Frank writes...
The "big reveal" that we've been working to make IT 1702 operational has happened, so now the story of how that transpired can be told! Unfortunately, I'm not the one to tell it, because I wasn't involved in very much of it. However, I did snap a few photos over the past few months that show some of what was done, so this is an introduction to "How to Get a Line Car Running Again."
Mechanically speaking, the "condition of the artifact" at the start of the project was not great. The 1702 has Type M control, and its C6 controllers and contactors (13 electromagnetic contacts mounted in three adjoining boxes in a 5-5-3 arrangement) were complete, but hadn't been touched since the car was retired from service in 1958. The DB-22 reverser (largely the same as the DB-20 reverser under CA&E 36 and 309, but designed for four motors instead of two) had been replaced back in the 1980s with a DB-22 rebuilt by Carl Illwitzer. But the replacement reverser had never been wired in, and the tags labeling the disconnected wires had faded into illegibility. The air system - brakes, air compressor, piping etc - and the motors hadn't been inspected in decades. The below photo shows the contactors in late November, before Gregg fixed up the curved-front covers and before any work had been done to disassemble anything.
During December, I believe the decision was made to "give it a go" and see if we could get the car running in time for the IT Society convention in April. Nobody really knew whether we could get the car running in such a short timeframe, so the effort was kept quiet to avoid setting expectations we couldn't meet.
Above, it's January 21st and work has started on disassembling the smallest of the three contactor boxes. Nick E is painting Glyptal insulating paint onto disassembled arc chute pieces while Zach cleans dirt off the next batch. When work started, it wasn't even clear what type of contactors the car had. We soon determined that it has DB-41 contactors, which are a very early type - possibly even the next common type to be developed after the DB-15, which was the very first production model of contactor GE produced. These are pretty similar to the DB-131 contactors under the 308 and 409, but they're wider and beefier, presumably because they were designed for four motors rather than two. They were also designed for use without a line switch, similar to the DB-15.
A lot of people pitched in on this project, including Bob O, shown above taking a break from track work to paint more arc chute parts with Glyptal on January 21st. I know that Greg K, Norm K, Brian L, Zach E, Mikey M, and Bob S were all heavily involved in the project, and many others - some pictured in this post, some not - also contributed time as needed. It was truly a team effort.
Above, it's now February 11th and Greg K is under the car (right) working to disconnect the second contactor box. The third box, with three contactors, was formerly right over where his head is, but that had already been removed and was on the bench in the shop. Work hadn't really started yet on the two five-contactor boxes, though. You may see some legs to the left in the gauge - that's Zach E, who was working on cleaning up the valves for the 1702's air compressor. The compressor meggered okay, but the valves were stuck and the thing needed a good cleaning. Other brake work that was needed included rebuilding some slack adjusters.
Also on February 11th, here are the electromagnetic lifting coils for the first three contactors to be rebuilt. From memory, these three were all in good shape and didn't need any significant work besides a fresh coat of Glyptal. We would not be so lucky with all of them.
Above, it's February 18th and more DB-41 arc chutes are on the bench in a state of disassembly as the team gets started on rebuilding the second of the three contactor boxes. More importantly, though I didn't get a photo of it, February 17th was the first day the 1702's air compressor ran. There were some leaks in the system, but nothing that wasn't fixable, and the car was successfully pumped up and the brakes tested.
On February 25th, I snapped this photo of Zach E cleaning up more arc chute parts. A completed arc chute is in the foreground. It's hard to see, but on the bench right behind where he's working is a little plastic "shoebox" atop an orange box. That's a tumbler, of sorts, where arc chute hardware (especially 14-24 brass machine screws, which GE really liked to use but are almost impossible to find nowadays) was put into a vibrating "bath" of coarse abrasive grit for a day or two to clean it of paint and dirt.
Here's one of the rebuilt arc chutes. Compare this with the first photo in this post! You can also compare it with the photo of the DB-131 contactors underneath the 308 here.
Above, it's February 25th and the first of the three contactor boxes is going back together. The coils have been re-mounted along with the armature and rocker arm assemblies. There's an awful lot yet to do, though, and this is just the first - and smallest - of the contactor boxes. Brian L and Mikey M worked extensively on the reassembly of these boxes, including cleaning up and repairing (or replacing from a very limited supply of spares) any rocker arm and interlock parts that needed it.
On March 3rd, you can see more work on reassembling contactors. Toward the upper right is an armature and rocker arm, while at lower center is a replacement shunt. Some of the 1702's contactors had broken shunts, meaning the motor current was going through the rocker arm pins - yikes! Greg K flattened copper pipe over the ends of braided cable to create replacement shunts.
The arc chute assembly line is still hard at work - seven are completed as of March 3rd.
On the same day, Zach E and electronics wiz Bob S are using Bob's vintage turbo encabulator (with optional pentametric fan) to test electromagnetic coils for the contactors. I believe only one or two were bad, needing replacement from stock, but a number of them had bad string banding, which is obvious from a glance in the left foreground.
It's March 10th, and Nick E, Matt K, Norm K, and Greg K are working to decipher the DB-22 reverser, which has been removed from the car and set on the bench. Norm's extensive experience with various types of MU systems, combined with information gleaned from the DB-22 reverser under IT 233, enabled him and Greg to wire this thing up, installing as much wiring as possible on the bench and then the remainder under the car.
Also on March 10th, we get a demonstration of how to replace string banding on contactor coils. The coil is mounted on a lathe; Nick E (right foreground) turns the coil slowly by quickly cycling the lathe on/off; Zach (center) feeds string onto the coil as it turns; and Greg (right background) unwinds the spool of string. This is the kind of thing you get really good at just as the project gets completed.
It's St. Patrick's Day, and Norm and Greg are finishing up the wiring to the reverser. Here, Greg is under the car while Norm is outside.
And now they've switched places. Being able to work over the new concrete floor is great, but this isn't exactly comfortable.
The following Saturday, several of the project workers embarked on a marathon session until 2am hooking everything up. More work ensued the following day, April 14th, and that evening, the car was towed out to live wire on the streetcar line, pumped up, and tried out. It ran!
I filmed the above video from a golf cart driven by Nick as we paced the 1702 around the streetcar line. Spring tension in the trolley base needed to be adjusted, and the retriever had to be monkeyed with to get it to work right, but otherwise, the car ran flawlessly.
