August-September 2019

The interior features of the car, seats, etc., are beginning to take form during this period.  Much of the hardware for the interior has been obtained.  Also work continues on the roof with the fabrication and installation of the copper flashing around the clerestory windows.

We received the castings for the seat posts from John Weiss who designed the pattern and had them cast.  The right (cloverleaf) side attaches to the wall above the seats and the left is shaped to receive the post attached to a seat.

This is a photo of a photo showing one of the arches installed.  The round bar below is for a curtain that extended over the seats (and bunks) for "privacy."  A clerestory window is at the top of the photo.

This is a view of the bottom of the arch where the square post is fitted.  Projections on the sides are for the curtain rods.

This is a brass fitting that the bottom of the square portion of the post rests in.  It helps support the upper bunk when it is in position for sleeping.

The post transitions from square to round at this fitting which is actually upside down in this photo.  The round post extends down to the top of the seat back.

Here Ron is holding an arch over a round post that has a plastic model of the brass fitting on the top and a cup on the bottom, also plastic, to be brass.  Ron designed and made the plastic models and had the brass fittings cast.

Another view of two posts with Craig checking their positions.

A closeup of the brass cap for the base of the posts.

This shows more brass pieces that Ron has made.  The two pieces on the left are for the bell cord that runs the length of the car.  The top one attaches to the ceiling of the car and holds a leather strap that is attached to the bottom one.  The cord passes through the ring on the bottom piece and rests on the pulley.  The cord extends the length of the train and is attached to a bell in the locomotive cab to signal the engineer.  The top right piece is a door pull for the sliding doors between seats.  The bottom right is a catch for holding the upper berths in the up position.  The center piece attaches to the bottom corner of the upper berths and rests on the oval brass piece when the berths are in the down position.

Thanks, Ron!

Much of the activity during this time involved assembling the seats.  Here Craig and John E. are fitting the top frame member and checking the position of the outer seat frame against the wall.

The seats are held together with screws through the metal frames into the wood members.  In this photo Bill K. is down on the job.

This photo from mid-August shows a good start on the seats.

Ron is drilling a hole into a frame for the screw that will go into the wood member.

Here Craig and John E. are checking the fit against the wall.  The window sill overhangs somewhat and Craig made some spacers to go between the frame and the wall.

This photo shows a seat assembly with the seat bottoms in place but lacking the seat backs.  There is a divider between the seat backs that will separate the compartments when the seats are converted into berths.

In this photo the seat back and bottom have been fastened together with hinges and are in the "sleeping" position.  The seat to the right would be in the same position to make a platform on which to put whatever bedding a person may have brought for comfort.

This is a view at the end of August showing several of the seat assemblies in place.

In September work continued on seat assembly.  Here Don is installing hinges between a seat and a seat back.  Bill L. is assisting and Bill K. is sorting hardware.

 In this photo Dean is installing hinges as well.

Meanwhile Jim is sanding the armrests prior to applying a sealant.

The armrests were sprayed all at once with a clear sealer.

A closeup of the armrests shows an interesting grain pattern.

In early September the copper roofing material was nearly completely on the car except for a portion of the northeast corner.  Soldering still needed to be done.

This is a photo of a photo of the flashing around one of the pillars in the clerestory before removal of the roof materials.  The flashing came up around the  pillar at the base and was covered by overlapping flashing as well.

Ron is starting to make replacement copper flashing for the clerestory.

Ron starts with cutting copper squares off of the roll.

He then cuts and bends them to the shape he wants.

This shows the finished pieces in place.  There are two designs, left and right.

Meanwhile, Tom made the copper flashing for the bottom of the clerestory windows, bending it on a sheet metal brake borrowed from Antonito.

This photo shows one of the windows with the copper across the bottom overlapping the end pieces on the pillars.  It looks to be rotated up for fitting.

Here is one end of the window with the flashing down and overlapping the roofing material as well as the copper on the pillar.




Thanks again for photo help from Tom, John E. and Don.

May - July 2019

Work continued on the interior of the car, consisting of finishing the floor, prepping and fitting the seats and making hardware for the seat assemblies.  We missed a few work sessions in May and June because of activities on the railroad in Chama and Antonito.

Prior to applying the sealant to the floor the wall was taped, I believe by Mike in this photo.

Then the floor was sanded.

The floor was sprayed with a clear sealer between work sessions and this photo shows the resulting finish.  It was covered very soon after with a heavy paper to protect it.

Craig, Don, and Ron are discussing how to proceed with assembling the seats.  This frame will be fastened to the outside wall of the car, and has had the legs removed as it will rest on a ledge that extends along the side of the car's interior.

Craig assembled a prototype seat and back which are shown here inserted into the groove in the frame.  The piece of wood on the right will be screwed to the tops of the two frames to hold them together.

This photo shows how the frames will come together, fastened to the the red oak cross pieces with screws.

Ron has been busy making hardware while in Arizona this last winter (more on this later).  These are brass caps that go on the corners of the seat backs.  The round peg fits in the groove of the seat frame and allows the back to move from an erect to flat position.

In this photo the seat and back are in the flat position for sleeping.  There would be a facing seat in a similar  position to make a bed.  It was BYO bedding back in the day.  The other two people would have a drop down platform for an upper bunk over the seats.

Here Craig and John C. are sanding the cross pieces that Craig had made previously in his shop.

It turns out that the seat backs did not move smoothly in the grooves from the flat to upright position and back again.  Some "adjustments" had to be made by removing some metal at the corners of the frame grooves.  Here Don is cutting some of the obstructing metal with a grinder.

The peg on the seat back had to negotiate this corner to go from the flat to the upright position.  The angular projections caused it to hang up so it did not move easily.

These are the offending pieces that were removed.

In this photo John E. is grinding things smooth with an air grinder.

The frames will be screwed to the cross pieces and to the walls and floor.  Here Bill L. is using a center punch to mark a frame for drilling.

Most of the holes were drilled with a hand drill as Craig is doing here while John C. holds the frame steady.

Some were drilled on the drill press by Ron and Don.

This photo shows a seat frame in place with the outside of the frame resting on a narrow ledge and the inside of the frame supported by the legs on the floor.  Note the angulation of the legs  to allow more room in the aisle for feet.  The ledge is difficult to see in this photo, but is made up of the truss plank which runs the length of the car, covered with oak panelling.

This photo shows the outside frame resting on temporary spacer blocks on the ledge.  Spacers will also be used to compensate for the window sills that keep the frame from coming in contact with the wall.

Ron has been busy making prototypes of hardware for the seat assemblies.  Here he is explaining to Bill L. how things will come together.  On the table are several pieces he has made.  The largest one is for the posts that extend from the seat backs to the ceiling of the car to support a divider between seats as well as a rest or stop for the upper bunk.

A closer view.

The sleeves for the roof vents were fitted and installed.  The original caps are on the right in this photo and a new sleeve is on the left.  At the bottom of the picture a sleeve has been fitted to the hole in the roof.

Some chisel work was needed to make others fit.

Tabs were cut in the bottom of the sleeves which will be bent over to hold them in place.













The roofers then soldered the sleeves in place to the metal roofing material.

Meanwhile in Antonito, work has been progressing on the trucks.  In this photo, the frame is largely done and the wheels are ready to mount under the frame.

Looks like an engine hoist has come in handy.

It looks like one is done.  Note the swivel plate on the top which matches the plate under the car where the car will rest on the truck.



Thanks to Don Atkinson for these photos of the truck taken while he was in Antonito.

Thanks also to John Engs and Tom Simco for help with some of the other photos.