Prep School

Today involved doing a lot more surface prep so the 319 can be repainted. I did some more stripping with the heat gun, but decided that probably won't be necessary. I started sanding down the car with an orbital sander using 60 grit. Al Reinschmidt came out and did much of the work. I spoke to Charlie Strong about Car Dept. plans for the 319 and 451; he will be doing most of the exterior painting for the cars. More about this later.

Al also helped me move the top rods for the brake rigging into position. One of them we managed to install; the other one is still sitting on boards next to the car. By the end of the day, he had sanded down the entire side below the belt rail and done part of the far end. Thanks!!

I also spent some time looking at some parts of the control system. This is the Rube Goldberg overload relay; the 321 has one just like this, so I know how it's supposed to work. Motor current flows through the leads A. This energizes solenoid B; if there's excessive current, solenoid B pulls up lever C, rotating it counter-clockwise. Lever C then moves lever D clockwise. This releases a latch on lever E. Lever E is weighted down by the shaft F which has four sets of interlock contacts; only the top one is used. When lever E is released, the contacts should drop, shutting off all power to the contactors. The motorman can reset the system by using the reset switch in the electrical cabinet to energize coil G. This pulls on lever E to raise shaft F, latch D to E, and reset the whole ridiculous device. The motion is sluggish and needs to be freed up with WD-40 and oil, but I believe it should work.

The 460 has been moved into Barn 8, and here it is followed by the 36, 309, and 308.

Anybody want to go bowling?