January 2016

We had four work sessions in January even though the one on the weekend after New Year's was cancelled.  We are working the Thursdays before the regularly scheduled Saturdays for a few months to get caught up from weather cancellations, etc.

The platform tie rods are mostly in place but all are not yet drilled through the platform end sills.  There are six rods in each platform with three on each side.  On the right side of the picture shown one can see a rod along the inner aspect of the outer sill, and two next to the inner sill.

The rods had to be bent some to be threaded through the sills of the car.  Some were bent by hand, but we borrowed a hydraulic bender seen here.  There is a jack below pushing up on the rod between the black guides to force a bend.  A little bit of Bob's arm can be seen in the lower left of the photo as he pumps.  John is guiding the rod into the grooves.

One of the rods next to the inner sill is hooked on to the bolster as shown here.

The other rod near the inner sill is hooked on to the end sill of the car as shown here.  It is fixed in place with a lag bolt.  The rod attached to the bolster is seen just above the hook in the upper left corner of the photo.

The third rod which is along side the outer platform sill is threaded on both ends.  This photo shows the rod passing through the end sill of the car and a washer and nut will be used to secure this end of the rod.

More drilling was needed under the car in the pivot plate.  John and Tom are positioning the magnetic drill to do the job.

This photo shows the drill in place attached to the steel plate by the magnetic base which is activated electrically.

This photo shows the window hardware for the lower level windows.  The larger piece on the left is a latch that attaches to the side of the frame and holds the window open or closed.  The smaller one on the right is a handle that goes on the bottom of the frame and is used to raise the window.  These are original pieces from the car, but some are missing.  They are still available from the original company but the current latches have two screw holes in the top instead of one.

In order to accommodate two screws on the side frame the strips holding the windows in place were removed and cut narrower to expose more of the frame.  Here one of the strips is being replaced after being downsized.

Craig brought a mockup of a clerestory window that he built for display.  In this photo the window is open about halfway (toward us) being hinged at the bottom.  The mechanism on the right holds it in position.  There is a pull in the middle that has a hole in it for a hook on a pole to position the window as needed.

Here is a closer look at the retaining latch for the window.  There is a spring loaded plunger that rides on the notched bar to hold the window closed or open various amounts.

Work on the roof decking and trim is winding up.  Craig is preparing to install one of the last pieces of trim on the curved end of the clerestory.

And on it goes.  It will be smooth as well.

This is a photo of the end of the car before dismantling showing a cabinet over the door.  There were two of these, one at each end.  One of the doors was off in the cabinet at the other end of the car but the hardware was present.

Craig made new doors for the cabinets and Don cleaned up the frames and mounted the hardware as shown here.

In this photo Debbie is oiling the back side of the cabinet with linseed oil.  The front facing into the car will be finished like the rest of the interior.

The exposed framing of the car is being oiled as well, both old and new.  Here Bill is working on the sills from underneath.








Thanks again to Tom for some of the photos.