October 2019

October was a busy month with extra work sessions added.  Much  effort was directed to the interior of the car but work also continued on the clerestory window flashing.  In addition the ends of the protective structure sustained wind damage and the west end panel was removed and sent for repairs.

Work continued on installing seats.  Bill K. in this photo is grinding out the grooves in the seat castings so the seat backs and bottoms slide easily when converting from the seated to sleeping positions.

 This photo shows the grooves in which the pins on the seats and backs must slide.

Here Dean and John C. are drilling holes in the seat castings for the screws that will hold them in place in the car.

Hinges were installed on the seat back and bottom.

Seat frames and cross pieces were screwed together, here by John C. with Bill L. and Don helping.

Each seat was checked out to insure the back and bottom slid freely in the frame.  Dean is working on two of the single seats.  These are positioned against the walls at the ends of the car.

Bill L. is placing a screw in the top crosspiece of this seat.  The outboard frame is screwed to the wall and the feet of the frame on the aisle are screwed to the floor.

This is a section of the drawing of the 470-type cars showing the south side of the west end of our car as it is currently situated.  In the corner the round item is a coal fired heater.  To the left next to the curved wall is the ladies' toilet, with a water tank and wash basin on the left wall.  (Click on the image to magnify.)

This part of the drawing shows the northeast corner of the car with the "Gents' Saloon" in the corner.  It is larger than the ladies'facility but unheated.  There is a straight wall adjacent to the toilet and on the other side of the wall to the right is a water tank and wash basin.  The oval structure to the far right in this space is labelled "Cooler."  There is another wall between the cooler and the seat.

The walls are constructed out of red oak finished and beaded on both sides.

These pieces were milled to take the oak boards and are fastened to the walls and floor.  The curved piece is fastened to the convex side of the curved wall to maintain the shape and provide stability.

Craig made a mockup of the curved wall.  One of the grooved pieces as above was bent to hold the lower ends of the boards.  The stabilizing piece is clamped on.

Here is the mockup in place where the wall will be.

The grooved moulding is fixed to the wall at an angle to start the curve.

This photo shows the beginning of the construction of the curved wall.  Lots of fitting to be done!

This photo shows the finished curved wall.  The heater goes on the right of it and the ladies toilet on the left.  The open door at the end of the car is at the extreme right.

There is a curved brace on the convex side of the wall.

The wall between the ladies wash basin and the first seat was straight and therefore simpler.  This is a photo looking toward the west end of the car.

The walls between the seats were begun.  Grooved moulding was fastened to the outer wall and the first board fitted into it with cutouts where necessary.

Each board was cut to length and the upper end rounded to fit the curve of the ceiling.

The first two partly done.

There will be sliding doors between the seats so there is an opening in the walls as shown here.  The support post for the upper boards is temporary.

By the end of the month work was progressing well on the walls.  In this photo John Engs is showing the car to some visitors from the Friends meeting.  We get visitors from the Trolley Museum also since their docents include 470 on their tours of the streetcars.

With the walls in place we are able to finish the ceiling.  Insulation was not sprayed where the walls were to go, so these areas needed insulation.

Fiberglass was used as shown here.

Moulding was fixed to the upper walls against which to place the ceiling boards.  Don is nailing this piece in place.

The ceiling boards are cut to length and nailed in place.  John C. is holding and Don nailing.

This photo shows a completed section.

Tom Simco, a retired sheet metal guy, has been installing the copper flashing on the clerestory windows.

First the corner pieces that Ron made are installed.

Then a piece of flashing is laid over the corner pieces along the window sill.  You may ask "Where did you find custom copper flashing to fit all of these angles?"  Answer:  Tom made them.

This is a sheet metal brake for bending and shaping sheet metal, brought up from Antonito.

The copper was shaped to fit the windows using the brake.













The copper work was a time consuming process but moving right along and looking good.












A few other tasks were completed this month.  In this photo Mike is cutting off the protruding threads from the platform railing posts on the east end of the car.

This looks much better.

Finally, the protective structure for the car sustained wind damage with the seams fastening the zippers to the fabric tearing out.  This photo shows the removal of the west end which was sent for repairs.

Now the main part of the fabric has to be brought out over the end arch and tacked down.






Thanks again to Tom and Don for help with the photos.

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.