It is amazing to see the progress that has been continuing at a fantastic rate. Work has been accomplished in a number of places by a range of volunteers.
In Kelly Barn, Illinois Terminal car 451 received its first coat of paint. This project has been a long time coming. On Saturday, the primer coat was finished. First thing Sunday morning, those helping Kevin Mitchell on his Eagle Scout Project began to apply the green base coat. By the end of the day, I was told that the whole car should have the green finished.
Up on the hill, almost half of the roof was replaced on The New York New Haven & Hartford coach (also known as the "Dining Car") by John Pelletier. This has allowed us to remove some of the tarps from the car, thus making it look much more aesthetically pleasing. Once the roof on the car is completed, we should be able to re-purpose those tarps to replace the failed tarps on Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee car 162.
Under the Train Shed, The Bangor & Aroostook Caboose wood is getting primed. Most of the wood has already been completed thanks to the hard work of a group of volunteers in the evening. In addition, a couple of our "Community Service volunteers" have been working on priming the wood as well. It shouldn't be long before we can start to pull the wood off of the roof.
Inside the Lusa Car Shop, one truck set has been fully tested for the Boston Elevated Railway car 5645. We have had our resident machinists hard at work manufacturing some of the missing parts for the car (clips, covers, etc). Next weekend that truck should be pushed under the car and the car lowered back down on it. Then we can slide the car down the track and do the same with the other end.
For the past couple of weeks, Fair Haven & Westville Railroad car 355 has been sitting over the Maintenance Pit. Work was completed over the weekend on the brake rigging of car 355. Bits of the underside of the car had to be "re-engineered" because of a problem where the brake rigging was chafing one of the motor leads.
Showing posts with label Dining Car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dining Car. Show all posts
Monday, July 2, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Rainy Day
The downside of this weekend was that it was a complete washout. The upside, a lot of work was accomplished in the shop.
First, Vacuum Impregnation. We knew it worked, but did not know how well it actually worked. We were splicing ends of wires on the Field Coils for the Boston Elevated 5645 and had to cut a sizable length of wire off. When we cut about 4 inches of wire, we noticed that the varnish had worked its way up the wire between each individual strand. Now we know why it took a half gallon of varnish for one set of Field Coils.
Second, Floor Replacement. Also in the Type 5, Scott has been hard at work replacing the floor in the car. One side is completely finished. The seats have been put back in place but not completely bolted down. He has begun to remove the seats from the other side of the car.
Third, Milling. While this was for the Fire Museum, it was still work that was accomplished this weekend. Pat McCann had a piece of metal stock in the lathe and was working on milling a new piece for one of the fire trucks. What the piece was, I am not sure. The only thing that I am certain of is that it was broken. It is amazing what we now have in the shop for abilities.
Fourth, Engine Repair. Now we have migrated over to the Bus Museum. One of the Buses had developed a leak which we thought was due to a blown head gasket. While John Gasper was tearing down the engine, he found out that the cause was only a missing bolt, which happened to be laying in the engine compartment waiting to be installed. Luckily he did not pull the heads yet and was able to replace the bolt, put the engine back together and get he bus running.
It was quite a busy day at the museum for the shop staff. In addition, many small things were accomplished. Two seats for New Orleans car 836 were repaired in the shop by John Pelletier. George Contrada assisted me in removing the rest of the metal straps from the side of Brooklyn Rapid Transit car 169. I was able to get a coat of primer on more wood for the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. Xian Clere installed new seats in the rear of the newly acquired 1975 American-LaFrance from Ellington.
I wouldn't be telling the whole story if I did not talk about the work that occurred during the week as well. Work on the Dining Car...No, I cannot call it the dining car. I hate that term for it since it never was a dining car in service, even though everyone knows it as such. Work on New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad combine 2765 is progressing. The new sill has been installed on the east side of the car which will stop the rain from entering the car from under the windows. The car still needs to have the sill on the west side replaced and the roof repaired. At that point it should once again be watertight. Then, we will need to replace some of the siding on the car to make it look aesthetically pleasing.
I will close while telling you about something new. Starting this week, I plan to start hosting Thursday evening work sessions. The work session will begin around 5pm and we will work until we decide to call it quits. Quite a few railroad museums do this, because we cannot get enough done on the weekend. Our primary project will be working on the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. However, if we get enough people, there is plenty else to work on. Any questions, or if you wish to help out, please let me know...tlesniak@ceraweb.org.
First, Vacuum Impregnation. We knew it worked, but did not know how well it actually worked. We were splicing ends of wires on the Field Coils for the Boston Elevated 5645 and had to cut a sizable length of wire off. When we cut about 4 inches of wire, we noticed that the varnish had worked its way up the wire between each individual strand. Now we know why it took a half gallon of varnish for one set of Field Coils.
Second, Floor Replacement. Also in the Type 5, Scott has been hard at work replacing the floor in the car. One side is completely finished. The seats have been put back in place but not completely bolted down. He has begun to remove the seats from the other side of the car.
Third, Milling. While this was for the Fire Museum, it was still work that was accomplished this weekend. Pat McCann had a piece of metal stock in the lathe and was working on milling a new piece for one of the fire trucks. What the piece was, I am not sure. The only thing that I am certain of is that it was broken. It is amazing what we now have in the shop for abilities.
Fourth, Engine Repair. Now we have migrated over to the Bus Museum. One of the Buses had developed a leak which we thought was due to a blown head gasket. While John Gasper was tearing down the engine, he found out that the cause was only a missing bolt, which happened to be laying in the engine compartment waiting to be installed. Luckily he did not pull the heads yet and was able to replace the bolt, put the engine back together and get he bus running.
It was quite a busy day at the museum for the shop staff. In addition, many small things were accomplished. Two seats for New Orleans car 836 were repaired in the shop by John Pelletier. George Contrada assisted me in removing the rest of the metal straps from the side of Brooklyn Rapid Transit car 169. I was able to get a coat of primer on more wood for the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. Xian Clere installed new seats in the rear of the newly acquired 1975 American-LaFrance from Ellington.
I wouldn't be telling the whole story if I did not talk about the work that occurred during the week as well. Work on the Dining Car...No, I cannot call it the dining car. I hate that term for it since it never was a dining car in service, even though everyone knows it as such. Work on New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad combine 2765 is progressing. The new sill has been installed on the east side of the car which will stop the rain from entering the car from under the windows. The car still needs to have the sill on the west side replaced and the roof repaired. At that point it should once again be watertight. Then, we will need to replace some of the siding on the car to make it look aesthetically pleasing.
I will close while telling you about something new. Starting this week, I plan to start hosting Thursday evening work sessions. The work session will begin around 5pm and we will work until we decide to call it quits. Quite a few railroad museums do this, because we cannot get enough done on the weekend. Our primary project will be working on the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. However, if we get enough people, there is plenty else to work on. Any questions, or if you wish to help out, please let me know...tlesniak@ceraweb.org.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Shop Work
Up in the car shop, Galen Semprebon and Brian Semprebon were hard at work getting the dust collector put together. It is now up and running. At this time, the wood working machines can be rearranged and set up for use. Pat McCann and John Pelletier spent the day working on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16 preparing her to be released into service. John was able to sand and revarnish the window trim on the car.
In Kelly Yard, Kevin Mitchell and those helping him with his Eagle Scout Project were working diligently on Illinois Terminal car 451. The windows have been removed in order to prepare the car for painting.
Over by the Dining Car, Marilyn Rodriguez helped me clean up the entrance by removing the old lattice fencing and put up newer picket fencing. This really spruced up the area.
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