This morning, after the usual weekly breakfast club meeting between Frank, Esther, and me, I brought out the triple valves for the operating cars 308, 309, and 319, and installed them. Frank plans to be out on Saturday so we'll test them then and make sure the cars can at least run themselves over to 4 for inspection.
Al Reinschmidt came out to help again, so it was back to working on the 36. After more paint stripping and sanding, there were several more sectors ready for paint. Here we see Al applying white primer to the new areas. Having his help is really making things go along faster.
For the upper two-thirds, we have a first coat of primer on more than half of the car, so we're making good progress. The bottom siding can be done from the ground anytime.
As usual, these pictures are handicapped by the limited angles and spotty lighting. Sooner or later, I'll be able to pull the car outside.A while back, I was talking to Jim Followell, the painting contractor who spray-painted most of the CA&E cars we got from Trolleyville. We looked at the blue cars, and he asked how we had painted them. Well, we did it all by hand, using a 1 1/2" sash brush. "I can't even imagine doing that!" he commented. But this method has certain advantages for us non-professionals. The cost of supplies is much less, of course, and we don't need any special training or skills. And I'm sure we use less paint, since it all winds up on the car instead of blowing away in the wind. There's little or no masking to be done, which saves a lot of time, and we don't have to wear special respirators and masks and the other annoying protective gear they have to use. Sure, it takes longer, but we do a little each day and matching one day's work to another's seems to be no problem. If it was good enough for the 1920's, it's good enough for me!
