My apologies to my readers, as I have not posted in quite some time. Unfortunately, work has taken a considerable amount of my free time and posting here was lost in the shuffle. There has been a considerable amount of work accomplished in my absence.
Boston Elevated Railway Type-5 5645 - Galen Semprebon, along with Scott Kritzky and John Pelletier have been working tirelessly on the car in order to get it ready for Rails to the Darkside. The motors are back in its trucks and they have been tested and all appear to be working correctly. Once the motors were tested, the trucks were pushed back under the car and wired up. Inside the car, Kelly has been working on pieces for the heating loop system. We were able to find the proper door motor seals and John has been able to repair the door motors.
Brooklyn Rapid Transit car 169 - Scott Kritzky has taken on the project of the cosmetic restoration of car 169. In the past week, he has made some great headway removing the paint from the exterior clerestory of the car. When the car has been completed, we will be able to move the car out of the shop and put it on display in the Visitor Center.
Boston Elevated Railway PCC 3100 - Chris Perry has been working on car 3100 just outside the shop. Over the years, many of the window posts have deteriorated around the bases. One by one, he has been removing the old window posts and welding in newly fabricated ones. A new front step well has been fabricated as well, but has yet to be installed. In the rear of the car, a new left rear fender support has been fabricated and welded in place as the original support was in pieces. Although Chris only is able to work on the car one week a year, each year he makes considerable progress on the car. In a few years, we should have a display-worthy car.
Illinois Terminal PCC 451 - Kevin Mitchell and the Boy Scouts have just about completed the repainting of car 451. There is some minor detail work to finish but overall the car looks much better than it did when the project commenced.
Visitor Center Train Shed - Thanks to Louis, the walkway along the edge of the building in the Train Shed area is progressing nicely. The framing has been installed and the walkway planks are being cut to fit. This will be an excellent alternative display area for the 2013 season.
