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.