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.