Today inspection started on car 319. Joel told me in advance that the car could be left over the pit until Saturday or Sunday, so there was no pressure to get everything done. In particular, lubrication will have to wait, because otherwise the car would be dripping oil into the pit. Having to put off lubrication was almost enough to ruin my whole day....
But it was nice weather, perfect for this type of work. Here the 319 is on its way into the barn.
There aren't a lot of things in this process that are very photogenic, but here we are looking straight up through the bottom inspection hole, after the plate is removed. That's a dipstick that we use for checking pole piece clearance, and above it is the commutator. The dipstick makes sure that we still have plenty of clearance between the rotating armature and the stationary pole pieces. If they were to start hitting each other, it would be bad, to put it mildly.
And looking down at a motor through the top inspection hole, we can check that the brushes and brush holders are in good condition, nothing has come loose, and so on.
Jeff Brady is working on making new steel pieces for the 28, helped by Joe, a recent recruit who works as a welder at Belvidere, and is currently on a temporary layoff while the factory is retooled. Joe also helped me remove the covers for the contactor box, which would be difficult to do alone.
Elsewhere in the shop, Norm is working on other new steel pieces.
Victor showed me some pictures of the late Dana Ishman he had on hand. For now, I was reduced to taking pictures of pictures, and at an angle to avoid glare, but it's the best we have so far. He says these date to about 1988.
At IRM, we have from left to right, Roger Kramer, Dana Ishman, Bruce Bergman, and another volunteer and his son whom I don't recall.
And Dana helped Victor and the other coach guys with moving some Rock Island coaches from Iowa. Above, he's helping clear out a disused grade crossing.
We haven't seen what's happening in the Electroliner for a while. Ed Oslowski is still hard at work.
Here he's cleaning up the door to the little closet in the motorman's compartment.
Below, we have some reproduction castings in aluminum of the North Shore herald. which will be on sale in the gift shop for about $200, he says. All proceeds go to the Electroliner fund.
And next, we found some of the water flasks from the dining section in storage. They look quite nice.
Looking into the cab, you can sort of make out the closet on the right, minus its door.
The Electroliner cab is very cramped. Ed points out that it's almost impossible to get past the controller to work on the front part of the compartment. Luckily we have a couple of young guys who are skinny enough to fit through this space.
Tim is making progress on spraying the imitation gold-leaf outlining on the 24.
Finally, by the end of the day I had finished most of the inspection items that needed to be addressed, without any major issues. I took the controller cover into the shop, and after looking at it in better light, decided to wire-wheel it down to bare metal before repainting.
And here's the white primer.
We'll finish this up on Saturday. Anybody who wants to come on out and help will be most welcome!