Letter boards - Fall-Winter 2014

Work on the letter boards spanned a rather long period of time as other things were happening concurrently.  The letter boards are wide boards that extend the length of the care over the windows and under the cornice which often displayed the name of the company that owned the car.  Thanks again to Tom Smco for providing some of the photos.

This drawing shows a letter board on a coach that has the number 91 on it for identification.

This photo shows some of the boards that Craig brought to the work site ready to be fitted.  It is apparent that considerable work has already been done to get to this stage.

Bob and Craig are doing some final fitting at the work site of one of the end pieces.  The corners on the ends are dove-tailed together.

 

We built platforms along each side of the car to improve access to the work areas without having to move ladders, etc.  The photo on the right shows a board clamped in place before finally screwing it on to the car.  Note the end of the board which will be overlapped with the adjacent one.

The photo above, left shows the work platform on the side of the car.  The sections are removable and can be transferred to the other side as needed.  On the right Don and Bob are fastening the letterboard with screws.

The photo above shows how the boards are fastened with counter sunk screws.

The screw holes are then filled and sanded smooth.

The corners are dovetailed as shown above.  The end of the car is on the right.  Here part of the arched piece could be used and just the corner replaced.

This is the same corner as above and the finishing piece of ash has been placed over the framing.  Clamps are holding it in place at this time.

This photo shows the finished end piece.  Getting the arch correct was "interesting" but Craig did an excellent job.