Changes to the Neighborhood

Frank writes…

Sunday was the last day of steam operation at IRM for the year; there was also a “horn blow” over in Electric Park, with various people over there tooting their own horns thanks to the hardworking air compressors in ComEd 4. I’m not sure whether that was really a public event, as I hadn’t read anything about it in advance. But closer to home, right in the Barn 4 Electric Car Shop, a major reshuffling has been afoot.

Above, we're at the southeast corner of Barn 4, in the new addition, looking west-northwest. On Saturday, the guys moved Michigan Electric 28 (visible at left) and Cleveland 4223, which is behind it, one spot further east. Both cars will end up one more berth to the east - the 28's long-term home will be where the photographer is standing - but, as you can tell, more stuff needs to be moved out of the way first. But don't get used to this view, because it's about to change.

About an hour later, we're over at the northeast corner of the building looking at the 28, the 306, and CA&E 460, which is on the pit for its annual inspection. But something's missing...

You guessed it - Green Bay & Western 109, the occupant of the east berth on track 42 since May of last year, has moved on. It was switched over to its new home in Barn 3, where it will serve as a display piece and as classroom space. It does look pretty snazzy out in the sunlight. Many thanks to the folks on the switch crew who made this happen! Everyone is glad to see the car moved to public display where it can be enjoyed by our visitors. Stay tuned for news on what will take the 109's place.

One of my projects for the day was working on the two brackets for the 453 we received from ECTM, as noted last week. Here they are.

And here's the first bracket installed on the car. It's the vertical angle-iron piece running top-to-bottom down the middle of the step well; you can probably see the nice new hardware holding it in place at the top. Unfortunately, we ran out of the correct type of bolts, so we'll need to install the second bracket next time. A huge THANK YOU goes out to Mikey, Jimmy, and Drew, who were indispensable in this installation project.

On the other side of the car, here's an action shot of Mikey using a hand sledge to drive the remnants of the old bolts out of the holes. Those bolts had been torched off and had then rusted in place, so driving them out was quite a chore. Jimmy (who also took turns at the sledge) holds the light while Drew looks on.

Another task I had was cleaning up around the 451. The car will be moved over to Barn 8 for a little while to allow a high-priority project into Barn 4 (again, don't touch that dial - all will be revealed in time). Many, many thanks to Richard, who helped me load baggage racks from the car onto shelving in the "lean-three." And thanks to Zach and Drew, who helped me install two of the four newly built third rail beams for the car. Above is the first...

...and here's the second. Whew! The motorized pallet jack that my father picked up a few years ago was extremely helpful with this job. The last two beams will wait for next time.

And finally, I went over to the 18 after dinner and took down the signal bell cord. That allowed me to remove two of the leather straps that need replacing - one was essentially hanging by a thread and the other had parted entirely, and was held together by tape. You can see one of the straps that's still in good shape at the top left of this photo, for what it's worth.

109 Express

Today's update on Green Bay & Western 109 is a bit of an "express" update, coming as always courtesy of our intrepid investigative reporter, Gregg Wolfersheim:

In our last episode, we had Jack attempting to install window hardware. He is slowly accomplishing that.

Another view of the sash with some of the hardware installed.

Both of the stoves now have their sheet metal wall panels installed. Also, the pipe guardrails are in place. We're awaiting the cabinets with a countertop to be installed where the bay windows were. Electrical work is next for a few outlets and additional lighting.

Green Bay 109 Update

Our indefatigable investigative reporter, Gregg Wolfersheim, is back at it, relaying news about progress on the Green Bay car. I think we can all agree that at this point, thanks to the amount of time it's spent in the Electric Car Shop, it's really an electric car. That's how that works, right?

Here we see Jack putting the trim over the North side of the 109. Last week he did the south side. Each piece had to be custom fitted to the side and existing vertical trim, this took all day!

Inside, the hanging kerosene light fixture is finally up. We located some fonts which are of two different styles.

And, we now have heat at the east end of the car. We still need to apply a sheet metal heat deflector behind both stoves and then reinstall the guard rails.

I removed the painted over upper sash to get at the stained glass. The railroad had soldered a metal sheet over the inside of the colored glass. I removed it and then cleaned up the area.

This is from the outside looking against the interior lighting 

After stripping the paint from the inner sash, I put it back in. Here's the view from the inside.

We only have about half of the hardware for the sash latches. Some were twisted like this one. Jack and I straightened most of them today. Several were reinstalled, with a few more to go next week. I'll have more pics as we finish them up.

Barn 4 Coach Update

Joel was despondent at the thought that everyone's favorite railroad passenger coach, Green Bay & Western 109, might be departing the Barn 4 Electric Car Shop soon for "Pullman greener" pastures. We told him he really shouldn't worry! While he recovers his composure, our favorite freelance photographer, Gregg Wolfersheim, has sent along a progress report.

We have Ralph on his knees applying a coat of varnish to the lower baseboard area.

Once the varnish was dry, I started priming the floor. First was doing the edge by hand.

Then I followed with a roller doing the middle.

An hour later, and it was done.

A couple of days later, the same routine with Tile Red floor paint. The edges are first.....

And, again rolling the middle.

This was after a second coat was applied. There's just a little bit left to do at the far end behind our partition and around the stove.

The demonstration gas light fixture is up on the ceiling. Unfortunately, the part that attaches to the stem in the middle is not around. We had one we thought would work, but it has a different set of threads that won't screw into this bracket. So, we're trying to locate the correct one.

These are the trim pieces we had made for the arched windows. The thin straight pieces at the left go between the right and left hand curved pieces.

Some of the precut pieces before priming.

Jack was busy today installing these trim pieces on the south side of the car. Soon they will be painted green to match the rest of the car.

GB&W 109 Update

We know what you're thinking - "please, please tell me the Green Bay & Western car is still in Barn 4 being worked on!" Well, we're all in luck, because it's right where it's been for the last hmhmbhm months, in the Electric Car Shop - and our faithful freelance reporter, Gregg Wolfersheim, has the scoop on what's been happening with this restoration project:

In our last episode of the big green car in barn 4, we were in the process of sanding the floor. Here is a close up showing the holes where the old picnic benches and seats were in the upper left of this photo. More in the center you can see the outline of the original car seat pedestal by the oval indentation.

Some of the components of a gas overhead light being refurbished. We have two and a half sets. I'm "kit bashing" them to make a complete one. This will be installed in the middle of the car as a display. Originally the car had five of these.

The tin cover was removed on the ceiling, providing this blast from the past! A little clean up and painting before the lamp is mounted is progressing.

At the east end of the car, the toilet compartment was removed many years ago by the railroad. The roof overhang existed, but minus the windows that allowed lighting into the area. Ralph and Jack installed an unused wooden door that the General Manager had found a few years ago. It fit with very little modification to provide us with a wall partition.

Here we see Jack and Ralph playing craps. Actually, they were finish sanding with small orbital sanders some stubborn areas that the big floor sander couldn't correct.

Later, I began applying some epoxy to fill in the various screw holes, gouges and other imperfections in the floor. Next will be primer and then a coat of paint.

The numbers are now on both sides.

The main part of the lamp fixture with one of the pots re-soldered on. 

If you recall the last post from February, I showed a piece of pipe being heated, and bent. The closest one is the finished product for the east stove guard. Behind it is the one from the west stove used as a guide. Once the floor is all painted, these two will be mounted.

The Latest on the Big Green Thing

The world wonders, "what's the deal with that big green thing that's been in Barn 4 for what, like a year?" Fortunately, thanks to the tireless correspondence efforts of our intrepid staff reporter Gregg Wolfersheim (not to mention the lettering ministrations of Buzz, thanks to whom the car in question is no longer hiding its identity in shame), we have the answer! Gregg sends us the below report on Green Bay & Western 109.

We found a soft spot on the floor of 109. Here we have started to repair the sub- floor with a new piece of wood. You can see a hole below it.

This is after closing up the area.

Another area where the wall partition was in its caboose days. There were six places where the floor was cut open for some sort of support. Jack made individual pieces to fill in all of them.

Lettering was applied by Buzz.

Here is the south side. The number is a stencil at the moment. Those will be painted later.

The west end is painted green. Just the handrails and steps are left to get black.

Jack is hand sanding around the edges of the floor boards.

The beginning of creating the safety railing around the east stove. It will be similar to the other one.

Ralph and Jack using a floor sander to smooth out the wood floor. Soon we will be painting it.

Update on That Coach in Barn 4

Our intrepid reporter on all things Coach Department, Gregg Wolfersheim, has somehow found himself marooned in Barn 4, the land of electrics. Fortunately for absolutely everyone involved, though, he's not at a loss for news, because he's found a passenger car there - and it's even actively being worked on! He has sent us the below summary of recent events.

Here is the west door back in place and painted.

The inside. New molding was used to hold the bottom panel in place. The old molding was split from being nailed in place.

This is the ceiling collar for the stove pipe. I needle chipped it first, then polished it up.

The collar back in place. It now matches the other one at the east end of the car.

Awhile back, Jack made the molding that goes over the single sash. Here it has been applied, and is getting painted.

The finished product. The other side is partially done. We're trying to have a contractor make the longer ones for the double sash arches. Hopefully they will show up soon.

And, a final shot of the west end of the car. The overhang has been painted. The lower sections are next, with the railings and platform to follow in black.