EBT Restoration Pic of the Week

[Anonymous]

The EBT's car shop is a big building, at least for a 33 mile short line. It is the only building on the property that has tracks running clear through it. The Car Shop is appropriately named as this is where the freight and passenger cars were built and rebuilt. All of the EBT's boxcars, flatcars and cabooses were built here along with all but thirty hoppers.

Like so many of the EBT's shops buildings, the Car Shop needs help. FEBT started in 2002 with repairing the windows on the east side that have looked so sad to the passing train riders. During the same time period, volunteers began working on the north end of the building, where the EBT shuffles restored freight cars into and out of the cover of the shop. The doors would no longer open without significant "coaxing" and tended to gouge the earth and hit the rails as they swung. The fact that one bottom hinge pin was ready to fall out of the cracked and rotted base of a wall post did not help the situation. All the windows were broken to some extent.

The first order of business was to repair the doors. One at a time the doors were jacked up and sections of the door framing were repaired or replaced as needed. Lots of rotted or broken siding was removed and replaced. A new header had to be built over the west door as the previous replacement header had been "customized" by the caboose copula. The windows were pulled out one at a time ad rebuilt with new glass and replica muntin bars. Facia and trim boards were replaced where needed.

Work on the structural side started with digging down three feet through the old loose stone foundation and pouring a new footer under the west door. This held the door post foundations in place. Next the rotten door and wall posts were jacked up, the rot cut off, and concrete poured up to the solid base. Once all repairs were in place the exterior was pressure washed and sanded.

In on marathon morning the entire north end of the building was primed. The following session the north end was completely painted barn red. With some detail work to the hardware, this end of the building has been pretty much finished. With free swinging doors, glazed windows and shinny paint, this wall has become an example of what is possible at the EBT.

This year we will continue work on the adjacent Car Shop east wall (left of photo) and Boiler House (right of photo)

The EBT Restoration Pic of the Week can be viewed at:
http://www.febt.org/Images/Restore/ncarshop.jpg
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The Rockhill Restoration Crew schedule for 2004 is as follows:

March 13-14
May 1-2
May 22-23
June 12-13
July 10-11
August 1-2
August 14-15 (Community Appreciation Weekend)
August 28-29
September 25-26
November 6-7

Chris Coleman, FEBT Webmaster
http://www.febt.org