Spring is here, and that means inspection season is in full swing, and that means it's time for the annual sermon, O brethren. We always need more help with the inspection process, and on any Saturday or Sunday you can show up and talk to Joel or Gerry or whoever is on duty, and find useful things to do. It's interesting: nearly every car is different from every other, and I believe it's very important for motormen to have a good hands-on understanding of how all the various parts of a car's mechanism work.
When I arrived yesterday, on the other side of the walkway Tim Peters was already at work inside the 1754, sorting and collecting parts, particularly parts from the old doors and windows to be installed on all the new ones he's made. The inside looks a little grim, but much better than the 309 was when I started. For what that's worth.
Here are stacks of old windows, for instance.
In the shop, here's a new door. Of particular interest are the wooden channels on either side of the window opening, which serve as window shade tracks. They are rather complicated.
And Tim continues to harvest parts from old windows.
Frank Sirinek and Mike Stauber are working on new doors for the Kansas City PCC.
The 277 and its train are over the inspection pit. Say, did I mention anything about inspection? The panels are to keep the pit a little warmer. There were several people helping on this car, including some of the new guys. The train is planned for service on the Sunday before Memorial Day as a tribute to Bob Bruneau.
Back in the 319, I more or less finished cleaning up the #2 controller cover.
Last week Greg and I started on the #1 vestibule, and here's part of the ceiling with a new coat of paint.
And this is meant as a before (R) and after (L) comparison:
And back at the #2 end, here's the train door. Backlighting through the window makes the photograph have poor contrast.
On the other hand, this picture of the motorman's window turned out better.
And I cleaned up the controller handle and part of the clock over at the shop. It seems the handle should be entirely red, including the throttle button parts, unfortunately.
I had to leave early because I wanted to go to the visitation for Roger Smessaert in Woodstock. There were many, many IRM people there, most of whom had known Roger for 40 or 50 years. He will certainly be missed.