Monday Report

As reported earlier, lots of effort is being put into getting ready for Happy Holiday Railway.  New for this year, I think, is that we will have the 3142 and an interurban car (NS or CA&E steel) on the car line.  I signed up to be the North Shore motorman for this Friday, and I could use a good conductor -- not one who puts up too much resistance.

Anyway, the first job for Monday was to heat up the big oven and unsolder the remaining two bearings.  After a few hours, they came apart neatly as seen here.  Of course, then they take a long time to cool down.

But by early afternoon, all three remaining sets of bearings were ready for installation, whenever we can get the 309 over the pit.  

So next, let's see the progress that Tim is making on his re-restoration of the 1268.  He reports, among other things, that the wiring arrangements for the lights in this car are terrible, partly due to original construction, and made worse by later rebuilding.  It's hard to see from the photographs, so you'll just have to take his word for it.  That's good enough for me.

But he's also rebuilding all of the windows back to the semi-convertible form that the car had back in the WWI period and until the middle twenties.  The clutter in the background may make it hard to pick out, but here the upper sash have been partially pushed up into the ceiling pockets, for improved ventilation.

And here, the main sash is in place, and there's a nice gap between the lower and upper sash, while still protecting the passengers from direct drafts.  Much healthier.

And so, once this restoration is complete, he'll be ready to deal with the next pandemic.

Work on the 306 continues to go well.  It's over the pit, and here Phil and Gerry are looking at the wiring that needs to be connected.  Mostly it's the grid boxes, which will be reinstalled soon.

Looking towards one of the trucks.  The car ran under its own power briefly at IRM before restoration started, so we're pretty sure the motors and mechanical systems are still in good condition.  Once the line breaker and other electrical parts are connected, we should be good to go.  

Inside, Phil points out the underlayment for the ceiling, which is all in place.  The ceiling panels are stacked in the shop, and ready for installation.  

And here is the 28, temporarily at the west end of 43.  It will be moving back to the heated part of the shop soon.

Say, this is an interesting car.  Anybody know where I could get a good book about Michigan Electric???