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WNYRHS PASSENGER EQUIPMENT 2013


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CAR DEPARTMENT WORK ORDERS - 2013

by Rick Henn

"The Blue Flag" - 2/2013
         On Sunday, January 6th, members of the Car Department started preparing the cars for the RPCA excursion on January 20th. This meant replacing the polycarbonate sliding windows that had become discolored over the years due to exposure to sunlight. Bill Glodzik and his daughter drew the job of cutting the full window glazing sheets into two smaller pieces that fit in the sliding window positions. Anthony Fusarelli and I took charge of removing the old windows and installing the new. George Specht showed up just in time to trouble-shoot a couple of problem situations where old screws did not want to come out. In the end, we had changed all three south-side sliding windows in 2941 and one in 2918. It was a good few hours of work and the new windows looked great.

         Saturday, January 13th, was, if you recall, a very mild day with a high near 60. The Car Department personnel took advantage of that to get back to Medina. Dave Fleenor, Geno Dailey and Anthony Fusarelli joined me to replace the last two sets of sliding windows in coach 2918. Dave then repaired some window shades and the cars were ready for the RPCA excursion on January 20th.

         Now it is time to get ready for the new season. There are numerous tasks to be completed, from carpentry to electrical to heavy (literally) maintenance. For that we will have to hire someone, but the other things can all be done “in house”, although we could use a few more hands. A high priority will be to continue replacing windows. Another priority will be replacing seat covers. We had the exceptionally good fortune to have been offered brand new seat covers that will fit our coaches. They were sold to us by the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. They will put the money towards financing a new shop building, and we saved a lot of money over having the seat covers made new. Ti was a win-win situation. We wish the Adirondack Scenic Railroad the best and thank them very much. Thanks also to Marty Phelps from the Medina Railroad Museum who picked up the seat covers in Utica and brought them here. It is this kind of cooperation between groups that goes on a lot and is mostly unnoticed, but is what helps to make us all successful.

         The Car Department was able to make some new contacts at the RPCA convention that was hosted by the WNYRHS, and it was able to renew some old contacts. These contacts lead to both getting things we need, such as the seat covers, and to knowledge about how to fix things, where to get parts, and what the latest federal regulations mean to what we do. This is all invaluable. As I have said before, we cannot go the Home Depot or Lowes and get a lot of the things we need to keep 65 year old passenger cars in operating condition. The cars received some very good comments from the RPCA riders. Remember, these are people that know trains, and many were impressed with the quality of the ride the cars provided.

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"The Blue Flag" - 3/2013
         As is usual the months from the end of the trip season until the warm weather arrives is quiet for the Car Department. We make a few trips to check on the cars and start the generators but little work gets done. Please keep in mind that this goes to press in the beginning of April so the warmer weather is just starting and who knows what April will bring. We do know that May will bring the start of the excursion season with the arrival of Thomas the Tank Engine. We always need more people to staff these trains so if you would like to work on them please let me know (rh1027@aol.com or 691-8058) so I can add you to the list.

         The biggest job facing the Car Department this season will be replacing windows. It is a time consuming and labor intensive undertaking so, once again, let me know if you would like to be added to the list to be notified when we will be working on the cars. The cars, by the way, are stored in Medina so this is a great chance for those of you living in the northern suburbs or in Niagara county and Orleans county to come out and help.

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"The Blue Flag" - 6/2013
4/7/13 : Al Olmstead and I inspected the coaches in preparation for the upcoming excursion season. Well, the season was upcoming then, by now it has started. First we did a walk around and discovered a brake shoe that was missing half of its braking surface. The composition pad had broken away and was gone. Replacement of a brake shoe is relatively straight forward and took us only a few minutes to do. You remove one large pin, pull out the old shoe, put in the new one and replace the pin. No other problems with the exterior were found. On the inside we found a door off its hinges so we removed the door pending repair. There were two broken windows in coach 2906 and several vestibule curtains that need repair or replacement.

4/14/13 : Many thanks to Al Olmstead, Art Toale and Bill and Anna Glodzik (father and daughter) for coming to Medina to start work on the coaches before the excursion season begins. Art, Bill and Anna replaced a broken window in coach 2906 while Al and I looked at the power connections between the cars to see what would be necessary to repair them. Anna wanted to be involved and was not willing to sit by and watch so she worked right alongside of Art and Bill to repair the window. We have a father-daughter team in the Car Department. Awesome! After more than 20 years of use the power cables and plugs are wearing so that the cables are not fully secure. The cables are about $1000 to replace so we want to be proactive and make repairs before a cable is lost or damage is done to the junction box because a cable comes off while underway. Al spent a lot of time taking apart the junction box to see what could be done and what could not be done. If the cost of a new box is prohibitive Al found that we can move some of the lesser used ones from the end of 2941 to the problem positions thereby solving the problem and saving money.

4/21/13 : It always feels good when a bunch or people show up and a lot is completed. That was the case today when Al Olmstead, George Specht, Art Toale, Anthony Fusarelli, Geno Dailey and new Car Department member Bill Keberle showed up to work on the coaches. By the end of the day two of the sliding windows in coach 2906 had new polycarbonate installed as did a double paned window in the same coach. Replacing the double window also involved repairing the frame, which was bent. The sliding windows are generally easy to re-glaze, especially as compared to the double paned windows. Removing about a dozen screws allows you to disassemble the frame. Then the new glazing is cut to fit and installed. The tricky part can be keeping the gasket material in place during assembly. Al and George replaced the battery in coach 2941, which also means cleaning out the leaves that collect in the area around the intake. George took a hinge from an end door home to rework it so we can make all the end doors work properly and safely. As I said, a good day!

4/28/13 : George Specht and I made a “quick” trip to Medina to install the end door on coach 2918 with its new hinge pins. It took a bit of tweaking but the door is secure, safe and works easily. Many thanks to George for not only going to Medina, but also for working at home to machine the new pins.

5/5/13 : This was the last weekend before the start of the Thomas trips so Anthony Fusarelli, Bill Keberle and I showed up to get thongs “finished up”, not that things are ever finished on the cars. There is always more to do. It was a day of doing bits and pieces, a little of this and a little of that. A couple of windows needed work to get the shades working correctly. We replaced some of the worst of the seat covers in coach 2915 with some of the ones we recently bought from the Adirondack Scenic RR and repairs were made to a sliding window where a bolt had broken. On the down side the local vandals discovered one glass window and hit it with something. It cracked but didn’t shatter. Now it will have to be replaced.

5/8/13 : It was decided that the proper thing to do was repair the cracked window noted above so George, Al and I made a weekday trip to Medina to do just that. Since doing a complete repair in our limited time frame might have been difficult to impossible it was decided that the broken window would be further broken into pieces and removed from the outside. The inner glazing would remain in place. Upon close inspection the damage appeared to have been done by a BB gun. The glass was laminated safety glass, like a car windshield, and so did not break easily even when struck with a hammer. Oh, the glass broke okay but the center membrane held everything together. Eventually the glass was removed and the area cleaned of glass shards. It was ready for Thomas.

5/15/13: Another weekday trip was necessary to repair a faulty toilet. The travel time was longer than the repair time.

6/2/2013 and 6/9/2013: Two more trips to replace windows. This gives you some idea of how labor intensive this is. If you like working with your hands please contact me and I’ll put you to work.

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"The Blue Flag" - 8/2013
8/25/13 - George Specht and I went to Medina today to complete one specific job. Those of you that have tried to connect some of the power cables know that it was, at times, difficult to have them thread on and stay in place. This is solely the result of 22 years of wear. The threads on some of the outlets are shot. For those of you that are not familiar with the coaches there are five coaches in service. Two have diesel generators mounted under them and the other three slave off those cars. The power is jumped between the cars using heavy cables that thread onto junction boxes mounted at the ends of the cars. This was a modification done when the cars were on lease to the Susquehanna Railroad in the early nineties.

Today George and I moved outlets from less used sites to those that were the worst to connect and the problem is solved. We then tested all the outlets on the north side of the train and the cable threads on and holds securely. Our fear was that the cable would come loose during a trip and we could lose a cable that would cost nearly $1,000 to replace along with whatever damage might be done to the outlet. Ideally all of this will eventually be replaced with Amtrak specification cabling and pin connectors. Next we did an inventory of what parts and units we had in stock for putting Star markers on the cars. (By the way, Star is a brand name for those that might not know. It is located in Avon, NY.) Some had them and some didn't. We discovered an early Christmas present in a box that has everything we need so little will have to be purchased to complete this job. The Star markers are highly visible and can stay on the cars if they become Amtrak compatible. We accomplished a lot in just a couple of hours. Thanks George.

8/28/13 - Everyone involved in railfanning or is in any way knowledgeable about railroads knows that what makes railroads such an efficient mode of transportation is that steel wheels on steel rails create very little friction. However, steel on steel wears both the rails and the wheels so eventually they must be replaced. In our case coach 2918 had a wheel on which the flange was approaching its wear limits. Lifting a 60 ton rail car to change a wheel is not something that can be done out of the back of a pickup truck and a standard tool box. It requires muscle and, as was proven in this case, specialized knowledge. So, the society contracted with Winter’s Rigging of North Collins to handle the job because they specialize in railroad work.

As you will see in the pictures below, it takes some heavy equipment to complete the job. Winter’s crew was at the siding in Medina where the Falls Road RR had spotted the coach for the job before 9:00 A.M. om August 29. The crew consisted of four men with four vehicles. The crane is a 150 ton capacity Mantis that can operate over the road or on the rails. It comes with a flatbed trailer truck as a support vehicle. Then there is the boom truck used to transport and move the wheel sets and a pickup for the supervisor, who got as involved as anyone else. Lifting the car was the easy part. They hooked onto one coupler and up it went. A few smacks with a sledge hammer and the wheel set was left sitting on the rail to be rolled out. The replacement set was taken off the boom truck, placed on the rails and the bad wheel put onto the truck. Then the replacement was rolled under the car and the car was lowered so the wheel sat in the pedestal of the truck assembly. Unfortunately it didn’t go quite that easily as the new wheel set, which should have been a direct replacement, wouldn’t fit. This is where the knowledge of the Winter’s crew really paid off. They removed the old adapter boxes, put them on the new wheel and in it went. Adapter boxes are what adapt the roller bearing itself to the various opening sizes in different trucks. These should have been exactly the same but, for whatever reason, they didn’t fit. It took about three hours for this entire job to be completed and when the crew left the cars was ready to roll.

Many thanks to Winter’s Rigging and the Falls Road for helping us in completing this job.

(c)2013 Rick Henn - Winter's Rigging 150 Ton Mantis self propelled crane and support truck. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
150 Ton Mantis Crane
with support truck
(c)2013 Rick Henn - Preparing for the lift. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
Preparing for the lift
using the draft box
(c)2013 Rick Henn - Removing the bad wheel set. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
Removing the
bad wheel set
(c)2013 Rick Henn - Bad wheel set removed. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
Bad wheel set removed
and on the rails

(c)2013 Rick Henn - Rolling the bad wheel set away. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
Rolling away
the bad wheels
(c)2013 Rick Henn - Lowering replacement set into place. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
Lowering replacement
set into place
(c)2013 Rick Henn - Installing the good replacement wheel set. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
Installing the good
replacement wheel set
(c)2013 Rick Henn - Parlor Car "Francis McGrath" in new paint. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
Parlor Car
"Francis McGrath"

"The Blue Flag" - 9/2013

9/1/13 - George and I replaced the conduit so the car was ready for service again.

9/15/13 - George, Al, Anthony and I went to Medina. I had a laundry list of things to get done but all but one fell by the wayside because of a big job that we got into. The folks at the museum had complained about the difficulty in operating the trap on coach 2941. Anyone that has tried to use it knows it was a pain but it got worse. Our hope was obviously to repair it but that wasn't going to happen. There is a rod that acts as a pivot or hinge that runs beneath on of the stairs from one side to the other and sits in bearings. It was seized into two of the bears so we ended up having to saw through it in two places and remove the steps completely. Now if you open the trap there is a drop of about 4 feet directly to the ground. There are spare traps in OP and/or the parts will have to be machined in order to repair the steps.

The job that did get done from the original list was to tighten one of the pedestal keys for the wheel set that was replaced. The keys are stops that keep the wheel set from coming out of the bottom of the truck assembly. It was an easy fix. It took just a few turns with a wrench and it was tight.

9/29/13 - Al, George and I went to Medina and got quite a lot done. We took care of several small items and then set about reinstalling the steps on coach 2941. It took me the better part of a week, on and off, to pound out the old rod that acts as a pivot for the steps. It was badly deteriorated and so much rust had built up that it had to be regularly flushed out so the shaft could move farther. George machined a new shaft from a length of stainless steel rod and cleaned up the old bushings. Works like a charm. Thanks to George and Al for donating their time and to George for also supplying the stainless steel shaft.

"The Blue Flag" - 11/2013

11/2/13 and 11/3/13 - The Car Department had a very productive weekend. On Saturday Anthony and I cleaned out a couple of store rooms so the museum could set up their stuff for Polar Express. It meant hauling a lot of stuff from the train to my truck and then putting into my garage once we got back. It's one of those jobs that might not sound like much but it had to be done and now it is one less item on my list of things to do. Thanks Anthony. This is also a perfect example of why I say you do not have to have any particular skills to help in the Car Department. It was a job that needed to be done and thanks to Anthony we got it done. The next day Art and I went up in the morning and finished replacing lights. We removed the door to one of the store rooms so that it can be repaired before Polar Express. Then we cut lenses out of scrap polycarbonate to fit the light fixtures in the vestibules. Until now most just had bare bulbs hanging down. It was surprising how much that little thing dressed up the look of the cars and it is definitely safer. Here was another job that did not require any special skills except a willingness to use a saw. If I can do it anyone can! And I say that only partially in jest. Later George and Al showed up and completed the annual oil and filter change for the diesel generators. By taking care of these other things it allows George and Al to use their mechanic skills to complete something that others might not be able to do. It looks like someone tried to break into the cars. The Dutch door on 2941 had been tampered with and slightly damaged. Art was able to make a very acceptable temporary repair. We also checked out some things that will need work soon. So, come on down! We'll be there again next weekend and I will do both Saturday and Sunday if that works for getting people out one day or the other. Thanks everyone.

11/10/13 - Thanks to George, Al, Anthony who joined me in Medina yesterday we checked off a number of projects that needed to be done before we start Polar Express. We have just one more weekend to check off the final items on my list. Yesterday we repaired two seat backs that didn't want to stay upright, rehung the door to the store room in 2906 on new hinges so it now closes properly and stays closed, finally removed a very stubborn ceiling light lens to replace the bulb (that took the purchase of a special oil filter wrench but it did the job), repaired the bathroom door in 2906 and installed a new lock. The big job was the replacement of the exhaust tubing on 2915. All in all, it went pretty smoothly.

Today our 2 new 20 ton bottle jacks arrived so we can, when time allows, try to level a couple of truck equalizers. The two weekends before the start of the Polar Express trips were spent knocking off “small” jobs from the check list. That meant fixing a seat back here and there, fixing or adjusting doors and other odds and ends that often get pushed aside in the need to do more pressing jobs. For me it is a good feeling to get these jobs out of the way. With that said I want to thank all the members of the Car Department for their commitment to maintaining the fleet. It is a big job and the various skills of the members of the Car Department and the willingness to learn, along with your donations, make it possible to keep these 66 year-old cars looking good and operating safely.

The Car Department approaches every year with the same general goals that fall into two categories. One category is to make sure the cars comply with all the applicable regulations of the Federal Railroad Administration, which are intended to maintain high safety standards, and the other is find ways to make the cars more appealing and comfortable for the passengers. (c)2013 Rick Henn - Polar Express Train on the Falls Road Railroad. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)

This year was no different. The single biggest project on the safety side last year was to replace a wheel set that was hiring an outside contractor with the necessary equipment to lift a sixty ton railcar and swap the wheel set. The cost was nearly $8,000.00. Other activities are ongoing, such as checking, replacing and updating marker lights, inspecting and adjusting the brake rigging and inspecting couplers.

Following is a list of things done to improve passenger comfort.

- Replace several dozen lights so the cars are brightly lit.
- Repair two faulty traps so people can get on and off safely as well as keeping the crew from being injured while trying to operate the traps. In one case the entire trap assembly had to be removed, repaired and reinstalled.
- Repair seats and seat backs.
- Replace all the sliding windows on the south side of the train because the polycarbonate windows (necessary because of vandalism) breaks down with exposure to the sun. Cost about $2,000.00
- Repair and replace window shades and operating mechanisms.
- Fabricate lenses for the vestibule lights so there were no exposed bulbs.
- Repair end doors, which often requires machining new parts.
- Repair interior doors.

Next year the Car Department is looking at two major projects with a third project awaiting funding. One of the few complaints we get about the condition of the cars is the number of windows that are not clear. This, as stated above, is the result of having to use polycarbonate instead of glass because vandals like to break the glass. The downside to polycarbonate is that it breaks down with exposure to the sun and eventually becomes opaque. In order to slow the deterioration of the windows there is a polycarbonate product that does not break down as quickly. The added life would make the investment sound but it more than doubles the cost of each window. It would probably cost $5,000.00 to make a significant impact replacing bad windows.

(c)2013 Rick Henn - Reupholstered seats in passenger car #2941. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K) The second planned expense is reupholstering coach 2932. This would be complete reupholstering and not seat covers. The estimated cost will be about $15,000.00. The project awaiting additional funding is to return one of the cars to a fully air conditioned car. To do it “by the book” with a state of the art system would be $20,000.00. We are looking at the possibility of updating the existing systems and estimate the cost to be about half of that. There is one job that must
be done in the second quarter of next year and that is to replace the end hoses for the air brakes. They have a service life of seven years. This will cost a few hundred dollars. Obviously, with all of this, the ongoing expenses as listed above will continue.

Finally, we are always looking for new people to come out and work with us. As I have said so many times, you do not need any special skills. All you need is a willingness to work, learn and get dirty. Our parlor car was painted and lettered by the WNY&P RR in Olean last year. (c)2013 Rick Henn - Parlor Car "Francis McGrath" in new paint. (10K) - CLICK to Enlarge (100K)
Parlor Car
"Francis McGrath"



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