Vesti la Vestibule

Work on the vestibule must go on, regardless of the weather. So I spent the day finishing the paint removal and sanding on the center part, mostly the ceiling. The space heater can warm this little room up pretty well, even when the outside temperature is low, so painting is not a problem. And the primer tends to set up quickly.

Now only the motorman's side of the compartment remains to be done.

After I got home, I realized this picture doesn't show very well what I wanted. The ceiling directly over the controller is blocked off by part of a wall, shown by the yellow arrow, which makes it nearly inaccessible. Inside we see the big switch for the headlight, and the buzzer. This partition is a remnant of the original design including a door around the motorman's compartment, and when the controls were not in use, the door would close off access to the controller and brake stand. The door was soon removed, but this board remains. It makes stripping the paint in that part nearly impossible. The other cars don't have this feature.

I looked into the possibility of removing the board, but it's not feasible. So that part of the ceiling just can't be repainted. Sorry.

Rolling Ahead

According to this, advertising is an essential part of the great Cycle of Production, and keeps America strong. I guess that's why we keep running these car card posts. We're doing our part!

Not-Exactly-Spring Cleaning

Although we got a couple more inches of snow early Sunday morning I was able to make it out to the winter wonderland that is East Union, Ill. and get some work done on the 205. The first priority was to install the MU socket that I had worked on the previous week. With help from Greg Kepka I got it installed on the east end of the car, as seen at right, completing this particular project.

Following this I spent some time cleaning up the interior of the car, which will have to be done sooner or later anyway so that it's presentable to the public. Full interior restoration is not being contemplated but fortunately isn't really necessary, as the car's interior is largely intact with the exception of wall and trim pieces in the ceiling and above the window sill. A lot of these pieces have been stored on the car's seat backs so I started removing the parts to under-seat storage where they won't be visible looking through the windows. Some of the components are not from the 205, including some large aluminum drip rails. Judging from the green paint on them I'm guessing they may be from the Yakima "Master Unit" that was owned by the same person who owned the 205 from 1959 until about 1992... if anyone with the group in Yakima would like them, they're yours! Below is a before-and-after shot of my "spring cleaning" efforts.









One of the last steps of the car's cosmetic restoration will be removal of all of my paint and body filler supplies, vacuuming the floor and wiping down the seats. I also spent some more time using chemical paint stripper to remove the old paint from the last end window for the car, and I cleaned up some parts for the vestibule of the 319 by needle-chipping and sand blasting. Seen below, the "L" shaped thing is what keeps the train door latched open, on the right is a grab-iron and in between are window shade brackets, the retainer clip for the train door and a side door handle latch.
A lot was happening in the department despite the weather. Jeff was working on weather stripping for the Michigan car, Joe, Joel and Greg were working on flooring for NSL 757 and on wiring in IT 277, Frank S. and Dan were working on seats for the Veracruz open car, and Danielle was painting windows for IT 518. Of particular interest to the "CA&E wood car department" was a spare M15B brake valve that was rebuilt by Rod and Danielle (below); this is now available to be swapped in if one of the brake valves in the 308 or 309 develops a problem. Thanks!!

319 Update

The weather was much milder today, and there were many people at IRM working on various projects. Just a couple of them are shown below.

I spent the day finishing the paint removal and sanding on one side of the vestibule, then started painting. Seen here is the first coat of white primer; I may choose to sand parts of it down and recoat. The interior surfaces of the door and windows are in good condition, so they won't need primer; I'll just sand lightly and repaint. I hope to have a spray painter shoot the vestibule at some point.

Lots of people were in the car shop. John Faulhaber helped by painting the 319's new saddles black.


And Max was busy installing the wiring for lights and power in the new shop extension.

And we had people painting windows for the 518, and several other projects were moving along. (L to R) Rod, Joel, Bill, unknown, Danielle, Jim F. The Museum has certainly recovered quickly from the blizzard!

Digging Out

After the big snow, Rod Turner and Dave Diamond did a fantastic job of plowing the roads and keeping the place going. Rod stayed over during the storm and was able, with considerable effort, to get the plow truck running to clear most of the Museum's roads. By Saturday, the Museum should be readily accessible to any members who wish to work.

On the south side of the barn, the snow was drifted three or four feet deep. On the north side, there wasn't much, so getting a door open wasn't too hard. A lot of snow was blown into the barns under the doors by the gale-force winds, as seen here.

My primary reason for coming out was to check on the 321's tarp, which I was worried about due to the strong winds. From the road, it appears to be OK, so I didn't make the trek out to the car.



Instead, it was a good day for more painting in the 319. I removed my tools and other parts and cleaned the smoker as thoroughly as I could, in preparation for painting the floor. Notice here that there are bolts sticking up slightly in the smoker, attached to the body bolster. There's nothing like this at the other end or in the other cars.

And after a couple of hours, the floor had a second coat of primer. I need to buy a new gallon of the finish brown color, and next time there will be a first finish coat.

After this, I spent more time removing paint in the vestibule.

Cooking up a doughnut

I was out at IRM on Sunday and spent a few hours working on a "doughnut," although I wouldn't recommend eating this one. The MU sockets at the ends of the 205 originally were the dash-mounted variety, bolted straight through the end of the car, unlike those on CA&E or North Shore cars mounted to the floor or under the coupler. These were not attached directly to the dash but rather were set out from the dash by a wooden ring about 1-1/4" thick. A few weeks ago I had glued together a couple of thinner planks to make a large 1-1/4" thick piece of wood and on Sunday I cut it to approximate size with the band saw, sanded the outside edge into a circle, drilled holes for some of the variations in the MU socket casting that would have to fit through the center of the "doughnut," and drilled out the center. Fortunately, for this last task Rod Turner provided a 4-3/4" diameter hole saw and quickly made the cut. After a bit of fitting, and drilling holes for the bolts that will actually bolt the MU socket through the wooden ring and into the dash, I primed both the "doughnut" and the MU socket itself. The various stages are shown below.

At left, after drilling holes to accommodate the casting; center, after drilling and fitting, with the socket itself in the background; at right, the ring and socket body in primer.

The shop was a beehive of activity: all three of the Michigan guys were working on the 28, George was working on the 810, the Windmeiers were building step boxes, Frank and Dan were working on blue-tinted upper sash windows for the Kansas City PCC, and a team including Greg, Joel and Doodlebug Dan were reattaching the unusual air valve assembly pictured last week to the 277. Following reassembly the car's brakes were tested and no trace of the former problems found - it appears that the problem may have been fixed!

As a final note, congratulations to Joe and Gwyn Stupar on moving into their first house! They made the move on Saturday with the help of a large crew of IRM volunteers including Joel A., Greg C., Scott G., Greg K., Dan M., Rod T., and Ray W. They wanted to extend their thanks to everyone who helped make everything go so smoothly.

Another Step Forward

Today I essentially finished painting the ceiling in the smoker. I may want to do some touch-up later when it's warmer outside and natural light is available, but for now the ceiling is done. I installed the cord hanger and painted it, then finished the lower part as seen here.

I also put a finish coat of black on the arm rests. Here are some before and after shots.

The only thing left to do is to touch up the window sills, then paint the floor with the finish brown color.

Then it was on to the vestibule. I did more paint removal, and it's getting close to the point where one side can be completely painted with primer. Here's the trim around the bulkhead window. I also took two of the many grab irons to the shop to wire-wheel them, then they were installed and painted, so they won't start to rust.

Charlie Strong happened to pass by; I hadn't seem him for several months. He's been busy working. Jim Followell also came around to look at the 714. The plans are for him to repaint the 714 so it will be as new and shiny as the 749.

In Barn 2, the contractor has started painting the Cleveland PCC with its finish colors. Eric Lorenz (seen here) and Ed Woytula were working on the doors, as usual. This car is getting closer. And Jim will be finishing up the 451 soon.

CA&E Photo Donated

We have just received a framed photo from the CA&E (car 419, to be exact) generously donated by Robert Campbell, who is moving out of state. He acquired it while the car was on the scrap line in 1962 and other cars were being burned. It's in very good condition, compared to others I've seen. We truly appreciate this historic gift. And the floor is now open for guesses as to the location.

Remember, if you have historic railroad artifacts, IRM can always provide them a good home!

The Electric Crane

There was more painting in the 319 today. I finished the center panels of the ceiling, as seen here. Only the part above the car cards on one side remains to be done. I had to put some primer on the moldings, so that has to wait until next time.

Here's another view of the temporary platform I stand on. I also did more paint removal in the smoker, but didn't take any pictures.

The cord hanger went to the car shop and was stripped of paint, down to bare brass. I then painted it with white primer. While there, I saw Mr. Socks and Mr. Sirinek.




But hey, I've got an idea! While we're waiting for the paint to dry, let's visit the cab of the D16, our Milwaukee Electric crane. I've never been up in it. And I'm sure Scott will chime in with more and better information.

To the right, we look in through the side door to the cab. As usual, it's difficult to take pictures of confined spaces. Directly in front is the back of the controller for the crane motor; behind it is the controller for the (missing) traction motors; that is, for actually running the crane car. To the right is the brake stand, and to the left you can see part of the crane motor, which is located inside the cab.

To me, this cab looks like an unpleasant and dangerous place to work. It's very crowded, and there are pipes and conduits running across the floor everywhere, so you have to be very careful.

Here's a closeup of the crane motor. It looks like a traction motor to me, but its plate clearly says "CRANE MOTOR." This crane car was built by Brownhoist, and it uses GE electrical equipment.

The compressor is also located in the cab. That's what I like best about locomotives, getting to sit right next to the compressor.

And here's a view of the brake stand. I suppose there must have been a seat here. You can see some of the big levers for controlling the clutches to engage the gears for raising the boom, rotating the cab, etc. There are no labels to indicate what anything does. As you can see, the winding drums for the steel cables are just above the brake stand.

And here's the view out of the cab over the boom. I'm not sure if this is the front or the back. If you were operating in the opposite direction, though, the brake stand would be directly behind you. Great. The little cab at the other end has only a brake stand but no controller -- is it missing?

Cold weather work

I was out at the museum for a few hours Sunday afternoon. Despite the big game there was a fair number of people working, but most of the work was concentrated in the heated shop - imagine that! It's a good time of year for "winter work" projects to be sure. The Michigan 28 guys were hard at work on that car's rear platform and baggage doors, Frank S. was working on seats for the open car, and Joe, Greg and Joel were going over paperwork for the CA&E steel cars.

I started out working on stripping paint off the flag box and flag tray from one end of the 319. All CA&E woods have a box and a tray mounted near the ceiling in each vestibule for storage of flags and other small items. Below left, the flag box seen before stripping; below right, it is partly stripped. The flag box may have been an original "factory-equipped" item, I'm not sure, but either way both it and the flag tray definitely date back to the AE&C Pullman green era.









Then, with help from a pop rivet gun Rod procured from the Coach Department, I installed the last two metal patches on the 205 corner posts. Pop rivets are definitely not used in any full restorations at IRM but, for a cosmetic restoration like this, it saved an awful lot of time and effort and will not notably effect the appearance of the car. Below left, the hole rusted in the car's corner post before patching; below right, the patch after installation. When the weather warms up this area will be touched up with body filler and primed.









Following this I did a bit of work to reassemble the second MU socket that Rod had modified a couple of years ago so that it will be ready to install on the east end of the car and then laid out plans for the wooden "donut" which is bolted in place between the socket and the car's dash panel.
Finally, here's an interesting bit of Illinois Terminal minutiae. When the IT converted the 277 to air conditioning they also installed truck-mounted brake cylinders. As part of this project, they apparently designed and built in their own shops an air valve assembly designed to isolate and cut out a single truck in the event of an air hose failure. That assembly, pictured above, was partly clogged with gunk which may have contributed to some of this car's brake problems while at IRM. It's kind of a Rube Goldberg device and may have never been serviced since the car left the IT, but Rod disassembled and cleaned it with help from Joe, Greg and Joel.

A hack of a different color

I thought I'd post something that may be of interest to the EJ&E fans among our audience. My wife Bevin was recently in Orland Park and came across the caboose and boxcar pictured below, painted up and on display near the train station, of which she obligingly snapped a photo.
Caboose fans may notice, however, that this is not really a Wabash caboose. It's actually EJ&E 523, a cousin to the museum's very own EJ&E 529 which sees regular use by the Track Department. It was painted by Orland Park in Wabash red and put on display within the past few years. Enjoy!

IT 518 Progress

As is usual on a Saturday, there was lots of activity on various projects today, most of which I won't be able to cover. Suffice it to say that a hermit wouldn't fit in.

Under Rod's direction, work has started on fixing up the 518 in preparation for the IT festival on April 30th. Here we see Danielle and her friend Kiki painting windows. I removed several inner windows on the south side of the car for them to repaint over the next couple of days, and Danielle will also sand down the north side of the car so it can be repainted. It doesn't usually show up in pictures, but one side of the car is in badly faded primer, and the car fund has enough to pay for this work, thanks to generous donations from IT fans. Like you, perhaps.

Later in the day, we see Danielle sanding down some of the outer (storm) windows for eventual repainting in place.

I also took several pictures of the interior of the 518, which will be added to the IT folder.

Nature note: I needed lights in the 518 to remove the windows, and it has been at least a year since I stopped working on this car. I put up the pole, but nothing happened, and it felt like the trolley shoe was clogged with some big clump of sh---, uh, stuff. Who would do such a thing? Joel came along, climbed up a ladder, and found it was yellowjackets. They had decided the shoe was a good place to build a nest. They're dead now, so we'll clean it out one of these days, but that was good for a laugh!

After that, it was time to retreat to the 319. I did some more sanding on the filler on the corner moldings on each side of the ceiling, then a final coat of primer. The first finish coat will be next.

And then I did some more paint removal, and sanding in the vestibule. I put a first coat of primer on part of the ceiling, as seen here. I will probably want to sand it some more and put a second coat on, but there should be more noticeable progress from here on out.