Letters and Numbers

When we last saw the 319 and 409, yesterday at about 4 PM, Ron Coy had just started laying out the lettering on one side of the 409. By 9 AM this morning he was finishing up the outlines on the second side, and all of the numbers were done. He can really work fast.

Disclaimer: Hicks Car Works does not endorse smoking cigarettes. Don't try this at home, kids.

And here's a view of the finished car, as it moves over to track 2 for touch-up work on the other side. Meanwhile, prep work on the 319 continued. I worked on windows some more, and provided information on lettering that was needed for the 319.

Jamie did the necessary switching in Barn 2, and we then moved the 319 over to track 22, and put it west of the 460. Jim and his team were planning to repaint the gray later today.

This left Ron temporarily with little to do, so we then pulled the blue cars out of Barn 8, and I ran them over to 50th. Here Ron did the outlining on one letterboard of the 308, where the outlining had never been applied. It now looks better, and consistent with the 309. The blue cars are back in Barn 8, and the 319 is spending the night in Barn 2.

I also went over to check on the 321. The tarp has come part way off again, exposing the north side this time. I put some extra windows in place; luckily it's supposed to be clear for a few days. Perhaps we can somehow get the tarp back in place soon.

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Brake Cylinder Fixed

Today I managed to replace the return spring in the 308's brake cylinder. To do this, I had to put the car over the pit, so first we moved the locomotive out of the way. Then I disconnected the brake rigging and removed the end casting, as seen here. That was the last opportunity to take a picture.

Henry Vincent helped me put the cylinder back together with the new spring -- thanks!!! Sam Polonetzky and John Nelligan helped with switching. Gerry Detloff and George Clark provided useful guidance. The brakes now appear to be working OK after some brief tests, so the two cars should be in service again this weekend if it doesn't rain. By the way, we still need a trainman for Saturday!



After that, I didn't have the time or energy to start another project. So here, by way of scenery, is the Museum's corn on the south 40. This hasn't been a good year for corn, of course, so it's at least two or three weeks late.

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Minor Difficulties

On Sunday, the crew noticed a few minor difficulties with the 308. First of all, the brakes don't always release after a light reduction. I checked the operation to make sure it wasn't a feed valve problem; no, it's the triple valve. This happens sometimes because after a light reduction the brake pipe comes back up slowly and the valve doesn't move. We'll try lubricating it some more.

Then it was noticed we had a broken spring on one of the trolley bases. I'd never had to replace one before, and got a much better appreciation of little things like this. It was quite a project, and took me about 3 1/2 hours to complete. I had to run the cars outside so I could have the pole pointing straight up. Here we see the 309 with the big blue flag, and the 308 with its pole reaching for the sky. After what seemed like hours of pounding, I managed to remove the pins holding the springs, and replace the broken one.

Just getting the replacement spring out of the spare base was a difficult project. Each pin holds the ends of two springs, and they're held by cotter pins which are hard to remove, etc.

The replacement spring is rusty; the others are still coated with tar from when the CA&E was tarring the roofs back in the fifties.

I'd had enough of working on the roof, so nothing got done on the 277. Instead, I started repainting the ceiling in the main compartment. I recently got the paint mixed, and it seems to be a good match. Here we see it after painting, both before and after removing all the masking tape and drop cloth.

I was sent a video starring Joel Ahrendt picking up flimsies on the fly last Saturday; it was made from Tom Hunter's pictures by Jason Nates. I'm unable to include it here, but if you want to see it, send me an email and I'll attach it. Warning: 3 MB.

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Our Spring Has Sprung

Today we finished inspection and lubrication on the 308, so it's ready for revenue service. Stan Wdowikowski helped a lot, so thanks! In the morning Stan and Charlie ran the 160 off the pit and onto the car line so I could put the 308 over the pit. Stan did the motors and and some of the truck work while I inspected the electrical systems and various other things. This included testing the air system and adjusting the slack adjusters on each truck. We then switched places, putting the 160 back on the pit and the 308 outside, so Gerry and Stan could finish inspection on the 160 while I did the remaining lubrication.

Here's the trailer truck on the 308; I was too busy to take many pictures.

One problem we already knew about was that the return spring inside the 308's brake cylinder was broken. After lubrication was done, I looked at our collection of spare brake cylinders, and opened one up that looked like it might have been from the 318. Fortunately, it turned out to be exactly the right size. It's 5" in diameter and about 24" long, as seen here. It pushes the piston back into the cylinder when the brakes are released. I cleaned off all the rust and dirt, but we certainly didn't have time to install it today. I ran the 308 back into Barn 8 about ten minutes before the first of several thunderstorms passed through. I believe we should be able to replace the spring in the barn; we won't need the pit. It's really nice when we have spare parts like this. You'd never find a spring this size at your local home center! By the way, the trucks have return springs also so there should be no problem with operating the car this way.

Here's the work product from the inspection. This is page 3 of 4. Every item has to be either initialled or crossed out if it's irrelevant. For instance, our cars don't have any door motors or MG (motor-generator) fans. Oops, we missed one, but our calibrated gauge is broken.

After the rain started, and what seemed like half an hour to clean all the grease and dirt from my hands and arms, I painted a couple of parts from the 277 and sorted parts. We're hoping to do the 309 next week.

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Ah, Spring!

Hibernation is over, and it's time for the beasts to start waking up.

Before

I started by replacing the triple valve on the 308. The valve that came with the car had some problems, so it was expertly rebuilt by a friend of our who wishes to remain anonymous. This is the replacement valve we had been using.

After

The rebuilt original valve now works much better. I checked the compressor, pumped up the air, and ran the car out and back a few hundred feet to check the operation of the brakes.

Then the car cleaning crew showed up and did a thorough job on both the 308 and 309. Here we see Rich Witt (L) and Phil Becker (R) doing windows in the 309.

I also checked out the walkover seat frames and lubricated all the working ones. Unhappily, several in the 309 still don't work properly.

Greg Ceurvorst (L) helps Jim Nauer with vacuuming, and Paul Sprenger (R) is mopping the floor. There were several others helping out besides.

Thanks to all those who were cleaning cars today! If you missed out on the fun, you can join the team next Saturday.

I also did some more inspection items on the 308. By the way, here's a technical note for you mechanism fans: The normal M-15 brake valve has three "apply" positions: slow, medium, and fast. However, the valve at the #2 end of the 308 has only two positions, which seem to be fast and faster. I have no idea how this happened, but it makes it harder to control the train. So I always try to make up the train so the #1 end of the 308 is on the outside.

I then started working on the roof of the 277. I finished the laps and trimmed the running boards to length. Then I attached them at each end and started drilling holes so they will line up correctly after the canvas is installed. Here we see the roof starting to look more complete.

I had to stop when a large switching crew came along to shuffle the El cars. (Lots of featherbedding on this railroad!) So I did some sorting of parts in the 321 and watched the trains go by.

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Starting Inspection

I started doing the inspection for car 308 today; much of it can be done without having the car over the pit, in particular the roof equipment and the interior. Here's a controller with its cover off. The jar of petroleum jelly is washed out by the flash, but that's what we use for lubricating the controller fingers.

There's a four page inspection sheet for each car. I completed about a page and half.

One thing that isn't included on the inspection sheet for some reason is lubricating the rollers for the pocket doors, as seen to the right. The top of the door frame is hinged so it can be opened to access the mechanism.

The spring latch came out of one of the window frames last year, so I got around to fixing it. This involved removing the shade tracks and taking the window itself to the shop. Then I drilled out the holes and glued in dowels. After the epoxy set, I drilled new holes and reattached the spring latch, as seen here. Then it's reinstalled.

Speaking of Amtrak, for some reason this nice flatcar lettered for Amtrak appeared outside Barn 8. It's just another part of the "Heritage Fleet," I guess.

I also spent some time working on the roof of the 277. All saddles were put back in place, and the new running boards were moved into their approximate location. I'm working on making the laps for the running boards, as seen here. I'm using treated 2x6 lumber as recommended by Bob Kutella.

I also went up on the roof of the 309 to try to free up one of the shunt cables, so far without success.

Phil Stepek gave me a fluorescent light fixture; he has several which are now surplus. I installed it over the workbench in the 321, a big improvement. Later I went back and took another one. Thanks, Phil!

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