Letter boards - Fall-Winter 2014

Work on the letter boards spanned a rather long period of time as other things were happening concurrently.  The letter boards are wide boards that extend the length of the care over the windows and under the cornice which often displayed the name of the company that owned the car.  Thanks again to Tom Smco for providing some of the photos.

This drawing shows a letter board on a coach that has the number 91 on it for identification.

This photo shows some of the boards that Craig brought to the work site ready to be fitted.  It is apparent that considerable work has already been done to get to this stage.

Bob and Craig are doing some final fitting at the work site of one of the end pieces.  The corners on the ends are dove-tailed together.

 

We built platforms along each side of the car to improve access to the work areas without having to move ladders, etc.  The photo on the right shows a board clamped in place before finally screwing it on to the car.  Note the end of the board which will be overlapped with the adjacent one.

The photo above, left shows the work platform on the side of the car.  The sections are removable and can be transferred to the other side as needed.  On the right Don and Bob are fastening the letterboard with screws.

The photo above shows how the boards are fastened with counter sunk screws.

The screw holes are then filled and sanded smooth.

The corners are dovetailed as shown above.  The end of the car is on the right.  Here part of the arched piece could be used and just the corner replaced.

This is the same corner as above and the finishing piece of ash has been placed over the framing.  Clamps are holding it in place at this time.

This photo shows the finished end piece.  Getting the arch correct was "interesting" but Craig did an excellent job.

Odds and Ends, June thru September 2014

Considerable drilling had to be done through wood and metal to fasten the end platforms securely to the car framing.  In the first photo Lenny is using the magnetic drill to drill a bolt hole through the steel that is reinforcing the inner sill as well as the steel on the inner platform sill.























The next two photos show the eight bolts in place securing the wood sills and steel angles of the car and platform together.

This photo was taken of 0252/470 in Chama prior to moving it to our work site in Colorado Springs.  I am showing it to show the vertical window trim on each side of the the windows.  It is grooved in a pattern that is not readily available currently.  (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

The pattern is duplicated on this planer/moulder knife, and stock was run through to obtain matching material.

New on the left and old on the right.

Finally, Craig picked up the bolsters from Strasburg, CO where Urich fabricated the arched part that was removed from the car.The straight piece beneath was left on the car.  They will be installed with the arch down and bolted together.

The bolsters are fastened under the car at each end where the truck pivot pins are located to provide support and stiffness.  The bolster is colored red in this diagram, and is oriented transversely across the car.  Many hours were spent fitting these, but  more on this later.