Return to the 451

Frank writes…

It’s been a few months since we made any progress on the 451 - time-sensitive projects such as inspections, prepping the 321 for Villa Park, and public operations took precedence. But the 451 is still very much a priority.

Sunday was a slow day in the car shop, as several of the regulars were in Pullman working the IC MU exhibit there. The weather was also very hot and muggy. But I spent much of the afternoon needle-chipping in the 451. Above, the “before” picture of the #2 end of the main compartment.

And here’s the “after” photo. The odious job of needle- chipping the ceiling is now complete. Of course, we still need to finish needle-chipping the walls - that’s the next task - and wire-wheeling it all to get it ready for paint. Want to help? I've got good news! With temperatures as hot as they are, I got the okay to move the department's portable A/C unit into the 451. We can now cool down the interior of the car, to some degree anyway, making it one of the nicer places at IRM to work on a hot day. As far as you know. Anyway, if you think you might be interested in helping move the 451 project forward, drop me a line and I'll give you some specifics.

In other news, Richard, Brian, and Joel were out, and conducted some repairs to the overhead over at Electric Park. Joel was running the 431 for Take the Throttle trips while Mikey ran the 3142 and, later in the day, the 144 in regular service.