The Fix Is In

Walkover seat replacement is a complicated process, and the parts are heavy.  But I needed the exercise.

For the seat that we saw last time, which had been removed, the first step was to separate the back from the frame.  The back, like all of them in the main compartment, was professionally recovered many years ago, and they're all in excellent condition.  So I carried the seat out to the platform, removed the back, and carried the heavy cast-iron frame out of the car and to the ground.  Then I brought a replacement frame (originally from car 300) from storage to the 309, and put it more or less in place as seen here.  It's several inches into the aisle.  Then I managed to fit the back between the levers.  It's easier to insert and tighten the screws on the inside end of the back when there's more room between the seat and the wall.

Then the frame was moved into place, and carefully attached to the wall and the aisle bracket.

Finally, the arm rest was attached with a dozen screws, and the cushion put into place.  With some lubrication, it moves back and forth just the way it should.  Then I sat down to test it.  Whew!

And you know this has to be the same seat because the L7 hasn't moved.  I believe I have just three more to do in the 309, and several months to do it.

Meanwhile, back in Barn 4, the 306 team were hard at work.  Here Steve Keller and Fred are checking the electrical connections to the controller.

They also checked the alignment of the various parts of the pilot.  Here we see Gerry checking part of it; not shown are John and the others.

The Pennsy tool car looks great, at least the exterior does.

In the distance we see the 1268 and the 65.

Tim continued working on the 1268; these are seat cushions he assembled today.

He's usually moving too fast to be captured on camera.

Walkover Wednesday

As I mentioned before, several of the walkover seats in the 309 need some attention.  This one had pulled out from the wall, and I had drilled and plugged the holes last time.  It took a while, but I got the frame reattached firmly.  And this is the only frame that was loose.  Fritz helped me with some of the hardware.

I took an inventory of the walkovers.  It appears that 13 of the 22 are now in good condition and work properly.  Some of the others can be fixed with better lubrication and/or some shims, but in a few cases serious repairs are needed. 

Some of the frames have bent or broken parts, or don't mesh properly.  Luckily, we have several good frames that we got from Mid-Continent a few years ago, and they may be the solution.

And I never pass up a chance to go into teacher mode.  Here we see a good frame.  Most of the movable parts of the frame are identified with red letters.  A is the center rod, which rotates when the back is moved back or forth.  The back is attached to the two brackets labeled C, and those brackets move in grooves in the stationary frames at each end.  Bracket C has a vertical slot in which a pin attached to the top of lever B rides up and down.  The two levers B are attached to rod A, and this is designed to keep the back parallel to the axis of rotation.  But for various reasons, the pins in lever B get worn out and come out of the slot, or lever B gets bent.  And then bracket C can come out of the grooves, and things go awry.  (Aside: just to make things more complicated, we also have parts that move brackets D back and forth to change the position of the seat cushion, and to move the footrests back and forth.  This will be on the next quiz!)

But enough of that.  Here's a picture of the new wall for the White Castle facade, to give you a better idea of how it's arranged relative to the existing buildings.  This will be a big improvement to the neighborhood!

Meanwhile, back in Barn 4, the guys were working on Michigan Electric 28.  The ceiling will be in two layers, and you can see that the first has been attached.  The second layer is being prepared, and will be glued onto the first. Here Pete is working on stripping paint from the bulkhead.

And in the other direction, facing aft, there's still a lot to do, but they're making great progress.

Here Fritz is working on refinishing trim parts for the 28's interior.

And Tim was hard at work preparing new seats for the 1268.

And, of course, several other things were going on.  It's never a dull day at IRM.

Tuesday Report

Currently, my main project is fixing some of the problems with the walkover seats in the 309.  Over the years, the seats in the 309 have given me more trouble than all the other cars combined.  And this is a good time to make some repairs.

There are several that cannot be walked over, because the seat back brackets come out of the track in the castings attached to the wall, as seen here.  Some of these seats have been red-tagged, others haven't.

This seat wasn't tagged, but the frame is pulling out of the wall.   That's not good!  I removed the back and the frame, and set them aside.

I drilled out the holes in the wood, and inserted dowel plugs and epoxied them in place.  Next time, when the glue has dried, I should be able to drill new holes and re-attach the frame.  The pedestal also needs work.

And I wasn't alone in Barn 8.  Steve Smunt continues working on the 277.  I wasn't able to get good pictures of what he was doing without interrupting him, but I hope he'll send me some that he took.

Meanwhile, among other things, Tim continues restoring the 1268.  The floor looks fantastic.

And with the new (temporary) arrangement of cars, we have an interesting comparison between a standard heavyweight interurban car and a later lightweight.  

Finally...

Friends, are you troubled by anxiety and despair?  Struggling with fits of anger and frustration?  Don't know where to turn?  We have the answer -- join IRM!!!  Our trained professionals can provide therapy sessions that are tailored to your particular emotional needs.

Here, for instance, a man we'll call "Steve" is pounding on the frame of a streetcar with a heavy sledge hammer, trying to straighten it out.  You can sense the anxiety and worry just melting away.

(The therapy session actually went on much longer, but you get the idea.)

In reality, of course, this is Steve Iversen working on the Kansas City PCC, which still needs major structural repairs.  And he drives up from Oklahoma to work on it.  That's dedication!   

More Bearing Work

Frank writes...

Work continues on getting the new axle cap bearings on the 309 to cooperate. A huge THANK YOU goes out to everyone who worked on the car on Saturday. The #2L bearing, which was installed with difficulty a few weeks ago, continued to run hot on a Saturday test trip. After the trip it took more than two hours to remove the bearing, as it was practically clamped to the axle, but the guys managed to get that done Saturday evening and replaced it with one of the old, worn bearings. The new #2L bearing halves will be soldered back together and machined again, first to open up the inside diameter and also to shave down the thickness of the collar.

So, late on Sunday afternoon, it was time for another test trip, this time to check out the two new axle cap bearings on the #1 axle. Thanks to Joel and Richard for all their help with this! Above, the car is spotted out at signal 251. What a beauty!

Unfortunately, the news - while not terrible - was not great. The #1L bearing was running warm (though not hot, like the #2L bearing had been running). The first attempt to address the issue was for me to crawl under the car and try putting more oil in the waste. Sure enough, the waste wasn't quite as wet as we'd like. It turns out there's a small pinhole or crack in this axle cap casting that prevents much oil from accumulating in the well. Whoops. We put the car back on the pit so we can remove that axle cap, inspect it, and plug the hole. We also want to check out the wear pattern to make sure the bearing is wearing properly. The photo above was taken by Zach and shows Richard, with yours truly somewhere there under the end of the car.

In other news, progress continues on rebuilding the grid box for the 319. Above, Will (left) and Brian spent a lot of time between them using the surface grinder to even out the contact surfaces on all our #4 grid elements. Roland did a bunch more grid elements on Saturday, with the result that as of Sunday evening, this job is complete. Many thanks to Brian, Roland, Will, and Joel for all their work on this! Joel is ordering new mica tubes this week, so with luck, it won't be long until the new grid box can be assembled and put back under the 319, returning it to regular operation.

In other news, family members and friends of the late Bob Heinlein gathered for a memorial trip on IT 415.

Thanks to Ray, Julie, and Joel for their work organizing this.

And finally, here's a photo of the rapid progress on the South Storage Building:

Before you know it, the storage building will be complete and full of south. Right?

Two Days in One

I was out on Tuesday, and moved the 309 westward so I could start on replacing the bearings for the #1 machine.  That was easy enough.  

After moving the car, however, things became more difficult.  The #1 case was too far to one side (north) to fit the replacement bearings, which have much thicker flanges (as designed) than the old worn-out ones.  I tried a couple of different methods of moving the machine, but none of them worked.  

Here we see the nice shiny bearing section of the axle.  (This is the gear side.)  But my inability to get the new bearings inserted was rather aggravating.  The other weekday guys were succeeding with their usual tasks, apparently.  So there was no post for Tuesday.  

But on Thursday things started to go better.  Having pondered the problem, I rigged up a better system for moving the motor case, and parts began to fall into place.  Here we see the two halves of the gear-side bearing in place, before reattaching the cap.  It was still a lot of work, but when progress is being made you just gotta keep going.

I have observed that when trying to insert the bearings, as in the picture above, there are exactly two possible situations.  Take your pick:

1) The bearing is so tight that repeated pounding with large hammers has little effect.

2) The bearing is so loose that it rotates under gravity and tries to jump out of the machine.

Towards the end I was somewhat tired, but Phil Albamonte wandered by to see what I was doing, and helped by finishing up tightening the huge bolts that hold the caps in place.  Thanks!

The car should therefore be ready to move itself outside, where we can check the waste bundles and lubricate the motor caps.  Success!

Under the 309

On Saturday, a lot of work got done on the 309.  I was busy most of the day and only got a chance to take two pictures.   The main thing is that we got the next bearing for machine #2 installed.  Dan Fenlaciki was an invaluable help here, as he can keep pounding parts into place longer than anybody I know.  In the picture below, you can see the bright outer surface of the bearing flange, but unfortunately that's about it.  But in any case the car can now move under its own power again.

We also had a lot of help from Ted and Ashtin, who did most of the inspection work on the car.  I was glad to assist them, of course, but it's always good to have new people participating in the inspection process.  They often notice something I've overlooked.

Joel said that the 309 will be staying over the pit this next week, so I'm hoping to install new bearings on the #1 motor if I can.  Stay tuned!

I Had Better Luck With This Last Time

The 309 has been moved over the pit for inspection, and I would like to take this opportunity to replace three motor bearings.  One was done several months ago, when the car was still in the barn.  It ought to be easier over the pit, but you never know.

Here are some progress photos taken under the car.  We start by removing the motor cap on the gear side of motor #2.  You can see where a small jack has been placed to take the weight off the bearing.

Then the three bolts holding the motor cap in place can be loosened.  The cap is carefully pulled out and placed on wood blocks, then slid out of the way to the left.  Be careful not to knock it over, it might land on your foot.  When it's removed, we see the half of the bearing that has the opening for lubrication.  That's where the waste bundles press against the axle and keep it wet.

Then, the other old bearing half can be removed, and we see the axle.  It doesn't appear to have any scoring or uneven wear, so that's good.

The problem now, however, is that there's not quite enough room between the motor frame and the inside surface of the wheel to fit the new bearing in place.  That's because the old bearings were all very worn, allowing too much slack action for the motor, side to side.

I tried to move the motor frame somewhat to the left, but so far without success.  I'm hoping the shop guys can rig up something better, or maybe just put more muscle into it.

Of  course, several other weekday guys were hard at work, but I didn't take time to photograph them.  You just have to be there in person.

New Bearings

I finally got the remaining three bearings for the 309 machined -- aren't they pretty?

Now I need to drill two alignment holes in each one, using the big drill press.  I have the holes located already.  The original bearings have four holes so that they're interchangeable left to right, but these replacements are carefully machined with different inner diameters, since that's the way the axles were turned down, so they each have a specific destination.  And then they can be unsoldered and installed.

The Heat Is On

The next step in the long-running 309 bearing project is to solder the bearings halves together so that they can be machined accurately.  To do this, we need the big oven.  Without it, I don't know what we'd do.

We have special solder paste which can be used to attach the two halves.  Then the work has to be joined, and these are heavy cast brass parts.  That's why the oven is necessary.  Here's what the bearing looks like inside the oven.  The halves are joined with pipe straps so they'll remain perfectly aligned.

It takes a long time for the oven to get up to temperature, and then a long time for the work to cool down again.  So I wasn't exactly overworked.  But I don't want to walk away from the hot oven for very long.  One problem is that it's impossible to see what's going on inside.  I certainly don't want to open the door when the temperature is near 600 degrees.  But today the first of the new bearings was put together.

Of course, several other projects were in progress.  As always, Tim was at work on his L cars.  And here Victor shows off the horn for the CGW snow plow which he plans to install.

Victor and Bill have also been hard at work on the Pennsy tool car.  It's been at least partially painted and lettered, as seen here.  As tool cars go, this is a jewel!

Photo by Bob Albertson

And work continues on the interior of the 277.  Back about 15 years ago, I spent some time restoring one side of the main compartment -- work which stopped when the Trolleyville collection suddenly became available.  Gregg recently restored the baggage compartment, and now work on the main compartment has resumed, being done by Steve Smunt, whom I remember from the early days, and Paul Hough.

I went over there to look at what they've done so far, and provide some advice and assistance.  It's really good news that work continues on one of the premier items in the collection.

Finally, it was another beautiful fall day at IRM.  The pumpkin train will be running again this weekend, so don't miss it!

Sunday Scenes

I was out of town for the past two weeks, but now it's time to get back to work.  One of the current projects, as noted before, is to reupholster all of the seats in the three CA&E St. Louis cars.  Here's what the interior of the 451 looks like before starting.  I worked for a while on this.

The Shay was fired up for the first time this season on Saturday.  Here we see some visitors watching as it pulls the caboose train out of Barn 9.

The 36 was over the pit for inspection.  Most of it went well, of course, but our sharp-eyed inspectors noticed that a leaf spring on the trailer truck had several broken leaves, so this car is out of service until that can be replaced.  Finding a leaf spring of the correct type may not be easy.

The next project was to install the new bearings in the 309.  Here we are sitting on the tail track, waiting for our turn over the pit.  This is still the pride of the fleet, I think.

Turning around, we have a sight you probably don't see at many large museums: our Executive Director is mowing the lawn.  Keeps him out of trouble.

Since the construction of the Barn 4 extension, the trolley wire over the pit lead track has been deactivated.  So getting equipment in and out requires the help of a locomotive.  Here the 36 is slowly on its way back to Barn 8.  You can't see him, but Frank is in the cab of the 36, so he can apply the brakes if necessary.  

 to be continued....

Frank writes...

When I arrived, I helped adjust the brakes on the 36 and take a look at the broken leaf spring. The car can move around without any real risk, since only one of the three leaf springs on that side of the truck has any broken pieces, but we still don't want to run the car at high speed in this condition. For better or worse, fixing this will likely require more time than anything; we need to find a shop truck, put the 36 on that, then take apart the 36's truck to replace the spring before reversing everything. At least the affected truck is the trailer truck, so we won't have to pull motors.

Anyway, let's pick up where my father left off. When we got the 309 on the pit, we jacked up the motor to pull the axle cap. I owe a huge THANK YOU to Zach and Will, who helped with this dirty and exhausting job. Zach had done this kind of truck work before, which was good, because that meant one of us knew what he was doing! We got the axle cap off and, luckily, we were able to slide the new bearing into place without having to pull the motor farther away from the axle. The photo above shows the new bearing in place after the axle cap was reinstalled.

Here are the halves of the old bearing. Obviously we'll hang onto this, both in case we have any issues with the new bearing but also long-term just to have as a working spare.

The car motivated itself outside the door so that we could oil all the axle caps. It's nice to see a CA&E car on third rail territory without that pesky overhead wire over it, isn't it?

Zach took this photo of yours truly putting oil into the axle cap with the new bearing. It was just about time for dinner at this point, so we moved the 309 back over to Barn 8. At some point we'll want to do a few test trips, regularly checking the bearing temperature with the laser thermometer, to make sure that this bearing is performing as expected.

And now for something completely different.

After dinner, I grabbed the vermilion/orange paint we had matched a couple of months ago and headed over to Shaker Heights 63. I was able to roll the entire side of the car below the belt rail, minus the doors, in about an hour. It will obviously need at least one, possibly two, more coats, but that was expected given how poorly orange tends to cover. I'll also need to follow up with a brush to get all the nooks and crannies, but that's also just part of the process. Stay tuned for more updates on the orangeification of the 63.