Vintage Transport Day

Today was the Vintage Transport Extravaganza, but despite all of the interesting cars and trucks I still managed to get some work done on the 205. I returned to working on the new windows for the east end of the car, using chemical stripper to take the old paint off of them. Kirk Warner, one of our regular readers and the leader of the CRI&P 19135 restoration, took a photo of yours truly "hard at work" in the nice air-conditioned shop:
Once these were done I took measurements for the new glass we'll have to order to glaze them, and then did some spot-priming of the window sticks I installed last week. I also briefly helped Scott Greig carry windows for CTA S-105 to Barn 2 for installation, and of course I took some time and toured the vintage vehicles on display. One of the neat things about the Extravaganza is that there are usually some interesting old trucks, as shown below left:

Hot News From IRM

It was really hot today! But since that's not unusual, we didn't let that stop us.

I mostly worked on the 757 again. I removed the newest pieces of tack molding and painted the backs with primer, then let them dry outside in the boiling sun for a while. Later, they were installed, trimmed, and the outsides were painted with primer, as shown here. After the primer has dried thoroughly, I'll caulk all the gaps, then install new tar paper. I also rechecked the measurements of the one trolley board that needs to be replaced, and discussed what type of wood to use with Bob Kutella.

And I also worked some more on the roof of the 321. To the left, the first new pieces of wood are shown as a test fit. These were cut from 6/4 ash on the big band saw. The originals are too badly split from the hundreds of nails driven into them to reuse. Obviously some adjustments will be needed, but it will go together well. I also spent some time removing all remaining tar paper from the center section of the roof. A lot of new wood will be required, that much is certain.

Rising From The Ashes

An article summarizing the 309's restoration, written by Frank, has now been published here on the railroad.net website. Enjoy!

More Work on 757

I spent almost all day working on the tack molding again. All pieces are now cut to length and installed. I need to remove the newer ones and paint the backs with primer, then sand all the edges smooth; that will take less than a day, I should think.


Another thing that needs to be done on the 757 is to repair or replace the end windows; all four have wooden frames that are badly rotted, at least the bottom rail and the ends of the stiles. To the right, we see the hand of Henry Vincent pointing out the bad areas, and to the left, the man himself is starting to remove a window for repair.





One of the main reasons the 757 has been out of service is that the compressor armature shorted out. (That means the air pump which supplies compressed air for the brake system is no longer functional.) Fortunately, we have a spare which just needs to be installed. Here we see it sitting on the platform.

The interior of the 757 is generally in very good condition. Several of the seats have rips in the upholstery, but we have plans to repair these over the winter.

I also gave the originals of the 309's scenery pictures to Barb Lanphier, for storage and possible display at Strayhorn. And I checked on the 308 and 309 after they operated both days last weekend.

Operations and Door Day

Well I have been forgetting my camera a lot, but today I remembered it so I decided to go nuts. Today was the second day of regular operation for the 308-309 since the 309's completion; yesterday was the first but none of the Hicks Car Works crew was out. The train was run yesterday by Stan Wdowikowski and today by Jim Nauer, both very capable people we are lucky to have in operations at IRM. The only problem was that one of the traps in the 308 is pulling out of the bulkhead, which will be fairly simple to fix, and a few minor air leaks, which will be more annoying to fix. I took a couple of photos:











On the left, the train coasts through the "plant" at the west station track throat, while on the right the train accelerates eastbound over Boot Creek Bridge. Those cars really stand out among all the greenery! And for something different, I even took a video:

The best that can be said regarding quality is that it's slightly better than nothing, but keep in mind that I shot this using my point-and-shoot Kodak camera without a tripod. This shows the train westbound passing "Big Tree" across from the station. (I have heard that there is a new "Big Tree" location but I refuse to believe it, even though the tree itself has been gone for years!)

I spent most of my day on the 205, but started out by lettering an ammo box that Stan was kind enough to donate for use with the 308-309 handles. This will be locked up for use by future motormen operating the cars.

Back to Door Day on the 205; I decided to devote my efforts to window sticks, the little trim pieces that hold the glass in place on the car's wooden doors. When the car was acquired a lot of the windows had been broken, and Bob Bruneau led an effort to replace broken windows. These were held in with whatever window stick scraps could be found, so when my father built the new doors for the 205 a year and a half ago I asked him to run off some extra window sticks. Today I put those extras to use, cutting sticks for the lower windows on both of the closed-off door leaves at the southwest corner of the car (pictured) as well as for the lower window on one of the door leaves at the southeast corner of the car:
This project was made more difficult by the fact that the window sticks were made out of rare "ironwood" which did not go well with the finishing nails I was trying to drive through it. Note that visible through the door are the trolley hooks for the car, which were previously cleaned up and painted in preparation for installation when we mount roof boards. After this I decided to remove the drop sash that had been installed by Portland in the upper-left window of the closed-off door pair. I'm not sure what the purpose of this was, as the drop sash itself is probably about 6" wide and 24" tall, but it looks a little strange and certainly isn't accurate to the car's Indiana configuration. Shown below are before-and-after photos of this removal (before shot from inside the car, after shot from outside).

















And finally, a gratuitous shot of the newly-installed North Shore Line sign at the corner of Central & Railroad Avenues:
So now that I've made an undying enemy of anyone with a dial-up connection, I promise to go easy on the photos next time... or at least to try.

757 Tack Molding

I started installing the replacement tack molding on the 757 today. I acquired plenty of 8/4 poplar and machined it at home, then brought it out today. First, holes are drilled in the wood, but they need to clear the rivets, so I couldn't do that in advance. One change is that the original wood was attached using flat head machine screws, but I switched to round head -- partly because that's all I could find, and because they don't try to split the wood the way flat head screws do. Drilling and tapping holes in the metal was the hard part. Having worked on wood cars for so long, it's been years since I had to tap holes in steel. In any case, the first two sections are mostly done, and that's about 2/5 of the whole length. It's going together about as well as could be expected. Pete Galayda let me use some primer for priming the backs of the two pieces seen in the picture. It will be great to have this Silverliner back in operation.

Video of the 309 Dedication

The 309 dedication ceremony on July 5th was videotaped by Al Stasch, a commercial video producer. He generously sent us an 18-minute DVD of footage taken that day, and here are some excerpts. I decided to skip the speeches, which the DVD includes in full. I don't know about Ray or Nick, but after seeing the video I decided to fire my campaign manager and find some new speechwriters. Anyhow, on to the action!

First, breaking through the banner: Then, coupling the two cars together. I thought this might be interesting because you seldom see Van Dorn couplers in action: Then, we load the passengers and leave on the first trip: And thanks to Al Stasch for posting these to YouTube and helping with the html!

A Little of Everything

I did a lot more work on the 757 today, limited somewhat by the heat. I finished removing all of the rotten sections of tack molding. I then used the electric grinder to smooth out the stubs of the machine screws, most of which broke off. I then put a coat of primer on the exposed wood and the metal strip above the letterboard, as seen at the left. My next step will be to acquire the poplar we'll need for the tack molding and cut it to shape at home. You may be able to see that there's a row of rivets holding the metal together; the tack molding is rabbeted on the back to clear the rivets.


Then I made a few pieces of wood for the 321. The end of the roof is covered with two layers of thin pine, each about 5/16" thick. I made some new ones out of some spare wood, and checked that they will bend easily enough. These are just ripped out of 2" stock pine - the tool marks on the original wood are obvious.

I also picked up the eight end frame castings (for the seat frames on 308 and 309) we ordered from Glenn Guerra; at right we see one of them sitting on my workbench at home. They look good. However, they still need to be drilled. Now if I only knew where to find an expert in computer-controlled manufacturing....

In other news, the contractor has installed the switch for the new track in yard 11, which needs to be installed before the barn is built, but that will happen soon. To the left, we see the "snap track" pile for the fourth track. (It needs to be put together, but this will only be about 87 times harder than what you're probably used to.) Below, the new switch (to the left) and in the distance, parts piled up for construction of Barn 11.

Condo construction will be starting soon!!! You too can have space in this desirable new building for a mere $180 per foot! Don't delay, track space is going fast!!!

(For those who came in late: Barn 11 won't actually be our eleventh carbarn, but the ninth. For various reasons, there's no Barn 1 or Barn 5. This barn will put the total track length under cover at about 2.5 miles - and that's no joke!)

Not Quite According to Plan, Part 2

The 308 and 309 were supposed to operate today, and the weather was fine, but the handles weren't in the usual location so the crew had to take the North Shore train out instead. Which brings up a question: does anyone among our readership have an ammo box like the one shown here that they could donate? These are perfect for storing handles and now that 308 and 309 are in regular service we could use one of these. Thanks!

So I was planning on spending most of my day working on the 205 anyway, and that's just what I did. A while back Bob Bruneau had given me a trio of brass window frames from the museum's stores to modify for use as end windows on the 205, and I cut those down by 1-1/8" in width to fit on the car. Portland had replaced three of the car's brass end window frames with wooden frames, which in addition to being unauthentic were also badly rotted out. These replacements will serve admirably to backdate the car to its Indiana Railroad appearance.












Sorry for the photo quality; I forgot my camera (AGAIN) and these pictures were taken using my cell phone. The wonders of modern technology! On the left one of the frames is shown on the bench in the shop, and on the right we see the center and left (from the motorman's perspective) window frames test-installed. Next they get stripped and glazed before final installation. I also spent some time helping Nick conduct a survey of the display signs of our electric cars on display.

Not Quite According To Plan

The 308 and 309 were scheduled for operation today, but it was raining when I arrived, and continued dark and cloudy for most of the day, so the 714 was used instead. I let Ron Seavers and Joel Ahrendt run the car, while I mostly worked in Barn 4 cleaning up stuff. The sun came out about 3pm, but by then it wasn't worth it to change out. Typically on such days we have fewer visitors, so a single car is sufficient. I would have liked to run the blue cars, but they just cannot be run if there's any chance of rain. Tomorrow will probably be fine.

I also worked on the roof of the 321 some more. The #2 end is worse than I thought. Some of this patch work must have been done at North Chicago - I can't believe Wheaton Shops would do work like this. Some of the carlines are missing parts, and were sistered, but the sisters are just junk softwood and were attached with a nail or two (outlined in yellow on the left). And the dutchmen are no better. I'm probably going to sister many of the carlines along the roof, but I'll use good hardwood, glue, and carriage bolts. I also noticed that the two sides of the upper roof where it arches down to the end are constructed in a completely different manner. I'll have to check the other end to try to figure out what's correct. So wish me luck!

News update: They've started stockpiling the materials for Barn 11. When construction actually starts, we'll try to bring it to you here first!

Satisfaction - Pt. 2

A continuing series of picturesque car cards:


The brand-name "Satisfaction" car card (which we posted here earlier) is double-sided, which is unusual. Here's the other side. It's too bad the Rolling Stones never knew about this!

Route of the Silverliners

North Shore car 757 needs some repair before it can return to service, and I agreed to help, partly because it's currently sitting where I'd like to put the 321 for its restoration. The tack molding on part of one side of the car is rotting out, as shown to the left before I started. After some excavation, we see what's there to the right. The outer layer is tar paper (black arrow), presumably installed at East Troy. Under that is the canvas (grey arrow); in various places there's either two, one, or no layers of canvas. Beneath that is the wood, and the bottom piece (in blue) is the tack molding. Our plan is to replace about 30' of tack molding, and piece in new tar paper. One trolley board also needs to be replaced. I did about 12' in a couple of hours, then stopped because I'll need help moving some stored material out of the way.

After that, I worked on the 321. I checked the compressor and tested the brake system. The governor would need some adjustment if we were going to use it in operation, but for a switch move it's OK. The control system also tested out. We may want to run the car under its own power into Barn 4, when that becomes possible. I then worked on removing more of the roof at the #2 end, where it needs to be rebuilt. No pictures because it's so revolting. I also checked lubrication on the blue cars and sorted parts for a while.

Over the weekend I was in Minneapolis, and I had a chance to visit the Excelsior operation. Car 1239 was operating; here we see its unusual rear end gate design. One interesting aspect of this operation is that they back-pole all the way when backing up. These single-ended cars had only one pole, of course. It seems to work reliably enough for them. The line is about a mile long and has no frogs in the wire. But I promise not to try this at home!