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.