You'll Wonder Where the Yellow Went

Or the orange, or whatever this ugly color was. In any case, we're working hard to make it disappear. Today part of the roof was painted with gloss black, to make it look like it did at the end of service. It's a big improvement, as you can see here.

This paint job is cosmetic only. It does not make the roof any more watertight. We will need to make all new tack molding and replace the canvas, but that will require Department resources, and for the immediate future this will have to be good enough. The 319 will still be a fair-weather car, like the others.

I finished one side, as seen here. I will need to paint most of the center section, but that can be done by standing on the roof boards and using an applicator on a stick, so it will go much faster. I use brushes on the hips of the roof to avoid dripping paint down the sides.

Working in the heated section of Barn 2 makes projects like this possible, so I'm very grateful for the opportunity to move in there.

Then it was time to go over to the woodshop and paint some more windows, which have already been stripped of their yellowish-orange paint.

At least here I had some company. Mr. Socks jumped up on the chair so he could watch the paint dry. After a while that lost its fascination somehow and he took a cat nap. But he opened his eyes as soon as I pulled out the camera.

I painted seven window frames with the interior "butterscotch" color; three of these are the second coat, and four more were a first coat. All of the windows on one side are either done or in process.

And then I painted some more window shade tracks.


I also talked to Frank Sirinek about our plans for Wednesday. We'll drive over to the Rockford Foundry to get brass parts made, as mentioned last time. He told me about his recent trip to Scranton with Nick and some others; more about that later.

And then, for a change of pace, I made my way through the fog to Rockefeller Chapel for a rehearsal. What a fantastic building!