Good Morning All,
Finally got some time in between races to get started on the DL701/ NH1402. The locomotive looks fairly intact and was running when rescued from quarry duty in Georgia. It has had a repaint at some time but is still black and still had painted over Penn Central letterng on it (since removed).
We started loosening the pivot pins and handles for the doors and roof panels and removing the filters grates and shutters from the long hood. We will need some metal work and welding on the roof and hood junction, and the compressed air cooling line covers will need some rust and damage repair. The plan as it exists for now is to do cosmetics and stabilisation to the outside and clean the engine bay out while panels are off for stripping/straightening/primer. There are a couple of inches of sludge covering parts of the motor and all the floor.
I would like to source spares for the filter carriers 19 5/8" x 19 5/8" x 2 1/8" steel boxes with grille work and replaceable elements. as they have been bodged and some are pretty badly rusted. I can make them from scratch if need be, but it is off to google for spares unless someone else has a good idea where we can look. All for now as it is time to get to my real job. CUL,J.R.
Good evening folks.
JR - Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on what that RS needs.Good top hear that it sounds to be mostly functional as well.I'm guessing that you guys are on a tight ( free is good ) type budget for this restoration.One thought may be to contact Bombardier in Montreal. last I heard they were still manufacturing 251 prime movers and spare parts seeing as they had assumed control of MLW in the 1970's. I had heard at one point that GE was still making spare parts for 251 series prime movers as well. You may be able to pick up brand new spares. Use dparts are always an option, but I know from experiances the museum has had over the years, that sometimes the spares can need as much or more work than the original parts. One other thought would maybe to get in touch with the Mexican railways. they had upto a few years ago ran alot of MLW's and Alco locomotives so they may still have parts to burn as it were. that or even try CN with their takeover of BC rail in the last couple of years they inhertited alot of MLW locomotives so full locomotives and engines and engine componenets may be available from CN as well through their CANAC leasing and selling arm.
Rob
Rob,
Thanks for the tip on MLW/Bombardier. I have spoken to a couple of other people about the filter housings and found so far that they are no longer made at least by the people I spoke to.... I can fab up new parts, but I'll try getting NOS replacements first. Haven't gotten as far as hard parts yet and probably won't for a while but it's good to know the 251 is still being made somewhere. At this point I'm still waiting for the fiirst batch of bits to come back from the blasters so I can start straightening and repairing. How is your new shed and trackage coming? Lurking out in our yard is still a really bad section of track and a couple of now off limits switches. Only have room for so many first priorities at once right? CUL<J.R.
The middle picture (Los Angles) posted by wanswheel showed something I've never seen before. Three, count'em - three, overhead wires. The pic shows only the front end of the bus but it must be electric.
Sure would be hard to find that nowadays.
Art
Art - Hey thanks for stopping by. Always nice to hear from another traction fan. I thought myself that that was an odd looking bit of overhead. I can't for the life of me figure out why it was strung that way. I'm used to the single track single wire city trackage like that which we use at the museum. I'm wondering pan + pole trackage ? strung a different way.
JR - No progress yet. We are still trying to sort out the insane developement fee. It's still being negotiated. We have one switch at the east end that's off limkits at the museum. It's and old stub switch that leads to the raised loading ramp at the east end of the property. We haven't run a car into there in probably three years now. With the loop at the east end this track is extra now anyway so the replacement of the switch and the switch stand are a low priority. The main thrust right now at the museum is ongoing overhead pole replacement. We still have eight of the original poles to change out. we've used them for 50 years and they were used when we got them.Still you can't beat those pld wood poles they've given us stirling service, but now it's time to retire and replace their wood pecker chewed carcases. Good luck on the part sorcing. Keep us posted.
Good morning folks. Looks like another scortcher is already well on its way to happening up here.
To the new news at the HCRY :
The TTC snowplow TP11 has now had it's truch sideframes rewelded, and has passed all their needed inspections for final assembly and installation of the rewound traction motors and new steel wheels and axle sets. We had initially pulled her out of service three years ago due to chipping and cracking of her original as installed cast iron wheels.We have found that steel wheels will wear and last much longer than the cast iron variety, si cars which we intend to operate, and operate regularly will get the steel wheel upgrades. So for TP11this should start the home stretch as it were for reassembly of the car and many more years of reliable operation.
We still have had no further lick getting the developement fees for the new barn waived or reduced,talks I'm told are still ongoing. The remainder of the funding for the bar skeleton is in place we are now just waiting for the go ahead to build. ie The developement fees agreed on and paid.
Art, maybe the 3rd overhead wire was for 2-way traffic on rails, plus a bus.
Rob, here's 3 more old slides with transit.
Los Angeles 1952 partial view of PCC car
http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/cushman/full/P05738.jpg
Chicago 1958 elevated
http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/cushman/full/P10257.jpg
New York 1942 distant view of the El
http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/cushman/full/P02705.jpg
Mike
Hi Mike, a great couple or three shots as always. Thanks for sharing them.Interesting thought on that extra wire,you could well be onto something there !
Here's some information on our upcoming steam weekends.
Each trip is a one hour excursion making a six mile round trip train ride. Reservations recommended.
Adult - $14 Child -$8 (2 - 12)
Departure from Connersville Grand Central Station, 455 Market Street, Connersville, IN
Friday September 1
Displayed during day with 1:00 pm excursion
Saturday September 2
9:30am 11:15am 1:15pm 3:00pm 4:45pm
Additional special events
Sunday September 3
Monday September 4 - Labor Day
Departure from Historic Downtown Metamora, a 1838 Indiana Canal Town
Friday September 8
9:30am 11:15am 1:15pm 3:15pm
Special steam powered "Train To Dinner" to the Laurel Hotel from Metamora departing at 6:00 pm Call for more information.
Saturday September 9
9:30am 11:15am 1:15pm 3:15pm 5:15pm
Sunday September 10
The Whitewater Valley Railroad is an operating railroad museum dedicated to the preservation of a historic branch line railroad, to the restoration of railroad equipment, and to the conduct of railroad educational programs.
Visit us at http://www.whitewatervalleyrr.org
Well, thought i'd chime in here and mention our little group. I started the Niagara Falls Railway Museum about 11yrs ago, after working with other standard and narrow gauge railway groups in different parts of Southern Ontario. The NFRM has grown considerably over the past few years, despite the fact that we don't have a permanent home for our collection. We had 3 40' boxcars donated to us 4 yrs ago, and we currently use them for storing some of our larger items. The museum collection includes the 3 boxcars (all ex-CP Rail), 4 Fairmont A4D motorcars, an ex-C&O Fairmont M14 motorcar, a 1939 Nordberg single stone track grinder (ex-CN) an ex-CP Rail Pyke hand operated crane (built on a motorcar lorrie frame) numerous track lorries, and our newest addition, which will return to Niagara Falls in 2006 is ex-Hydro Electric Power Commission Alco 0-4-0ST #46. This is the last steam engine from the historic Queenston-Chippawa Project (Adam Beck Generating Station #1) of the 1920's. This locomotive is not operational, and our current plans call for cosmetic restoration only (unless of course we find that elusive money tree). The NFRM also has 3 other small track motorcars that are on a semi-permanent loan, and are used by members on motorcar runs. We run a yearly model railway show in Niagara Falls, which in 2006 drew about 800 people during the 5hr show. This is currently our main fundraiser, and we have recently received our charitable status.
Well, i think that's about it. Our website is http://www.nfrm.ca
Ken
Evening folks.
Dave- Thanks for chimming in , I had thought after the fact that that was likely the case. I suppose that several cities may have had the three wire system at some point , at least the ones that were, in the process of converting over from straight streetcar operation to trolley coach service.I've never looked thta closely at San Fran's Market Street overhead, I will have to take a peak at it the next time I get down there.
Ken - Hey thanks for stopping by.Hopefully your musuem's final location gets sorted out sooner as opposed to later. certainly keep us in the loop as it were reguarding your repatriating of that HEPC locomotive.
Lets see time for a restoration news update. It's been quite a busy summer as far as ongoing restoration and repair projects go,some highlights.
TTC 416 - The installation of the vestibule roof wood continues.The strips are on aa compound curve and must be steamed and bent and tapered to fit properly. Several rotten window posts have been repaired / replaced and the refinishing and reinsatllation of the window sah continues.
CTA 48 - The reguaging of the track brakeshas been completed, as is the repair and reinsatllation of #4 drum brake. The auxillery power jumper feed switch was removed ( used to provide 600v DC to worl cars on the EL ) and reinstalled next to te battery box. The switch is now going to be used to isolate the batteries. Numerous other minor electrical repairs were also completed on the car,and it is now back in limited service.
TTC 4000 -The window mechanism repairs are now complete. A number of other small cosmetic upgrades are underway
TTC 2424 -The fian body prep is done to rpepare the car for painting in May.Unfortunatly the painter was busy and a ew one is being sorced, hopes are to have the car painted in August.
TTC TP-11 -Work on the trucks has resumed;with the brake heads and beams being dissassembled and cleaned / repaired. The broken transome plates on both trucks were repaired by a contract welder,whick now paves the way for reassembly of the trucks. A detailed work plan to complete the car has been developed, it is hopped that it will be completed and back inservice by June 2007.
LE&N M4 -Minor repairs were made to the roof after it had suffered some locolized deterioration. The car has been on display in front of the new Grand River Railway Shops ( barn 2 ) most weekends this summer.
L&PS 8-The west end brake valve has been overhauled, and a number of minor air leaks were repaired. The window sahes have all been repainted as well as the vestibule floors.
LE&N 797 -Work on the vest vestibule steps is nearly complete. Cosmetic body work is ongoing, as is the overhaul of the reverser and one of the main switch groups.
CP 2211-19 -The ballast regulator had a number of electrical repairs done, and the plow brackets were welded back in place by the contracted welder. Painting is completed annd the unit is back in service.
TH&B 2204-16 -The tamper is undergoing a cosmetic overhaul including a majopr degreasing stripping and priming and painting.A number of electrical and hydrolic repairs are also underway.
A busy summer thus far in a nutshell.
Good Evening All,
Just a quick update on DL-701 1402 progress:
The mechanical department got the unit moved over to the pit and work area adjacent to the turntable so we can commence degreasing/washing. There is no exageration places where the sludge/grime is over two inches thick and the minimum seems to be on the order of 1/2 inch,. Spent time scraping and ladeling gook into a 55 gallon drum then got out the pressure washer and got after it. Some 8 hours two gallons of fuel and a jug of degreaser later we've just started to get one side of the engine down to the paint although it is amazing to see piping and conduit emerge out of the slime on the floor. Almost like an archeological dig. We expect to spend at least two more days just cleaning the engine bay never mind the running gear and tanks.Does look like progress though. For sure it will be a while before I complain about our customers bringing in dirty cars for us to work on.. All for now someday I'll get the pictures thing back up and running. CUL, J.R.
Hi JR, you see this is why we work on electric railway equipment, the sludge isn't nearly as thick Sounds though however that you are indeed making some headway.One gets the feeling though that ALCO's just naturally wallow in their own juices, once she's up and runninf I'm sure it won't be long before it develops another nice coating of grime and goo.It's what we love about ALCO locomotives.
HELLO, MY IS BILL .I WORK WITH THE BULLS GAP RAILROAD MUSEUM & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. WE STARTED IN 1989 WITH THE AS PART OF THE ARCHIE CAMPBELL MUSEUM LABOR DAY HOMECOMING. THEN WE GOT A GOOD DONATION 3 YEARS AGO AS YOU WILL SEE WHEN YOU VISIT OUR WEBSITE. IT IS www.bullsgaprailroadmuseum.org. WE THINK YOU WILL LIKE WHAT YOU SEE THERE.
Hi Bill aboard here. Come back soon and give us the ole run down on the why's and the what's of your museum.
I've just located this thread again after the revamp!
On the 3-wires: since the street seems to be used by both rail and bus routes, possibly the wires are separated so that vehicles can pass without pulling the poles off the wires.
Toronto trolley busues usually shared a wire with the streetcars, but usually didn't have overlapping services for any distance. I think there was a place on the Ossington route (NB at Queen) where the TB overhead separated from the streetcar for a jog over to the next street.
There was at least one place (Bay and Wellington) where TB and SC crossed and because the SC was on a one-way street, they used the other SC contact wire as a span wire for the TB (with insulators each side).
Sorry, not about museums!
--David
Hi guys,
Nice to see that there still is some interest in the thread .
Kevin-Good to see you come out from under the needlegunning The work looks like it's comming along famously. So do you have any more updates as to when that "black beauty" will being smoking it up along a ROW
David-Nice to see you agin too.It is a bit tricky to track down some of the old favourites on the new and improved forum.No worries about the info, it certainly sheds some light on the original question asked so no harm no foul. In some ways I miss the TB's in Toronto and Hamilton, myself I used the HSR ones more frequently.Too bad that when te TTC yanked the TB service they didn't reinststitute streetcar service on those lines, oh well.
It looks like we will have the tender together this year, (Yeah I know I said that last year <G>, but we found damage to the brake shoe supports that requiered the dissasemble and repair of all the supports, 32 of them) currently we are finshing up the trucks and putting in a ground level water fill system on the tender. after tha it gets put back to gether, and painted.
Kevin
trolleyboy wrote: Hi guys, Nice to see that there still is some interest in the thread . Kevin-Good to see you come out from under the needlegunning The work looks like it's comming along famously. So do you have any more updates as to when that "black beauty" will being smoking it up along a ROW David-Nice to see you agin too.It is a bit tricky to track down some of the old favourites on the new and improved forum.No worries about the info, it certainly sheds some light on the original question asked so no harm no foul. In some ways I miss the TB's in Toronto and Hamilton, myself I used the HSR ones more frequently.Too bad that when te TTC yanked the TB service they didn't reinststitute streetcar service on those lines, oh well. Rob
Kevin- Good to hear that you are still more or less on schedule.It's always interesting to find out what needs more work and time than one figures on when you start a restoration project.At our museum we often take on what seems to be a minor job and once the disasembly happens we more oft than not find more things that need to be done. caase in piont is our trake plow TP-11. Initially body and electrical work was all that was needed, that and we bought new wheels ( steel ) ones for it to replace the chipped cast iron ones. We knew that two motors needed rewinding so we pulled them at the same time. Turns out all 4 traction motors needed rewinding ( now completed ) and that the axles supports were cracked on one truck and found to be week on the other, so new parts have been fabricated and repairs made. last i heard the reassembly is well underway of the trucks and the body and electrical work is also approaching completeion. Hopefully by fall of 2007 the car will be painted and operable again. Four years after we figured the one year job would have been done.Just the way it is, when you work on restoring old equipment to operational status.
Hello again everyone.Nice to see that the museum's out there are still "ghugging" away <grin>
Kevin-Good to see you in here again my friend.Great news about your open house. It's always good to hear that new members and communities close to the sights are getting more involved with thier local railway history and attractions
Update for us : Last saturday was the first of our two anual Halloween Spooktaculars. The student volenteers did a tremendous job as always with the haunted barn as we had jam packed cars from 6:30 when the fun began to well after ten. We figure something like 650 people came through the gates for evening number one, which is typically the slowest of the two evenings. This saturday comming up the 28th looks to be even better weather wise and we hope to hit our usual over 1000 for it. So come early come often everyone that's in the area. Two frigthening haunted houses actually one haunted car barn and the new an dimproved haunted Gloster cars.
vachel23 wrote:it's really gr8. Thanks for the site.
Hey on in. I'm glad that you are enjoying this site. Feel free to pop by and ask questions etc at any time.
Well update time again folks. Our last night show on the 28th was a solid success, despite the fact that the weatherman was incorrect in his assurances that the weather would be cool and clear. In fact we had a bit of fog and an annoying drizzle of and on, we still had over 750 people show up to be tromented by our haunted houses and cars So all in all a successfull wind up to our operating season. ! Thanks again to all the student volenteers and the restoration and operations crew.
Now it's time to clean up and begin anew the restoration season. new pole replacement will continue through out the fall and once it's too cold for outside work , the restoration shops will be the main going concern.
TTC TP-11 the snowplow will be getting the lions share of the work this year, hopes are to have the car operational by next fall.Other minor car repairs will also be ongoing but the plow is the priority.
TTC 416 the last remaining Richmond Hill York Radial car is also still taking shape in the restoration barn with roof and window restoration still humming along, door motors and some forst steps of rewiring are now underway as well.
Till next time
Well time for yet another musuem update.As stated above the fall restoration season is in full swing. earlier this week OSR45 our big burly linecar was out doing it's thing with ex TTC subway flatcar RT28.Five new mainline poles have been inserted replacing an equal number of poles from the lines first building in 1953. Thes were used poles when the museum recieved them ! they certainly didn't owe us anything. Now we have all new poles ( 10 yeasr or younger )along the mainline. Several more in the yards still need to be replaced but they are being done in order or urgency ie who has more drie rot or woodpecker damage.Eventually all cement poles will replace the wood ones but the costs of the cement ones are alot more than wood at the moment.
In other news two of the displayed trolley busses are finding new homes. So on eof the e700's is heading to a new US based Home and an E800 is also wending it's way west.Currently the two CP newsprint boxcars are nearing completion they have been sealed and drywalled inside ( roof and walls ) wiring and HVAC installation is continuing as well. Thes cars will be the new home of the musuem's paper archieves picture and other, and will act as a heated and AC'ed research area for our members.Currently plans are underway to aquire two baggage cars from CP. Thes will be set up to display paper artifacts for the general public ( one car ) It;s hoped that the second will be set up with some film and movie viewing equipment which will enhance the musuem experiance for the general public.We are begining the initial fundraising for this program now.
Thanks for the update. We are still beavering away outdoors as much as possible as we still have no enclosed shop space. I moved the filter housings and oil cooler screens from the DL-701 to my work so I can use the machinery here when the weather gets bad and finsih the bits for reinstallation next season(seems odd to refer to a 3' x 5' enclosure as a "bit").
I got selected to join the mechanical department (maybe more like shanghaied) and will start with more maintainence on the rolling stock. Had one of the Budd cars over the pit to change filters and check over so I've now abeen baptised with diesel as well. Yeah you're right - electrics are less messy. Also had to change out one of the 3" lower radiator hoses and of course the low drain bung is rusted/jammed solid. We got clever there and ran a couple of 55 gal drums into the pit and bodged a drain system so we didn't create an environmental disaster.
Last week it was the turntable giving us fits but that was just a tighten up until we can take it out of service and block it up to fix properly. I find the new experiences a challange and interesting compared to working on the race cars with their itty bitty parts. And yes Rob - this is all your fault.
CUL,J.R.
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