Red, White, and Blue

The heat is on, folks, and we're rushing to get cars ready for the Fourth of July! To the right, we see 460 in the shop, in the process of being painted by contractor Jim Followell and his team.

In the morning, I did a number of miscellaneous tasks on the 319. I installed more knobs and latches on the windows in the car, painted two more in the shop, fixed the one defective seat, replaced a control pipe hose, etc. Then, after lunch, it was time for switching.

First, the 409 had to be moved over to 50th so it could be lettered. The platform is the best working facility we've got for this type of work. The lettering is being done by Ron Coy, a professional sign painter. Right now he's in between movie jobs.

Then I ran the 319 over to 50th so the Followell team could prep it for repainting. You shall observe that the 409 is painted in a much lighter shade of gray, or blue-gray, than the 319. Everyone except me thinks this is a great improvement, so I must be wrong. Jim should be able to shoot the gray on the 319 at the same time he does the 460.

And here are the two cars at the platform. Just like downtown!!!

And here we see Ron at work on the 409. He's pouncing the letters onto the letterboard; this process leaves a slight coating of graphite, somewhat like carbon paper. Once this is done, he'll letter the car by hand, just as it was done in the old days.