March 2017

March saw completion of the underside sheathing, installation of the longitudinal truss rods, progress in sealing the floor cavities and fitting the steps, and more work on the trailer.

Bill K. and Don are at it again under the car.  They are very close to finishing installing the sheathing underneath.


























On the left, above, they are down to the last board.  On the right, above, Don is measuring twice for a perfect fit.

 In goes the last board.  Great job, guys.

Here is the end result.  We are looking in the opposite direction from the previous photos.

Bill L.started sealing the floor cavities in preparation for insulation to help keep out the cold and noise.  The first task was to clean out the dirt and sawdust with the vacuum.

Then strips were cut from the roll of plastic sheeting that has adhesive on one side.

On cool days the strips were laid out in the sun to soften the adhesive.

The strips were then put into the cavities against the framing and the plastic that had been installed from underneath.

This is a section that has been completed.

This photo shows the steel plates that will fasten the steps to the body of the car.  The one on the left is an original one that was left on the car.  The other three were missing, so Joe fabricated the new ones on the right using the original one as a pattern.

In this photo Joe has positioned a plate for welding to the end sill steel and has it held in place with magnets.  (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

In this photo he is welding along the inside edge.

A view from the end of the car of the plate welded to the sill.

This is a view from below and behind the plate showing the second weld along the edge.  The side of the step assembly will be bolted to this plate.

This photo shows the flat surface of the plate after grinding the weld and polishing.  It is difficult to tell where the weld is located.

This photo shows the steps on the other side of the car positioned and leveled, and held in place with clamps.  The steel plate is on our left.  The right side of the steps will be bolted to the platform end sill.

John did some snugging up of the platform truss rods.

These are the under-the-car longitudinal truss rods to be.  They have been cut to length and Joe will take them to his shop to have eyes welded on one end and threads cut on the other.

The rods are back, being unloaded from Joe's truck.  Seems like a lot of manpower there, but they ARE heavy.

Russ Hanscomb made these eyes and Joe has welded them to the ends of the rods.  He has also ground down the welds so everything is smooth.

This photo shows the other ends of the rods that have been threaded.

 The next step is to bend the rods at the points where they pass under the queen posts.  Don and John are measuring and marking the spot while Craig is looking on.

We used a hydraulic "bender" that pushes the rod up between two posts to produce a bend.  Ron, Joe, John, and Don are getting set up to bend.

A level was clamped to the end of the rod at the eye to insure that the bend was at right angles to the pin in the eye.

This photo shows the rod after bending.  The device is essentially a hydraulic jack that pushes up on the rod to bend it.

This photo shows one rod in place.  The far end is the eye which is fastened to the bracket on the bolster and the near end is threaded to take a turnbuckle for tensioning.  The queen post is at the bend and will apply upward pressure to the needle beam as the tension increases on the truss.

Now both halves of the truss are in place, and John is threading the turnbuckle on to the rods while Joe is helping line them up.

This photo is looking in the other direction showing the other end of the truss after the turnbuckle has been snugged up.

This photo shows a detail of the end of the rod in the bracket with pin and cotter key in place.  The bolster is in the background.

This photo shows the entire truss in place under the car.  Because of its geometry it can support the center of the car between the trucks.

This is a detail of a queen post with the truss through it.  Joe has polished the weld on the end of the post.

Joe also did more work on the trailer this month, building ramps for loading vehicles or equipment.  In this photo he is measuring prior to doing the work in his shop.

This photo shows the completed ramps.  The bottom end grabs on to a pipe across the back of the trailer.

The ramps can be folded up while travelling.











Thanks to John Engs for help with the photos.