Its early May and the weather has finally become warm. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with a movie titled “The Day After Tomorrow” but it’s a science fiction flick about the effects of global warming that result in a new ice age with basically everything north of Florida being frozen solid.
Back in February, the movie kept creeping back into my mind as I watched the snow and the temperatures fall and linger in the teens or below this winter. Anyway, as I said, it has warmed up now and many projects will once again be underway. However, just because we do not spend much time working on the cars over the cold winter months it does not mean things were not done. So here is what has been acomplished.
Today was a sunny day in early April and it was time to get started on the work season for the Car department. So, off we went to Medina to work on the coaches. The important thing for today was to be sure that both generators would start after the
long winter layoff and then do a walk through of the coaches to see what, if anything, had to be done before Thomas the Tank Engine came to town in early May. So, Al Olmstead and I spent a couple of hours doing just that. The generators started without problem and the walk through found a laundry list of work to be completed but none that had to be finished before Thomas. Besides the window replacement that you have heard about before there is truck work to be done and interior work. Hopefully after the long cold winter this will be the start of a long warm summer so come out and join the fun.
At one end of each coach is a buffer that butts against the buffer of the next car. They are large pieces of stainless steel that form the passage between the cars. In order to keep stray fingers from getting between the buffers they are covered with vestibule curtains, which are essentially large roll shades. Some of ours were not rolling too well so we took advantage of a sale and purchased six as replacements.
We have also purchased almost $4,000 worth of new windows. There are a lot of projects ahead of the Car Department this season and, as always, a few extra hands would make it go faster. Please contact me if you would like to get involved with the fleet.
It’s May 4 and there was another work session in Medina. George, Al and I went to Medina today to get a
few thing done before Thomas arrives. The biggest jobs were rehanging the doors that go to the PA room in 2941 and the spare lounge in 2915. What we discovered might be a clue as to why these doors do not stay in place. As built there were no doors in these openings. The opening was covered by a heavy curtain. The doors were moved there at some later date and the problem in keeping the doors in place was created when the bushings the door is held by start to move because they are not secured into anything solid. We removed the bushings and used plain old hinges. All five spicer boxes were checked for lube oil levels and oil added where needed. For you new members the spicer box is a gear box that is mounted on one of the car axles. It turned a drive shaft that turned the generator, which charged the 16 batteries the car had. All internal power actually was drawn from the batteries. Now the cars are powered by 240 volt AC provided by the generators and stepped down to 120 volts for the cars. We did a handful of other minor things but didn't get one job done that we had hoped to complete. We wanted to get on the roofs to seal a few problem areas where leaks occur. However, it was too windy to get on the roofs. Once you are up there, there is nothing to hold onto so we put it off until a safer day.
On the weekend of May 9th and the 16th, the Car Department ran another 72 safe and successful Thomas© the Tank Engine trips in Medina. Many thanks to all the members that came out to work on the Safety Crew for the trips. Once again the event was a success and there were no injuries, which is a tribute to the diligence of the Safety Crew. Thanks to Art Toale, Dave Fleenor, Brody George, Jim Slominski, Bob Snyder, George Specht, Jerry Bower, Paul Mayer, Geno Dailey, Anthony Fusarelli, Paul Dickman, Bill Glodzik, Lynn Heintz, Mark Lewandowski and M.J. Lewandowski. Most people would see this as a chance to play conductor but the truth is that it is a necessary position. One serious injury would be one too many.
"The Blue Flag" - 7/2014
Now that Thomas is over it will be time to get back to work on the cars. There is a long list of things to be done and we could always use more help. Please give me a call at 716-691-8058 or send me an email to( rh1027@aol.com ) to join the Car Department. In fact we have already spent a day getting at the long list of things to be done. Art Toale and I were in medina by 9:00 A.M. on Sunday June 1 where we replaced window glazing in two of the large double pane sealed windows. Those of you that have been long time reader
have heard the saga of removing 24 screws to get the window out of the car body and then removing 36 screws to open the frame that holds the two windows. It took nearly eight hours to do the two windows and then we left some of the returning the windows to the car to Al Olmstead and George Specht, who came up later. Unfortunately they first had to repair a damaged lock in spare coach 2933 that had been broken by the local vandals. Fortunately, they did no damage to the inside of the car.
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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It’s a warm and somewhat sultry August day as I write this. For now the bulk of the work done on the cars has been window replacement and since I have written about the labor intensive job that is in past issues I will not go into it again. The other project we have started is cleaning out and organizing the tool room in coach 2906. Over the years this room has been filled with stuff, some of which we need and some of which is just junk. |
| So, we are cleaning out the junk and I will task someone with the job or erecting more shelving to better organize the things we need to keep.There are some jobs that will be more interesting to talk about, such as leveling equalizers but we haven’t gotten there yet. For those of you unfamiliar with what an equalizer is, it is part of the truck assembly. |
| The good news for now is that we have added a new face and pair of hands to the Car Department crew and, better yet, it is a young face and pair of hands. Brody George came out last season to act as a conductor trainee and did a great job. This year he has joined the Car Department and is doing an equally great job. Brody is will to work and to learn and that is all that we ask. He had his first experience with us when he came out to replace a window. He caught a break because it went very well so he still hasn’t had the chance to do one that fights “tooth and nail”. Welcome Brody. |
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Whenever specialty work is needed the Car Department is often called in to lend a hand. Al Olmsted is a certified HVAC Field Technician and knows his way around both big and small AC Units. The old 5 Ton Unit on the Don Owens Center had run its course and needed to be removed to make room for a larger more efficient unit. Three of us had the unit disassembled and on the ground in less than three hours. |
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On July 12 the Car Department took a break from working on the coaches and gathered at the Heritage Discovery Center to work on the society’s four wheel bobber caboose. The caboose was built in the late 1800s for the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway. It ended up in Texas before being returned “home” a few years ago. |
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The exterior wood had been replaced but the car needed a new coat of primer and then the finish coat of paint. The plan was to do the primer on Saturday 7/12 and the finish coat the next day. |
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| Unfortunately the weather report was not favorable so only the primer was applied. A lot of folks showed up for the job so it was completed in no time at all. Thanks to Anthony Fusarelli, his mom Renee and friend Jacob, as well as Bill
Glodzik and his daughter Anna. I’d also like to thank Mark Klepadlo for offering to take time out of his busy schedule at the Williamsville depot to come out on Sunday to paint. |
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The weather killed the plans to paint on Sunday the 13th but the following weekend was perfect. Frank Klaskov and myself were able to complete the job in one day. All that is left is to lift the cupola and secure it into place. |
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"The Blue Flag" - 8/2014
8/24/14: Most of the Car Department showed up in Medina today. I thought it was great to get so many people out at the same time and a lot was accomplished. Six sets of sliding windows were replaced and the visual impact was astonishing. It makes a huge difference in how the cars look with clear windows. Hopefully this new material will be all it is cracked up to be (no pun intended) and we will actually get to a point where there will be no bad windows on the train and it will stay that way for years.
Art and Brody spend most of the day cutting the windows from the larger single windows that had been ordered. The cost of the material to buy
them pre-cut would be about the same and this way we save cutting costs. Bill and I did the removal and installation of the windows and most of them went in easily. The single glazed sliding windows are a much more simple replacement process than the double glazed sealed windows. The sliding section of the window literally slides out with the removal of one piece of the frame held in place by two screws. The non-moving section pops out. The biggest challenge usually is getting the new piece of glazing to pop back it while keeping the gasket in place. Dave Fleenor helped a bit with the windows and, more importantly, took an inventory of work that needed to be done on the brakes and trucks.
George, with his collection of tools and talent, was able to repair a couple of windows that needed some extra help as well as removing a vestibule foot plate that had become a trip hazard. He repaired it at home and now it is ready to be installed. He also looked at what needs to be done to install new marker lights on coach 2932. The railroad has changed the order of the cars and 2932, which was usually in the middle of the train, is now at the west end and needs new markers.
8/31/14: George, Anthony and I went to Medina today with the intention to clean up a couple of things that were left undone last weekend and get started on a new project. This was one of those days when things did not go as planned and the undone jobs remain undone. However, George was able to remove the old and inoperable marker lights from the west end of coach 2932 and install new Star marker lights. No they do not look like stars they are made by Star. He had to grind out the welds that held the old markers to the car and then we were able to attach the new ones. They still have to be wired in and oh, by the way, there are more windows to do. |
"The Blue Flag" - 9/2014
| 9/12/13 - While I do not always write about what Scott Hawbaker and his crew of one, James Long, do, I do consider them part of the Car Department, sort of an extended family. Scott, who is most recognized for his work on the I-1 steam locomotive and the BC diesel #43, has very graciously undertaken a rather thankless job. I asked Scott if he could coordinate the project of cleaning up the scrap at the Hamburg work site. He has gone far beyond coordinating it. He has hit it head-on. He is cutting carbon steel bits and pieces off the stainless steel center sill parts so we can get the best scrap value for the stainless. He has arranged for a dumpster from a recycling company to carry things off and he rented a John Deere tractor to aid in loading the heavy pieces. All of this will generate some money for the society and clean up the work site. Click here to read all about "The Hamburg Clean-up" |
9/14/14 - George and I went to Medina for a couple of hours yesterday. George finished the installation of
the new markers on the west end of 2932. They still have to be wired in at the breaker box. We also replaced one sliding window. The poly was already cut so it was a quick job and George used part of the old window as shims for the marker lights. While he did that I put the window back together and then cleaned up our stuff so the car cleaning crew from Medina could go through and get the cars ready for the 27th. The last thing we did was to remove some stuff from the cars and put it back in my garage.
Thanks to the Car Department crew (Dave Fleenor, Scott Hawbaker, Al Olmstead and George Specht) for coming out on Saturday to help get the box cars ready to be moved from the fair grounds to HDC and then went to OP to start clearing out the storage unit there. The box cars should move later this week. Click here to read all about "The Hamburg Fairgrounds Car Move"
9/30/14 - The wiring of the marker lights was completed by Al Olmstead last weekend and just in time because the excursions started this past weekend. The cars will be in service every Saturday and Sunday until the end of October and then we will have our usual layoff until Polar Express starts at the end of November. Those trips will take us to the weekend before Christmas.
This page was last updated: January 26th, 2023
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