January 2017 - A New Year

We were able to have a work session the last weekend in January, and continued on the siding, underside sheathing, and end platforms.  Craig also started fabricating steps for the end platforms.

This photo shows one of the panels that Craig made for the end of the car.  It was more expedient to make a panel of siding boards than to install individual boards.  The panel is grooved on the back to accommodate the steel bracing.

Here Craig is holding the panel in place.  Some trimming was needed for a good fit.

The underside sheathing is almost complete.  The steel beams attached to the inner sills are not covered.

Work continued on the outside boards under the car.  These required more trimming and fitting as there is more hardware protruding along the edge.  In this photo Bill K. and Don are doing some measuring.

 Pad eyes were attached with lag bolts under the car as described previously in the posting related to the split outer sill.  There were eight of these, two for attaching the check chains on each of the trucks.











In the photo to the left Bill K. is using a large socket wrench to put in the lag bolt for one of the eyes.

This is what it looks like installed.  The sheathing will have to be cut out around it.  The wood strips at the top of the photo are temporary, being used to hold platforms for access to the upper side of the car.

Craig has made floor boards of oak for the platforms.  They were drilled to accommodate the bolt heads in the framing.  In this photo he is marking for the bolt in the outer sill.  At the right edge of the photo a hole has been drilled for another bolt.

It looks like they fit nicely.

Craig has also been building steps for the platforms.  This is one of the stringers with grooves routed out for the steps and risers.  The holes are for rods that will hold the pieces together.

This photo shows one of the stringers in place.  It will be fastened to the car with a bracket welded to the steel on the end sill.

This photo of 0252 in one of its previous incarnations shows the steps in place.  It was noted that the stringers had more of a curve at the lower step than was present in the photo above.  Notice the check chains between the car body and the truck.

So the stringers will be modified by adding a piece of wood to more accurately conform to the original design.










Even though we were limited in the number of work sessions over the winter a fair amount was accomplished, particularly by Craig in his heated workshop.

Thanks to John Engs for contributing photos.

October-November 2016 Making hay

We had a warm and dry fall which was good for accomplishing a few things.

We were able to get the siding and underside sheathing boards primed during the good weather.  Here Ron and I are busy at it.

 Debbie filled nail holes in the window trim.

 Craig started to repair the split in the outer sill.  First he had to smooth out the surface and started with the oscillating tool.

Maybe it is easier from below?

 Then there is the good old hand chisel.

 Anyway, it is looking good.

 He cut a piece of wood to fit.

Then clamped it in place and drilled through it and the sill for bolts to secure it.

Lastly, the repair is bolted and glued in place.

Meanwhile, Bill L. has been sanding the overhangs on the ends of the car.

John and Joe, the welder, are discussing the fabrication of the body truss rods.  There are two of these located under the outer sills that help support the center of the car.

The rod will be welded to this anchor assembly which is attached just above Joe's arm to the body bolster.

Here is a drawing of one end of a body truss rod similar to that being used in car 470.  It is anchored to the bolster on the left, with a queen post at the bend toward the center of the car.  A portion of the turnbuckle is visible at the edge of the drawing for tensioning the rod.  Click on the picture to enlarge.

This photo shows the turnbuckle that will be welded onto the rod.  A queen post can be seen at the very top of the photo just to the left of the far beam.

And then again the support blocks are in the way.  Don is moving one of the ties into place.

It looks like this will hold.

Craig has also been busy constructing a prototype seat primarily for measurement purposes.  The round stop on the vertical post is for the upper bunk platform to rest on.

This photo shows a prototype seat.  The back and seat parts are hinged together and will be able to slide forward and flatten out to meet the facing seat and make a lower bunk platform.  No bedding was included; it was BYO.









No work sessions were held in December because of weather.  Hopefully we will see a January thaw.  Thanks again to Tom Simco for some of the photos taken in my absence.

September 2016 - A surprise

We  continued with priming the siding and underbody sheathing boards prior to installation.  Here Bill L. and I are painting behind the trolley museum roundhouse in the shade.  The PCC cars are waiting patiently for the day when they may again run the rails in Colorado Springs.

These are now drying in the sun.  OB's old ring gear is leaning against the wood shop.

We also continued to install the underside sheathing.  There are a myriad of bolts, nuts, and other hardware under the car necessitating a lot of cutting and fitting of the boards.  Here Don is cutting a notch with the saber saw.

Then each board is fitted into place and screwed into the framing.  Don is seating the tongue and groove on the far end with a mallet.  Some of the hardware can be seen protruding from the underside at the near end.

Bill K. is placing the screw with the electric drill.  We are thankful for young shoulders.

This section is done and looking good.

After completing a section it was necessary to move the supports of the car in order to work on that area that was above the supports.  That meant jacking up the car and moving the blocks.

 The surprise was that John noticed that part of the outer sill on the south side of the car was split away exposing the lag bolts for the pad eye for the truck check chain.  The tips of the lags remain in the sill holding the eye in place, but not very securely.

The split extends between the cross pieces which appears to have contained it.

This drawing from the Car Builders Cyclopedia shows a portion of a truck with the check chain attached to the frame.  The hook was placed in the eye attached to the frame of the car to keep the truck from rotating excessively.  Presumably there was a "mishap" in the past where the truck was rotated to  the point where the force on the eye split the sill.

This is a view from beneath the car showing the pad eye and a portion of the sill missing. Tom's T-shirt is visible through the hole.

This photo shows the intact hardware on the other side of the car.

In this photo the framing cross piece has been removed adjacent to the eye in preparation for repairs.  To be continued.

August 2016

We continued to install the siding panels on the east end of the car.  In this photo I am holding the panel in place while Craig inserts the screws from the back side.

Here he is on the other side placing screws through the wood blocks into the siding panel.

After installation, the panels were primed on the outside with an oil based primer by Bill L. and Ron.

The west end panels are installed and primed.

In this photo Bill L. and Ron are priming the cedar boards for the underside sheathing before installation.

Cutting and fitting the sheathing under the car was difficult because of the complex framing.  Here Bill K. is screwing a board in place.

Meanwhile work continued on installing siding.  Here Craig is cutting primed boards to fit.

These boards are going between the windows, and Craig is nailing one in place with the nail gun.

This side is looking finished.

We had some uninvited guests this summer in the form of wasps.  There were nests on and in the trailer as well as in the pipe for the hand rails to the steps into the trailer.  John, with deadly accuracy, took care of them, however.  Fortunately no one got stung.

We had to jack up the car and move the support blocks and beams to access parts of the underside for the moisture barrier and sheathing installation.  This heavy duty jack was borrowed from the Trolley Museum and made lifting the car look easy.  John is doing the heavy lifting here.

This steel beam can be moved now.

In this last photo Bill K. is placing blocks in a new position under the car.