Sunday, August 18, 2019

Air Pipe Work in Progress on 3001

John has been at work replacing 3001's air piping. He started with the west end brake stand and is moving down the car.

3001's new west end brake stand piping

The Operations Department has started work on the repaint for PCC 15. The are striping the old, peeling paint from the exterior of the car and will begin priming the bare metal as they work around the car.


Chief Motorman Roger Pierson removes paint from 15 (Ryan Trombly photos)

We welcome John Schnabel back to the museum and the shop.

1326 is in the shop for repair. The nut that holds the pinion gear on the armature worked itself loose on motor 2. There is minor damage to the nut and armature to be repaired. We will also readjust the brushes on motor 4 and fix a leak in the west end brake stand while we have the car. The car will be out of service for a few weeks. We thank Morgan Cummins and Roger Pierson for reporting the car sounding "off", which let us catch the issue before it got any worse.

Motor 2 gears on 1326, notice the misalignment between the gears

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Work Begins on Line Car

Work began on line car 1 today as part of the Trolley Care Program. Galen and Kelly were joined by Steve, Harrison, Adam, and Larry. The first goal of the day was to remove the coal stove from the car to allow the motor access hatch to open That completed, the motor leads were separated and the motors tested. Unfortunately, both motors showed indications of being wet, so drying efforts are in progress. The motors will be tested again in a few weeks to see how the drying is progressing. The crew was able to hook up the car to power using a bug and confirm that the interior lights work.
The old roof boards and cleats were removed along with the remains of the canvas roof. A new, durable roll roof will be installed on the car. Several of the cleats will be replaced and all new roof boards will be used.

Harrison and Steve remove the last pieces of old roof

The lights are on

Chris is working on replacing west end steel in 3100. The car is on jacks to facilitate this work.