Steel bracing

We have received a request to show some of the steel bracing in 470, and this posting will attempt to do that.  There is a steel piece that runs the length of the car as shown above.  Vertical posts are present at the bends of the long piece.  Each end is anchored through the sill  at the end of the car as shown below.

Each end of the brace is rounded and threaded, and passes through the sill, and is fastened with a nut.  The sill on the left end as we face this side of the car has been exposed to water from the icebox which was just above, and a portion is to be replaced.  this nut was also rusted on. 

Steel IV 9-1-12

After spending many hours and bruised knuckles moving tie rods back and forth, it was determined that they moved easier when the holes in the sills were enlarged slightly.  This was done to the inner and intermediate sills only, leaving the outer sills intact.  Craig is working on one of the intermediate sills in the photo above.

Meanwhile, John is fabricating more clamps to hold the steel tightly to the inner sills.

Thusly.  Looks like they will fit.  Now, how do we fasten the two long pieces on each inner sill together in the middle?  More to come.

Levitating steel - 8-18-12

Holes have been drilled in the steel, and it is time for a trial run to fit them together.

The beams could be lifted by 3 or 4 people, but hydraulic jacks were used to press them into place,  We also had rachet straps in place to not only help in raising, but also for safety to prevent an "unforseen" descent.  Lenny is minding the jack in this photo.

One side is close.

But  there is a speed bump.  Most of the holes were aligned well, but a few had to be enlarged slightly.

Tom made clamps out of angle iron and thread stock to tighten up and hold the steel in place.  (I didn't know he was left handed!)  The tie rods have been threaded through the beam on the right and are being worked through the holes in the beam on the left.

It's looking good.  It just needs a little adjusting here and there.

Here is a closer look.  Don't forget you can enlarge photos by clicking on them.

More steel - 8-4-12

Work continues fitting and drilling the steel.  The holes for the tie rods fit fairly well with minimal redoing.

Rich and Tom are working on the splice in the sill that had been done prior to our acquiring 470.  We replaced the bolts above Tom's toes recently, and there will have to be accommodation made for them in the steel on this side.

The bolts were removed and the steel put in position so that the drill sites could be marked through the sill.

Tie rod holes have been drilled in the piece on the left.  Note the flex in the sill on the left that has been blocked up.  The steel should correct the misalignments.





Steel 7-21-12

There was a rather long break this spring/summer because of vacations and work sessions down south.  We got back at it in July continuing with prepping and installing steel reinforcing.

The photo above shows the west end of the car with the steel in place.  The pieces for the inner sills can be seen resting on the cross ties below.

The ends of the steel were cut to conform with the moulding of the corner as shown above.  Holes were drilled for bolts to secure in place.

Holes needed to be drilled in the longitudinal pieces of steel to accommodate the tie rods that pass through the width of the car, as well as for bolts to secure it in place.  They were placed on blocks in position as above, and the locations for drilling were marked.

Thanks be to whoever invented the mag drill!  I had never used one before, but it made drilling heavy steel relatively easy, as opposed to using a hand drill.

We used a "special sauce" for a drill lubricant that worked better than oil alone.  Contact me if you would like the formula.  It came from Greg Roberts at the Trolley museum.

Meanwhile, Tom is treating spacers that will be placed under the sills since the vertical dimension of the steel is greater than that of the sill.

The trim pieces over the ends of the doors will need replacing, and the roof curve is not a simple arc of a circle.  A protractor was fashioned and measurements made to help determine the shape of the curve.

More very soon.

Prep. for steel (2) - 4/7/12

Work continued on removing and squaring the ends of the cross pieces.  A speed bump was encountered near the west end of the car where the inside sill had been repaired, and the splice was unstable so accurate measurements for the cross pieces could not be obtained.

 

In these photos, John and Tom are realigning the sill splice and fixing it with bolts and glue.  Just like orthopedics, eh?

Meanwhile, George and I worked on a piece of angle steel that will be bolted to the end sill on the west end of the car.  On the left, George is notching the end of the steel to fit around the corner moulding of the car, just above his right shoulder.  On the right is a closeup of the cuts that were made.  We started to drill holes for the bolts in the steel, but completion will wait for another day with a better drill.

 

Craig has fabricated corner moulding for replacing the unusable ones on the four corners as well as the doorways.  On the left are two posts ready to be installed, and on the right is a corner in need of one.  A couple of them were in good enough shape to keep.

Preparation for steel - 3-17-12

The next several weeks will be devoted to cleaning up the framing and preparing for installing the steel reinforcing so that the car will be trackworthy.

Following elevation of the car, new stairs were built for easy access to the inside.  The photo on the left shows the west end coming from the workshop area, and the one on the right is the east end.

There will be steel angle pieces running the length of the car alongside the inner sill that Tom is straddling.  The framing cross pieces are being removed and cut down slightly to accomodate the thickness of the steel.  Each piece was numbered with a corresponding number placed at its location since the measurements differed slightly at different locations.  The mortises were left at the outer ends, and brackets will be fabricated at the inner ends of the cross pieces to hold them in place.

Meanwhile, Craig has been busy as usual making window framing as shown on the left.  The piece on the back of the bench is the original frame for one of the cabinets at the end of the car over the door.  On the right, John is calculating the steel requirements.  He and Glenn have been spending considerable time working out the details of the dimensions and installation plans.

On a personal note, I must apologize to those who have sent comments with questions.  I just discovered them, and will try to check the comments more frequently and respond as appropriate.