Getting it together - Feb. 16, 2013

Initially, we replaced the pivot blocks on both ends of the car that Craig had made previously.  We then pulled the angle steel pieces together against the inner sills in preparation for beginning to install the long bolts through the steel, sills and pipes.  That involved alignment of several holes drilled in wood and steel, and I might just say that we have a little more drilling to do.

                  

Some of the bolts were passed through without difficulty (in the far lower right and upper center of this picture), but others need re-aligning of the holes.  Once these are in place the angle steel pieces can be drawn tight against each other with the pipes acting as spacers through the sills.

Meanwhile John and Glenn were making a pattern of the piece of wood that was over the doors at each end of the car in preparation for fabricating pieces of steel that will be inserted over the doors as part of the reinforcing at the car ends.  Note that the curve at the top is a complex one, with a cutout in the center for the top of the door.  This is being done on a piece of Masonite.

During the last two weeks Lenny has located a company that can do steel fabrication, and has offered to do the brackets for the inter-sill blocks (see previous post for photos) at a reasonable price.  They seem interested in our project and hopefully can be helpful as we continue to reinforce the car to be up to current standards for rail use.

We were pleased to have Craig join us for lunch today, and thank Maggie for bringing him to the work site.

Metal shop Feb. 2. 2013

We started the day replacing the tie rods through the north piece of angle steel, on the left, and bringing them out through the outer sill.  We then positioned the wooden blocks between the inner sills so that the mortises fit into the tenons and began to clamp the inner sills together.  Dale and John M. are working to get everything to fit.

Most of the original blocks could be reused, but some new ones had to be fabricated as well.  The two angle steels are in position ready to be moved toward the center against the wooden inner sills and bolted together with long bolts passing through the black pipes.  One of the pipes is seen just above the clamp in the photo.  The pipes butt against the steel to maintain proper distance between them.

A "speedbump" was encountered, however,  We could not begin to bolt the steel together because the body-bolster truss-blocks have not yet been replaced, and as can be seen here they are not in good condition.  The blocks are in the process of being fabricated.

So, on to other things.  The plywood used for temporary flooring was removed, and the blocks between the outer and intermediate sills were repositioned as needed.  Washers and lock nuts were placed on all the horizontal tie rods but not tensioned as yet.

Meanwhile, Lenny was fabricating brackets for the blocks between the intermediate and inner sills.  The tenons had been cut at the inner ends to remove the blocks to accommodate the angle steel.  The brackets will be welded to the angle and will support the blocks against it.

The brackets were made from angle steel, and cut and bent as shown in this photo.  Tom S. did the design and started fabricating them before he met up with a knife.  The tenons were preserved on the outer end as can be seen on the block below.








Bob (right) and Dale started working on cutting grooves in the framing to accommodate more steel framing that will be placed into the ends of the car.  More on this later.