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.