Machinery Set Up

In the Lusa Car Shop, Galen Semprebon, Brian Semprebon, and John Pelletier have been able to get the dust collector set up and running.  Now, the wood shop is taking shape.  Machines are being placed in strategic locations and they are preparing to order the duct work for the machines.

Springfield Terminal car 16 is nearly ready to be returned to service, with newly painted steps & bumpers, a repaired roof & floor, and wiring for headlights!

After operations ceased, Ben Wallace, Al Goff, Xian Clere, John Gasper, Aaron Mangan, and I  went out on the line car to repair some issues with the signal system.  We were able to replace a cross arm bracket that had failed near Hancock Siding.  Other work was supposed to continue on Sunday.

Tie Replacement

On Saturday, we were able to replace 10 ties between Woods Barn Turnout and Borrup Road. Neil Newman, Xian Clere, Andy Cotton, Brian Semprebon, Dave Coppola, John Gasper, Aaron Mangan, and another volunteer helped me with tie replacement. We are hoping to get the tie handler and tie inserter running better so that we can use those machines to do tie replacement which will allow us to replace more ties in one session.

In the shop, Galen Semprebon worked on setting up the woodshop equipment in the car shop. John Pelletier repaired the hand brake on Line Car S-193. The brake cable had snapped, but luckily there was enough of it left to restring the brake cable. He also continued work on the electrical for the headlights on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16. Pat McCann repainted the bumpers on car 16 as well.

On Sunday, Camilo Santiago continued work on the Reading Caboose.

Pending weather, another track work session will take place this coming Saturday April 21st, 2012. We will either be working on replacing ties in the area between Borrup Road and the Hartman Siding Switch or removing spikes from relay ties to reuse.

Busy!

The museum was very busy on Saturday both for Easter Bunny Fun Day and the work that was accomplished. First, operations did an amazing job handling over 600 passengers and accomplishing some training runs as well.

Out in the shop, Galen Semprebon was busy working on building a patio, yes a patio. When the concrete was poured for the shop many years ago, there was about four feet in the rear of the shop that the concrete was never poured for. Using bricks and concrete blocks, Galen has made a much more usable surface in the rear of the shop. Next weekend, it is planned to install the air handling unit, which makes it one step closer to setting up all of the wood shop machinery.

In the Kelly Barn, I was able to fix the back of the barn where a trolley car must have hit it years ago. The gap in the rear panels has been there ever since I started at the museum. It is there no longer.

At the end of the day, Xian Clere, Aaron Mangan, and I pulled spikes and prepped a batch of relay ties. We will be having a track work session on this coming Saturday! All who are interested in helping should arrive at the museum between 7:45 and 8:00am on Saturday morning.

Kelly Yard Track Work

Kelly Yard is finally getting the rebuilding that it has needed for a long time. And doing this, we are able to teach some of the younger volunteers how to do track work. On Saturday morning, Camilo Santiago and I got together with Henry Kutash and some of the younger guys - Brian Semprebon, Alex Aberdale, David Coppola, and David Lesniak - to show them how to properly do track work. These guys learned a lot and we were all able to replace 7 switch timbers in the Kelly 1-3 Switch. They got a chance at learning to properly tamp and spike ties as well. They all did remarkably well. We will be attempting to finish the timber replacement next Saturday morning beginning at 9am. All are welcome.

Under the Visitor Center Train Shed, Galen Semprebon led a crew grading the fill to build the track for Connecticut Company Cars 0206 and 1739. Todd Chicoine and his father Paul were busy using the front end loader and bulldozer grading the path for the temporary access tracks.


Up in the Lusa Car Shop, John Pelletier was busy with some new volunteers finishing the servicing of Fair Haven & Westville Railroad 355. The air compressor armature was reinstalled in the car and the car was returned to service. They also cleared the area in front of the lathe. Galen also was able to break free from working under the Train Shed to service Montreal Tramways Observation Car 4. At the end of the day, 355 was released into service and Illinois Terminal PCC 451 was moved to the car shop.

Behind the Visitor Center, John Cummins and Morgan von Eisengrein were working to cut and remove overgrown trees.

With all of the things that were going on Saturday, we still had many volunteers running streetcars in Public Operation. It was great to see so many volunteers, and so many visitors at the museum.

Hartman Siding Lay-Up Almost Clear

Saturday began with the goal of moving ConnCo 771 (Consolidated Railway 189) off of the Hartman Siding Lay-Up and on to the main siding track. Galen Semprebon and I started off the day by positioning the excavator and bulldozer to move ConnCo 1739 further down the track. After taking a break for a meeting, we were joined by Pat McCann, Matty Doane, and George Contrada and got 1739 into place.

We had decided to hook up the trucks of 771 with the trucks of ConnCo 0309 with a chain and pull them up together. Then we hooked a chain, actually a length of 4 chains, from the excavator to the front truck of 771. We pulled the consist about a half of a car length until we found out that the hooks on the new chains had exceeded their capacity and were bending. At that point, we disconnected 0309 and pulled 771 up the hill. We had to be very careful moving the car because the trucks were not totally complete. They were missing a few parts, such as a Journal Box.

Once we got to the special work, we had to hook the bulldozer up to one side to act as a brake, and the excavator to the other to keep the left wheels against the rail. This is the area where the Lay-Up was joined into the Visitor Center Lead. In order to accomplish this without cutting rail, we connected one rail at a joint. The other rail just ends and the wheels ride over a series of greased tie plates until it falls onto the stock rail of the siding. Its not built for high speed operation, but it will work to get the cars out. The whole Lay-Up track will be removed after this is done anyways. Car 771 made it through the special work much easier than 1739 had. 1739 took a couple of weekends to do, whereas 771 took only a few hours.











By 2pm, 771 was parked and we went after 0309. This was a little more difficult. We ran into a problem where the rails at a joint did not exactly line up. The rail that 0309 was sitting on was about an inch lower and an inch outside the rail it had to run onto. After greasing the end of the rail to allow the rails to slide along each other, I took a large rock and dropped it on the rail that was sitting too high. The good news is, the rail dropped into place like I was hoping for. The bad news is, the rail also cracked. To make matters worse, the wheels on the rear truck would not turn, and with the growth, it was very difficult to get to them. After taking a spike maul to the brake shoes, the wheels seemed to loosen up a little, however they were still dragging some. We then greased the entire tread of the wheels which greased the brake shoes and allowed the car to roll. The first wheel to go over the misaligned joint rode up on the head of the rail. We had to get the jacks out and jack the wheel sideways. However, the other three made it through fine and by the end of the day, 0309 was sitting just before going through the special work.

John Pelletier was busy in the shop replacing broken windows in the Type 5. With the help of a Community Service Volunteer, he made considerable progress in cleaning the shop as well.

After finishing the car moves, I found Ben Wallace building a new gate in the Main Hall of the Visitor Center. This gate will be replacing the broken one at Winkler Road. Xian Clere and I decided to stay and help finish the gate. We had hoped to install it, but by the time we finished building it at 10:30 at night it was a little too late.

Busy Saturday

There was a lot of work accomplished today at the museum. When I arrived at the museum after I got out of work at 1, Galen Semprebon and John Pelletier were busy working on 1850. Last week, 1850, the Rio de Janeiro breezer, was removed from service when a clanking noise was heard in the number 1 axle. This was being caused by a bent brake beam which resulted in the brakes applying differently on the left and right wheels. The morning was spent straightening the brake beam. I got to work replacing the trolley rope on the number 1 end. The rope that was on the car was frayed in a couple of places and it needed replacing. While looking at the rope on the number 2 end, it was noticed that the trolley catcher was not retrieving properly. This is usually the result of a broken spring inside the catcher. Because we cannot immediately fix the problem, we borrowed a catcher of the same type from one of the Chicago Elevated cars. One thing that must be remembered is that the trolley catchers on car 1850 are not original to the car. When it operated in Rio, bows were used to collect power for operating the car, not trolley poles.

Just outside the shop, Chris Perry was hard at work scraping and sanding the roof of Boston Elevated PCC 3100. The afternoon was plagued with intermittent rain, which we despiritely need. Chris would alternate between working on the roof when it was sunny to working on smaller parts of the car in the shop when it was raining. From talking to him, he hopes to paint the roof on Monday or Tuesday.











Ted Coppola, Matty Doane, and Pat McCann were busy with the backhoe and front end loader cleaning up around the shop again. They were able to clear a whole spot in front of the shop to place the shop storage pod. The storage pod will be used to store oil and other lubricants that should not be stored in the shop. Also, things that are not used often like jacks will be stored in the pod. Pat then came in with the bulldozer to grade the area so the pod would sit level. Next weekend, we should be able to move the pod itself. At that point we will be able to begin moving stuff into it, which will give more room around the cars to work.





The motor was pulled out of Speeder 65594 by George Contrada and David Coppola. The motor will need a complete rebuild.



Finally, at the end of the day, Connecticut car 1326 was moved up to the shop to get some woodwork done on it. Because 1326 is used as the Birthday Car, it is hard to get the car up to the shop for any length of time to do work on it. John removed an upper window frame from the car which was rotten and plans to rebuild it at home this week. Next weekend, the two cracked windows in the car will be replaced as well.

Car Moves

Saturday was a very hot and busy day at the museum. In the morning, the pilot for CA&E 303 was installed on the car.

Most of the day was taken up by shifting cars around to get Connecticut open 840 into the shop. We (John Pelletier, David Coppola, Alex Aberdale, Galen Semprebon, and myself) had to shift the two Boston PCCs (3100 & 3306) off of the Northern Hill and pull New Orleans 836 out of the barn. Then we shifted the flat car with the wheel boring machine on it up into the Northern Barn as well as CA&E 303. It was planned to set up the wheel boring machine in the shop, but with the other machinery that we want to set up, there is not enough room.


While the shop was empty, John and I were able to clean some of the wall space in the shop. A lot of the materials were moved into a storage trailer. Other stuff was thrown out because it was no longer usable. Unfortunately we have had a bad habit of keeping scraps of things that are not large enough to do anything with.


We did run into a problem when we tried to put 836 into Woods Barn. Whoever measured the barn space was not quite accurate. We were about a foot shy. In order to make up that space, we took the knuckles off of 101's couplers, and ran 101 up against the rear wall of the barn. It is actually bulging the back wall of the barn out slightly. Then we ran 836 into the barn. The fender of the car made it about 3 inches under the coupler of 101. The car fit, but the pole hung out of the barn, so we had to pull it out and spin the pole around. At that point, the doors of the barn just barely shut.


We were then able to put 840 into the shop so that work can begin on the repairs to the car. Before work can begin, the woodworking machinery will be set up in the shop to do the necessary woodwork.

Shop Cleanup

Today a lot of discussion occurred in how best to organize the Lusa Car Shop. After discussing what machines should stay in the shop and what machines should be moved to other storage areas, a plan of action was made to get the shop in order. Pat McCann and Matty Doane kept busy today with the backhoe cleaning out the shop. It seems that trash gets piled up faster than it is taken away. They were able to empty all of the shop barrels into the dumpster and bring a lot of old wood to the wood pile.

I was finally able to replace the trolley pole rope on Montreal 2600 today as we received our order of trolley rope from the manufacturer last week. Eventually Rio 1850, Montreal 4, and Connecticut 1326 will have new rope too, but 2600's was in the worst condition.

John Pelletier was able to finish the roof work on Springfield Terminal 16. While the roof on the car is not the best looking, it should be watertight. The car really needs a new canvas, however, there are other things that need to happen to the car before a new canvas can be put on the car. The Boston Type-5 was switched with 16 to put it in the shop. The roof on the Type-5 is next on the list to be repaired.

Illinois Terminal 451 was brought over the pit today to diagnose and repair the braking problem. The car has been sidelined from service for the past few months because of a delay between the dynamic brakes and the friction brakes. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the crew was finished looking over the car so I do not know if they found the issue.



Just outside the shop, George Contrada was busy turning an old track crane into a flat car for the Track Department. The crane was missing parts and all over not functional. Since the Track Department was in need of a sturdy flat car for moving tools and ties, George took on the task of building them one.




On the front side of the property, Galen Semprebon has been busy leading a crew of volunteers moving the three Connecticut Company cars off of the Hartman Storage Track. When the Visitor Center was built, this section of track was disconnected and the end was buried. In order to get the three cars out, the track was dug out and partially reconnected. ConnCo 1739 is most of the way off of the track. In the coming weeks, ConnCo 771 & 154 will be moved off of the track and the track will be removed.

Overall it was a very productive day. Next weekend calls for the pilot to be installed on CA&E 303, car moves, and more clean up in the shop.