Varied tasks, Feb. 19, 2011

Most of the vertical tie rods (see previous posts) are rusted and all are being replaced.  Craig located the stock locally, but they needed to be cut to length and threaded.  George, John, and Bob were busy at this last Saturday.



More of the roof decking was removed, and I believe most, if not all of the decking will be replaced.  Some is in fair shape but probably not worth keeping.  On the right above, the war council (John, Tom, Glenn, and Craig) is holding a pow-wow to plan further activities.  Notice the plywood on the end platform of the car that Tom is standing on, and see below.

On the left, above, on the plywood platform, Glenn found what looks like a penny in these photos, but in fact is a WWII era ration token.  It may be possible to make out the lettering "OPA" and the number "1" in the photo on the right.  For those of you with less gray hair than most of us, these were used to obtain food during the wartime shortages when rationing was in effect.  Glenn recalls counting these out, and said this was a meat token.  This car was in maintenance-of-way service with the D&RG at this time, and was used as a REA office for a period as well.  One can only speculate where the token came from, but presumably fell from above during the removal of material from the roof or end of the car.

Finally, Tom and I built steps into the pit for access to the underside of the car.  These were built with "requisitioned" materials, but turned out quite nicely.

Several projects (January 29,2011)

We had a large crew last Saturday, and worked in several different areas.  Rosemary (left above) and others removed the metal roof covering which was a fairly messy job.  Much of the roof decking is in decent shape, although there are areas that are badly deteriorated.  The portion that has been removed on the right above was done to get access to remove the part of the sill plate that is going to be replaced.  More on that later.

On the left, above, the decking looks pretty good in the near part of the photo, but not so good along the far edge.  On the right, above, shows the detail on one of the corners.  The joinery in general was well done when the car was built, but time has taken its toll.

Meanwhile, Craig and Ray are working on dismantling the west end of the car.  There was a single piece of wood over the door and extending down each end about 1/4 of the way that was screwed in with covered screw holes.  We had to go fishing for the screws to remove them.  On the right, George and Rich removed the end platform and cleaned up the framing.  Some large framing members will need replacing here.



We arrived on scene in the morning to find the south edge of the tent had come loose from the turnbuckles because of the strong winds experienced earlier.  So the turnbuckles were securely fastened to the rail with blocks and bolts which hopefully will solve that problem.  The east end of the tent also had been flapping in the wind, so the pipes in the pockets along the base were wedged under the rails here as well.

After completing the end cover on the west end last session there was no room for passage between the tent and the ramp from the trailer.  Tom and I spent the morning shortening the ramp and adding treads.  Tom is sorting on the platform, and Glenn and John are discussing strategy (watching trains?).

Last but certainly not least, Bob worked in the shop installing electrical service.  We are obtaining power from the roundhouse, and will have 120/240 for power tools, as well as lighting and radiant heaters.  More photos on this next time.  I often get so involved in what I am doing that I forget to take pictures.  Sorry, Bob.