Big Barn News

Frank writes…

I spent most of my Sunday afternoon needle-chipping inside the 451, as I am wont to do these days, but that wasn’t the big news. The big news was that on Friday, we got occupancy permission for Barn 15! The barn is complete and ready to fill!

And the guys didn't lose any time. Lee and Keats from the Diesel Department were hard at work switching coaches and diesels into the new barn with ComEd 15, so it was something like one-third full by the time I arrived, as you can see.

An Electric Car Department crew including Brian, Greg, and others was also using the 25-tonner to pull electric cars out from here, there, and everywhere as part of a daunting series of switch moves. Right now, Barn 13 is about half electric cars and half steam-road equipment, but the electric cars that are currently in Barns 11 and 14 will mostly be consolidated into 13 along with some cars that are now going into indoor storage for the first time.

Above is one of our stranger tools, the "Clark bar." In cases where you can't affix a towbar to a streetcar in the normal fashion - like, when you're moving a particularly wretched body that doesn't have a structurally sound end - then you use this thing. At near left, Zach is carrying a big piece of thick sheet metal bent into a "C" shape. That goes around either the axle or the end of the truck frame. The long pole being carried by Greg and Richard is then bolted to that, and serves as the tow bar. Voila. In this case, the guys were going to use this to tow the Rio open car, which moved over a track in Barn 13. Then, the Tri City Railway car was finally moved inside after about 25 years of outdoor storage. Unfortunately, I missed that part of the fun because I needed to get back to work.

And here are the results: two more "bays," or windows' worth, of the 451's main compartment ceiling needle-chipped. Part of this was done by Ashtin, who was needle-chipping in the car before I arrived and he left to help with switching. Richard also helped with some advice on paint matching - we already have the blue wall color matched, but we need to match the original ceiling color. And in related news, I spoke with Buzz about getting vinyl masks made so we can spray the lettering on the outside of the car. Also, after dinner I moved the table full of tools and parts (the one visible at bottom left) out of the car and set it up along the barn wall. I also moved the remaining loose bulkhead seats out of the smoker.

In addition to the opening of Barn 15, there's more Buildings & Grounds news to report. Joel took us on a "hard-hat tour" of the space that was once the wood shop, then the signal shop, and is now being improved for use as an office and conference room. Above, we're looking southeast at the two offices that will be located on the east side of the building looking out at Yard 5.

And looking in the opposite direction, this open space will be used as a conference room. Greg, Brian, and Joel are standing in front of the doorway into the current office. The former denizens of this space, Tiger and Slurpy the cats, sure wouldn't recognize it now! Finally, Joel went went me over to Barn 2 and retrieved the 451's MS switch cover and controller cover. Many thanks to the diesel guys, who during the week took these items to the paint shop and got them matched with good-quality paint. The next thing to do will be to procure a gallon of that stuff to paint the 451's doors, the 460's doors, the 451's letterboard lettering, and any other items on the two cars that need red.