March 2016 - Needle beams installed

We had two work sessions in March, the 3rd and 5th.  Most of the efforts were devoted to installing the needle beams as described in the previous post.

There were more holes to drill.  Existing holes were present in the sills but these had to be re-drilled through the steel angles that had been placed earlier.  Don and John are manning the drill.

This photo shows the bolts in place along the length of the needle beam where they have been placed through the sills.  Bill K. is tightening one of the nuts.  The truss rod has been put in position but not engaged with the queen posts or tensioned as yet.

Tom then cut the protruding ends of the bolts with his portable band saw.

Spacer plates were cut from stock to place between the beam and the intermediate and outer sills as the angle steel on the inner sills caused the beam to be lowered by the thickness of the steel.  Fortunately there was an easy way to do this with a mechanical saw.

The end bolts for the needle beams presented another challenge.  Notice at the far right side of this photo one of the vertical framing pieces has been cut and removed.  In the lower right corner a groove is present in the large plank where it meets the outer sill.  This is where the two end bolts were for the needle beam.  Part of the framing on the outside of the car had to be removed to access this area as well.

The solution was to use rod threaded at both ends inserted from the bottom.  Here one of the rods is being threaded by hand.

Here is yours truly at the bottom.  Getting the bolts through the beam, spacer plates, and sill was a bit tricky, but finally accomplished.

Then making room to thread nuts on the bolts was necessary.  Bill K. is wielding the chisel.

This photo shows the two end bolts in the needle beam secured.  Note the cut end of the framing member near the top of the picture.  The next task was to replace the framing that was removed for access.

This photo shows the needle beam with the two bolts through it and secured with a plate between the nuts and the beam.  There is an end cap over the beam with the truss rod passed through it and a nut to tension the rod.

Here is the final configuration with the truss rod in the grooves of the queen posts providing support to the center of the car.

The next step was to repair the damage caused by obtaining access to needle beam bolts.  Don is gluing the pieces together on one of the verticals that was cut.  Amazingly the cut piece didn't get lost.

Then metal plates were fastened to each side of the splice.

Finally the frame bracing that was removed was replaced.  Some of the pieces that were removed had to be replaced with new wood since they were damaged.

Concurrently, Bob was working on plugging the screw holes in the window sills.  Here he is cutting plugs out of a block of wood using Craig's plug cutter.

The plugs were then glued into the screw holes like so.

The plugs were then cut flush with the window sill using a fine saw with no kerf so as not to scratch the sill.

Finally, Bill L. continued work on removing paint from the overhangs.  First with a heat gun,

then with a scraper.  Looking good, Bill.

February 2016

We worked on the needle beam hardware under the car.  These help support the center of the car along with the truss rods that run longitudinally from bolster to bolster.

Here is another look at the drawing of a similar car showing a needle beam which has been colored red.  (Click on image to enlarge.)  The needle beams also have rods under them fastened on the ends, with queen posts placed along the length in a similar configuration to the truss rods in this drawing.

This is a copy of a photo of the needle beam hardware configuration (click to enlarge).  Arrow #1 points to the longitudinal truss rod.  Arrow #2 points to the needle beam.  Arrow #3 points to the queen posts (2) attached to the needle beam.  Arrow #4 points to the truss rod along the needle beam.  This geometry provides support all along the width of the car as well as at the ends of the beam.

This photo shows Bob and Bill K. contemplating one of the needle beams on our car with the queen posts attached.

The rods need to be bent in two places where they are in contact with the queen posts.  So out comes the "bender" again.  Bill K. looks like he wants to do some bending, but where is the jack handle?

Tom is cleaning up the ends of a rod on the belt sander.

The rods are threaded at each end and tension applied by tightening nuts.  Here the crew is learning how to use the threading machine.

January 2016

We had four work sessions in January even though the one on the weekend after New Year's was cancelled.  We are working the Thursdays before the regularly scheduled Saturdays for a few months to get caught up from weather cancellations, etc.

The platform tie rods are mostly in place but all are not yet drilled through the platform end sills.  There are six rods in each platform with three on each side.  On the right side of the picture shown one can see a rod along the inner aspect of the outer sill, and two next to the inner sill.

The rods had to be bent some to be threaded through the sills of the car.  Some were bent by hand, but we borrowed a hydraulic bender seen here.  There is a jack below pushing up on the rod between the black guides to force a bend.  A little bit of Bob's arm can be seen in the lower left of the photo as he pumps.  John is guiding the rod into the grooves.

One of the rods next to the inner sill is hooked on to the bolster as shown here.

The other rod near the inner sill is hooked on to the end sill of the car as shown here.  It is fixed in place with a lag bolt.  The rod attached to the bolster is seen just above the hook in the upper left corner of the photo.

The third rod which is along side the outer platform sill is threaded on both ends.  This photo shows the rod passing through the end sill of the car and a washer and nut will be used to secure this end of the rod.

More drilling was needed under the car in the pivot plate.  John and Tom are positioning the magnetic drill to do the job.

This photo shows the drill in place attached to the steel plate by the magnetic base which is activated electrically.

This photo shows the window hardware for the lower level windows.  The larger piece on the left is a latch that attaches to the side of the frame and holds the window open or closed.  The smaller one on the right is a handle that goes on the bottom of the frame and is used to raise the window.  These are original pieces from the car, but some are missing.  They are still available from the original company but the current latches have two screw holes in the top instead of one.

In order to accommodate two screws on the side frame the strips holding the windows in place were removed and cut narrower to expose more of the frame.  Here one of the strips is being replaced after being downsized.

Craig brought a mockup of a clerestory window that he built for display.  In this photo the window is open about halfway (toward us) being hinged at the bottom.  The mechanism on the right holds it in position.  There is a pull in the middle that has a hole in it for a hook on a pole to position the window as needed.

Here is a closer look at the retaining latch for the window.  There is a spring loaded plunger that rides on the notched bar to hold the window closed or open various amounts.

Work on the roof decking and trim is winding up.  Craig is preparing to install one of the last pieces of trim on the curved end of the clerestory.

And on it goes.  It will be smooth as well.

This is a photo of the end of the car before dismantling showing a cabinet over the door.  There were two of these, one at each end.  One of the doors was off in the cabinet at the other end of the car but the hardware was present.

Craig made new doors for the cabinets and Don cleaned up the frames and mounted the hardware as shown here.

In this photo Debbie is oiling the back side of the cabinet with linseed oil.  The front facing into the car will be finished like the rest of the interior.

The exposed framing of the car is being oiled as well, both old and new.  Here Bill is working on the sills from underneath.








Thanks again to Tom for some of the photos.

December 2015

December saw work continuing on the end platform tie rods as well as installing trim on the roof.

There are several tie rods in each platform, and in this photo Bob and Bill L. are reviewing a photo of the configuration taken prior to dismantling of the platform.

This photo taken in January 2011 shows two rods next to the (near) inner sill and one along the inside of the (far) outer sill.  It is apparent that the rods were bent and did not extend straight through.

Bill and John are pulling a rod through holes that have been drilled in the wood and steel.  Note the steel on the end sill of the car not present previously.

Bob was in the pit under the car pushing, twisting, and pounding the rod through.  Some bending was needed to get through the holes as mentioned in the previous post.

Meanwhile Craig was fitting trim pieces on the roof.  A little chisel work was needed to make it right.

And on it goes.

Don and Debbie were working on the upper sashes of the windows putting pegs in the frames.

Finally Santa stopped by for a visit and Debbie welcomed him to our project.  Hopefully she got to give him her Christmas list.

Goodbye, Santa.  Have a good trip!











Thanks to Tom for some of these photos.