Maintenance and restoration is still ongoing at the museum. Here are some updates for you!! Thank you Joesph Hazinski for the photos and information.

The wood roof on 4451 has been completed with both end bonnets and all has been covered with water and ice shield.  One the weather improves and restrictions are lifted it will be time to put the canvas on the roof. (no photo)

The north end of 4451 in January before heavy restoration work started on this end.

In March Jeff shimmed up the north train door so that the bottom of the rusted out door posts could be replaced by the metal workers.

A week later if you look closely you can see the new metal welded in to complete the bottom of the door post.  Also notice the junction box hanging in air for the wiring for the classification lights which will be reinstalled on the new metal end wall.

The totally rebuilt north train door in place before the cast threshold was attached to the car which is why there appears to be a gap at the bottom.

The north end in early March with the new metal skin installed.  The class light boxes, windows and window guards need to be installed.

The north motorman’s side door in place.  All four of the side doors have undergone heavy rebuilding and now manually move in and out of their respective pockets.  Now the door engines need to be repaired, installed, tested and control circuits rewired along with replacement of all the sensitive door edges.

The south end of the car with new metal end sheets installed.  Some of us recall when sheet aluminum and Bondo made up the bottom of the ends of the car to cover the rust out.  With all the rebuilding the end and train door frame is as solid as new.

Here the south cab has been re-piped for the brake system and installation of the controller, laying on the floor here, has been completed.  All new modern wire has been installed from the controller terminals to the junction box under the car and where needed, new conduit and hardware was used.  As of the writing the north cab is now also almost complete.

The lapped and rebuilt air brake valves and laser cut rubber gaskets for 304 in the box from Pittsburgh Air Brake.

304’s air gauges, rebuilt and calibrated by Gauge It awaiting installation.

One of the “safety car” foot valves for 304 back from Pittsburgh Air Brake.  All these valves and gauges along with the rebuilt door controls valves have been re-installed and are found to be operating correctly.  There still are few system leaks that need to be tracked down but static operation is much better than before.  North end truck inspection and lubrication is still on tap.

Another improvement done earlier this year has been the installation of a new shop air compressor courtesy of Jeff Bennett which included hard wiring it into the AC electrical service.  Not only has the air been piped up to the rafters but he has installed retractable hose reels hanging from the trusses.  Work is almost complete on repairing the southwest step linkage on 304 so that the steps will stay up in order to clear the air compressor once the car returns to its normal berthing location in the barn as it will be a tight fit.