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.