Up and Out - December 17, 2011

There was a work session the Saturday after Thanksgiving which I missed, as we were visiting family in North Carolina.  The day was devoted to raising the car in preparation for removing the rotted sill on the north side.  The crew used hydraulic jacks, blocks of wood, and railroad ties to elevate the car three ties higher than it was, allowing for room to work and drop the old sill down from its attachments.

In the photo on the right, above, Craig is cutting a horizontal truss rod that goes through the old sill to be removed.  Bob Kohler, who joined us recently, ponders the situation.  Bob worked in the City yards next door to us, saw activity that interested him, and became involved after retirement.

There were long bolts through the 2x10 framing at the interior base which passed through the bad sill and had to be pulled up out of the sill.  The vertical tie rods were loosened from below and pulled up as well.  The horizontal tie rods were cut as they will be replaced anyway.  We will have to roll up the structure sides and remove them to the south as the roundhouse building is adjacent to the north side.                                                                            

The next step was to screw small pieces of wood into the under side of the sill to act as a shelf for the replacement piece in order to accurately mark the length as well as some of the holes, etc. for fastening.  The new sill can be seen on the floor next to the  north wall.



The last two photos show some work that Craig had done earlier on the moulding below the windows as well as the window frames.  The long piece is now fastened in place.  Spring clips have been made to retain the windows in the open or closed positions.

More oil - November 5, 2011

Painting the framing with linseed oil continued on the first workday in November.  On the left,  Ray (on the ladder), Tom (standing), and George (sitting) were hard at work.  On the right, above, Rich is doing the carlines overhead.  This pretty much completes the oiling except for the underside of the floor framing which will be done after the car is raised.

The other activity happening concurrently with the oiling was installing the vertical truss rods.  These were all replaced as many of the old ones were rusted.  They extend from the top to the bottom sills through the vertical framing as seen in the photo on the left above.  On the right above, the spacing every few feet is evident, as well as the top nuts securely tightened with historically correct square nuts.

Linseed oil, etc. Oct. 29, 2011

The last work session in October saw the floor framing on the left, above that has been cleaned and treated with linseed oil.  Note the door frame with the finished post on the right that is lacking on the left.  Craig has made replacements shown on the right, above, since most were not usable.

The next photo shows the new sill that has been marked for the mortises.  The vertical framing members next to it have tenons on the lower end that engage the sill.  There also are mortise and tenon joints on the inside of the sill with the cross-framing, so the replacement process will be "interesting."



The next photo shows Craig drilling the mortise, and finally in the last photo, chiseling the final shape.  This will have to be done many times over.

Open House, October 1, 2011

The Trolley Museum and our Friends COS group had an open house on October 1.  Car #470 was cleaned up and ready to show.  The railroad logo was prominently displayed next to the car.  Rich has his Friends T-shirt on and is ready to work.

The Model A club showed up with a display of a variety of "A's", including passenger cars, trucks and even a few Model T's.  They were scattered around the grounds so people would move around to the different displays.  We had a couple next to our project.  Attendence was good with a few hundred people passing through the gate.

Operation life saver had a display showing what happens in a car vs. train event.  I was told that no one was in the car at the time of impact, but the driver had stopped on railroad tracks prior to the train's arrival.  Sorry, I do not know why they decided to park there.  Maybe they didn't have a penny.

Some work was accomplished in spite of the visitors.  In the photo on the left above John and Craig are discussing the replacement of the rotted sill.  The new one has been tapered where it will be joined to the good part of the existing one, in the view on the right.

Woodworking 9-17-2011

Craig has been busy repairing framing and making other pieces.

Earlier photos of the west end of the car as it now is oriented show a cut-out to the right of the door in the photo on the left taken in November 2009.  It appears as a darker vertical area to the right of the door.  We assume it was done to accomodate moving a large object into or out of the car, e.g. a stove, etc.  The framing in this region had been cut and partially repaired, so it was totally removed as in the photo on the right above, taken in April of this year.

We now have new framing around this part of the west door which appears as lighter wood in the photos.  On the left above is a view from the outside of the car and on the right from the inside.



Window trim and sills have been made as in the photos above.  Craig has been busy in his shop milling, mortising and notching to make everything fit as it was.

Summer day 7-30-2011

These photos look pretty good with some in shorts and T-shirts, as I sit here on a November day with a blizzard winding down.  Fortunately in Colorado there can be big changes day to day, and we are planning on another work day this Saturday.

But back to July.

The roof framing is shown from below and above in the photos above.  The deteriorated members have been replaced, and appear lighter than the old ones.  We have started to treat them with linseed oil, and eventually all of the framing will be coated with oil.  We have had an ongoing discussion of nomenclature of these framing members regarding carlin/carline/carling vs. rafter.  The Railway Car-Builder's Dictionary calls the upper longer pieces "carlines" and the shorter clerestory pieces "rafters."  Anyone with other information on this is welcome to join the discussion.

The photo above shows the framing at the end of the car with the decking removed.  Some new (lighter colored) rafters/carlins are visible.

Above is a view from the inside of the car end.  It can be recalled from the earlier photos that there are storage cabinets at each car end under the center raised roof area.  Craig has made a new frame for the cabinet at this end.  Note the hole in the bottom center of the frame: this appparently is for a pull cord for an emergency warning or stop signal.

New window frames have been made by Craig, and one installed as in the photo to the right.

The vertical posts in the corner where the old icebox was located have been replaced.  On the right, above, it can be seen where the post is (was) mortised into the sill that has rotted.  There has been much discussion on the best way to remove and replace the sill, given the mortises and other fitting that must be done.  More on this will be forthcoming.

What summer? 7-24-2011

Work continued on 470 without me for most of the summer.  Glen Hall kindly supplied some photos of progress during June and July.  Work sessions in Chama and Antonito, as well as vacations, etc. resulted in some speed bumps as well.

By this time, the roof decking has been largely removed except for the car ends.  Craig has fabricated new carlins to replace those that have deteriorated.

Rich is working to remove decking from the west end.  Fortunately he is not afraid of heights. :-)

Tom continues with removal of what is left of the east end platform. 

Vertical metal braces to support the roof structure have been placed since there is little else holding it at this point with removal of so much material.

This "Disposition Tracer" was found while dismantling one of the end roofs, I believe the west.  It is dated 1939, when the D&RGW was using the car for maintenance of way as a diner-kitchen car.

Coach door hardware 5-7-11

We are fortunate to have some of the original door and window hardware that remained in the coach.  We have had a request for images to be made available of these, and here are several.  Craig has built reproduction doors and window frames using original patterns that were existing in the car.  He has mounted the hardware in one of the doors (we have only one set), and the photo above shows an almost face-on view with the door closed in the frame.

Here is a view from the edge of the frame, also with the door latched.  I believe he scrounged a key from somewhere - I don't think it is original to the car.

This is a view of the edge of the door as it is open.  The background is somewhat confusing, but the lock box is mortised into the door with two depths - a wide shallow mortise, and narrow deeper one.

This is view from the side of the door opposite the lock box.  The mortises on the other side can be seen from here also.

Finally, a view of the frame with the door open and not in view.  The latch also is mortised into the frame.

This is an example of the window hardware, basically a knob to aid in sliding the window up or down.  Spring devices in the window track keep it in position, raised or lowered.

Gathering 5-5-11

It has become time to think about raising the coach, and we needed cribbing to support it.  Tom and I made a trip to Denver in early May to obtain a load of ties.  The easy part was loading them on the trailer which was professionally accomplished by the folks at Kopper's.

While it was a little windy that day, it seemed unlikely that the load would blow off the trailer.  Nevertheless, we secured the load with tie-downs, at least for the sake of cosmetics.

The rest of the day was not so easy.  We stopped at Cliff's in the hills outside of Conifer to pick up the Lolley columns used in the construction of his house, a work in progress.  It is a beautiful house on a beautiful site on a cliff, with gorgeous view of Pikes Peak off the deck.  The columns were used to provide inside support for the concrete foundation as it was poured.  They were robust, heavy, and long. and needed to be sectioned to remove them from the house.  He has donated them to the Friends and they will find a home in the CRF in Antonito for some construction of additional storage space.  I could not negotiate his driveway with the trailer, so we loaded the columns onto his truck and transfered them in the street.

Here we are loaded ready to go.  My mileage going downhill to Conifer was spectacular.  Fortunately, we had help unloading from the Community Service people at the Trolley Museum.  The TM has been most generous in sharing these people with us as we need extra help, and we thank them.