Friends COS calendar

Friends Colorado Springs

A subset of the Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with the mission of preservation, restoration, and interpretation of CTSRR historic assets. The Springs group is primarily involved in restoration. See below for blog archive of older postings.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

November-December 2023

 The end of the year saw completion of the installation of the new outer sill on the south side of the car and transition to working on replacing the north outer sill.  The roof jacks were removed from the south side and installed on the north side of the car.  Splits in both intermediate sills were repaired.

Tie rods were cut to free up the old sill.

A view of the west end of the north sill.  The roof jacks have been moved to the north side of the car.  A couple of the wall framing members that were deteriorated have been cut off although there will be less need for replacement on the north side compared to the south.

A closeup of the north end of the west bolster showing deterioration of the outer sill around the end of the bolster.

A view of the north end of the east bolster showing considerable deterioration of the outer sill in this area also.  The roof has been jacked up slightly with the wall framing elevated about an inch off the sill.

Out comes the old outer sill.

Work continued in the meantime on the new north outer sill in the roundhouse.  Craig and crew were routing mortises for the wall framing.  The old sill was used as a pattern.

Repairs were begun on the split in the east end of the south intermediate sill.  The area was cleaned up with air prior to gluing.

Larry is applying epoxy glue to the split.

It is glued and clamped.

This is one of the angled tie rod anchors that has been mortised into the new sill.  Nice job!

Joe has made new grab bars.

A view of the northwest corner of the car after removal of the outer sill.

This is a closer view (with Larry gingerly entering the car) showing a door post for the side door on the floor next to the jacks that Craig has made.  The door posts have a tenon on each end and will be installed in the new sill when the jacks are removed.

The northeast corner at the same time as above.

This is a view of the under side of the west end of the north intermediate sill showing deterioration.

Meanwhile in the roundhouse work is continuing on the new north outer sill using the old sill as a pattern for the mortises.

Craig has made a guide for the router...

...which cuts the new mortise.  Dean follows with a hand chisel to clean it up.

A photo of the west end of the north intermediate sill (left center of the image) showing a split near the middle.

Glenn is placing a jack under the northwest corner to take load off the intermediate sill prior to repairs.

Ready to work on it.

Repairs are underway,  The deteriorated underside has been replaced with new wood.

In the roundhouse the new sill is being drilled for tie rods.  A drill guide is fastened  in place to keep the holes plumb.

Works better than an eyeball!

The new sill going into place.

Old bolts were removed from the bolster.

This is the third split in an intermediate sill, located in the north intermediate sill extending from the east bolster toward the center of the car.  The bolster can be seen at the extreme left of the photo.

One section (east) of the new north sill has been put into place.

A close up view of the east end  shows the sill resting on the bolster.  Clamps are fixing the intermediate sill split in place and a steel plate to support the repair is in the lower right of the photo.

Another view of the repair.  The split is supported by a scissors jack and the steel plate is behind.

Here a steel plate is being installed in the repaired split in the west end of the north intermediate sill. Holes were first drilled in the plate then into the sill.

This is the same area after drilling before placing the bolts through the plate and wood.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!





















 

























Monday, January 29, 2024

September-October 2023

During this fall period the south wall supports were united with the new outer sill and the ceiling jacks removed.  Work started on replacement of the outer sill on the north side of the car.  The wall framing on the north side is in better shape since it was more out of the weather than the south side.

The new south sill will be bolted to the bolster.  John is drilling holes in the sill for the bolts.

Craig is working on a mortise in the sill.

This is a completed tenon and mortise joint with a tie rod next to the vertical member.  The cuts in the wooden framing members were located so as to have access to the nearby tie rods for welding safely.

Here Joe is cleaning up the end of a tie rod before welding.

This is a "busy" joint with a vertical support, two angled supports and a tie rod through it.


This photo shows the bolster mortised into the under side of the new sill and two bolts fastening the sill to the bolster.
Joe is clamping a sleeve onto the ends of the old and new tie rod pieces before welding.

Getting ready to weld.

Dean is gluing the lap joint in a vertical member.

This photo from the middle of September shows good progress replacing the ends of the wall supports and fitting them to the sill on the south side.  Note that the jacks are still in place.

This photo shows a tie rod fastened to the underside of the sill with a washer and nut.  The excess length will be removed after tensioning.

This is one of the quiz answers from the previous posting.  This "curvy" piece of steel is one of the truck chain anchors.  It will be bolted to the end of the sill.

This photo shows one of the anchors in place on the north side of the car.


Joe is getting ready to weld another sleeve joint on one of the angled tie rods.  Click on image to enlarge.

There he goes!

The lap joints have been glued and sanded.

The vertical tie rods have been secured under the sill to help hold the mortise joints together.

Moving to the north side of the car, this is a view of one of the bolsters attached to the deteriorated outer sill.

This is a view of the northeast corner showing the angled tie rod and anchor which has been bent outward.  The top of the truck chain anchor can be seen on the top of the sill.

This is a view of the north sill from near the west end showing an angled tie rod and anchor which have not been disturbed.

Going back to the south side, notice that the roof jacks have been removed.  Many of the cross bracing plates between the intermediate and outer sills were cracked and had to be replaced.  I believe that is Mike putting a new plate in place.

Joe is drilling a hole in the sill for a new horizontal tie rod end to be welded on.  The original was cut to remove the old sill.

The new end in place.

The sleeve has been installed between the two pieces and they are ready to be welded.

This view shows the new cross bracing in place between the sills.  In the lower right of the photo the end of a horizontal tie rod with a washer and nut are visible.

The end sills will be replaced and there are several tie rods holding them securely to the car.  One has been cut and John is teasing it out with a crowbar.

More tie rods to go.  This one is coming out more easily.

A closer look at the southwest corner.

This is the northwest corner showing the tie rods still in place.  They have large square heads welded on them.

These are two of those tie rods that have been removed.

The southwest corner after tie rods were removed.

A view of the interior looking toward the west at the end of October.  The roof jacks are in place on the north side ready to work on the north outer sill.





















 








































 

Followers

Blog Archive