot done.

The big news, as shown above, is that Greg and I got all of the seats reinstalled in the 460's smoker. We've still got some tools and other stuff in the compartment, and the door to the platform still needs to be installed (more on that later), but the car is quite close to being ready for service. Greg and I also took a look at the roof, where there are a few minor tasks still outstanding. A crimp connector that was needed for one of the rooftop cables was ordered by Joel.

Many thanks to John Naglich Sr. for ordering a couple of test light bulbs that are 25W, 34V. The 450s came from the CA&E with 25W, 30V bulbs, but those have proven impossible to find without placing a custom order for some 10,000, so 25W 34V bulbs will work. They'll last longer, too, although they're slightly dimmer. I tried out one in the third fixture from the left to see how it works; it fits in the fixture just fine and is slightly dimmer, but it shouldn't be noticeable. This also shows the vent cover in the ceiling that my father repainted, and which I reinstalled.

After dinner, we turned over the door to the platform and painted the interior side of it with blue/grey paint. It looks pretty sharp! The other side of this door will need a coat or two of red, and then it will be ready to reinstall.

I also painted the blower compartment door with fresh blue/grey paint. And by the time this was done, I'd also reinstalled the first aid kit box (shown) and the elevated license.

Finally, a big thank you to Tim Fennell of the Coach Department for dropping off some nice hardware for hanging signs on steel cars using magnets. Just a few minutes drilling holes in our nice new display sign for Shaker Heights 18, and voila, we have an easily removable and attractively mounted sign. Thanks, Tim!

Of course, as always, there was a lot of other activity I failed to photograph. Tim was hard at work in the 1808; Gregg was up on the roof of the 1702, removing old tongue-and-groove slats from the roof; and Frank and Tim were in the shop working on assembling rebuilt doors for the Kansas City PCC. Joel, Zach, and Nick spent part of the day leading an "intro to streetcars" class for new volunteers interested in operations, and then later they were working on various things, including installing more vestibule components on the 757. Nathan and Mikey were working on the rebuild of the small forklift and Doodlebug Bob and Mikey were working more on the control system for the Class B.