Action-Packed Weekend

I was able to spend the whole weekend at the Museum, starting late Friday afternoon, so a lot got done and this will be a long post.

Mostly I worked on repainting the smoker in the 319. This is a combination of filler, primer, and finish coats. To the left, this wall now has a first finish coat, after several tests of various fillers and procedures.

This occupied much of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Frank was out on Sunday, and approved what's been done so far.

Joel Ahrendt wandered through on Saturday, and I recruited him to help me install the remaining ceiling dome fixture, as seen here. He was on a project to put anti-freeze in all of our padlocks.

This wall had been subjected to some test stripping while it was in Cleveland, so it took a little more work to get a smooth surface. The center part was sanded, filled, and primed; other parts only needed spot priming.

I also started stripping one of the vestibules. This seems to be working much better than it did many long years ago when I had to strip the 309's vestibules. The paint is badly checked, and we will want to strip it down to bare wood and spray it.

I also cleaned up the floor in the smoker and put on a first coat of primer. This gets rid of the last of the ugly red floor. My old friend Jim Blower worked for Brookins for several years and might have painted the floor in this car red. Sorry, Jim.

Now here's the most surprising news in a while. Last Monday, Rod Turner swapped out trucks under the 36, putting the correct motor truck under it -- the one we brought back from Connecticut. And he did it all by himself. I still don't understand how this was possible.

On Saturday morning I made several sets of measurements. There's no doubt that the car is no longer level, and we will need to shim up the bolster at the motor truck end. This is not entirely unexpected; it's a result of the truck swap between the 36 and 303 that took place in Cleveland, as we've explained before. So there's some more work to be done, but we're getting close. Thanks, Rod!!!

The more I learn about this business, the more confused I get. It turns out that the body bolsters on the 36's car body are of two completely different designs, as seen here.

(L) The bolster at the #1 end is of a standard design, with two heavy plates; the bottom plate is bent down and goes under the center sill. (R) The #2 bolster is a flat U channel, with notches cut for piping and other obstructions. I really don't know why they should be different; perhaps due to rebuilding after a wreck. And I found that the wheels on the motor truck are smaller than those on the trailer truck, by 4" in diameter. I guess we're lucky if both wheels on a given wheelset are the same diameter!

And I spent some time, while waiting for paint and filler to dry, to install a couple of air hoses for the sleet scrapers on the 319. These don't actually have to be functional, of course, but it looks stupid if they're not there. I need two more hoses. And I found that the pipe fittings are an odd mixture of 3/8" and 1/2" sizes. Typical -- just bloody typical.

In other news, the painting contractor Jim Followell will be painting the 451 this week, and on Saturday he removed all the windows, since they don't get painted. Here it is in Barn 2.

And on Sunday, the Shore Line society had its board meeting at IRM, so the 749 and 460 were pulled out for fan trips. A good time was had by all.

And the Schroeder Drug Store is now placed down on its permanent foundation. Of course, more work is need on the structure, but it's looking good.

I even looked inside, hoping they had Prince Albert in a can. But it appears they're not open for business yet. Maybe next week?