Education Through Demonstration

Latest on the restoration of Chicago Aurora & Elgin car 316 from the Allan C Williams barn.

Here we have Joe C and Mike pounding away at the south end rebuild of 316.   Notice the splicing of new wood into the original wood - just like the old Wheaton Shops of the CA&E

Those air tanks for the air brake system on 316, that were measured back a couple of months ago are expected to be in soon.  So Mr. Fred Biederman can be seen here torching off the old tanks.

And success! Fred was able to cut them and lower them with Jeff’s help. Now just gotta get Fred out!

Our beloved Caboose needed a replacement coupler installed on the south end.

Over the years and years of going back and forth as the crowd favorite "Caboose Train" it simply had worn to the point is was no longer usable.

LUCKILY, we have some spares from the our Swift Refrigerated cars and one was dug out by Jeff and Connor. Following a good clean up and inspection, the assembly was found to be in great shape. So for a good portion of the weekend, Jeff, Connor, and James Tarbet worked to remove the old draw bar / coupler assembly and install the replacement.

Turned out great, and test run proved perfect operation! Watch the calendar for Caboose Days coming up, and come ride with us

And here is on happy and pooped guy! 458 roof is DONE! Poles and all! (Pole went in shortly after this selfie)  

Mike Gilles and Jeff Bennett worked through some crazy hot temps to get this job done!

eff and Connor are attending to some brake adjustments and repairs on CTA 4451

Thee and John finished stripping the old floor out of 458 this past weekend 

There’s Thee smiling pretty for the camera!  He is doing a great job fabricating all the custom wood parts needed to rebuild the roof of CA&E 316.

Mike and Jeff pull the trolley bases for CA&E 458 outside to assess their condition.

Well upon inspection it was found that one base, made by Ohio Brass, had badly worn pivot pins and brass bushings. A complete tear down and rebuild was required. Below Jeff is using the drill press to drill out seized retainer pins.

And we have a two-for-one shot here. The freshly rebuilt trolley base and Thee on the band saw making more custom wood pieces for 316.

This picture shows a great detail of what we have been doing to rebuild 316’s roof. We are working new wood in with the old.  Reusing every bit of original “fabric” of the car that we can.

CA&E 458

458 had the final coating of black wood penetrating wood epoxy during the week. Here you can see Mike and Thee working them up ladders to to Jeff and Fred B. on the roof.

Thee has made it up with yet another trolley plank board, while you can see Fred B. preparing the ventilation holes.

Jeff shooting a selfie while catching his breath from placing the boards in various positions on the top of the car.

Finished for the day! All three roof ventilators have been mounted and sealed by Fred B. The trolley plank boards have all been placed, cut and secured to the roof saddles, and the flanges for the trolley cable harness and roof mounted air horn are now all installed.

Basically the roof is ready for trolley bases, and to run the main power cables! Great day of progress. 

In the background off to the far left you can see John finishing up the roof rebuild on the east side of 316.

CA&E 316

Mike and Jeff crawl under 316 to get all the specs and measurements on 316’s main reservoirs that need replacement. 

Roof Color

Another large section of original canvas is found on 316 that has the maroon color. 

Gathering up this weeks parts to go out for sand blasting and painting by our professional painter and metal worker Kyle. 

The corners of the roof / tack molding area on 316 are made of custom cut pieces. Thee has used a large piece of wood, cut it down, and traced the pattern we need, using a combo of the old pieces and measurements from the car. Here he is cutting out his piece on the band saw. Very time intensive for one small piece. 

CA&E 458
Earlier in the day Mike and Jeff cut the upper trolley boards to size for 458. Then they were laid out to have the ends squared up which Mike is doing here.
Before leaving for the day, Jeff applied the first coat of another FRTM special recipe paint. 

CA&E 316

Here’s a good shot of the under structure of the upper roof as Thee is replacing and reinforcing carlines on 316. 

The soffit over hang of the upper roof of CA&E car 316 most all of it had to be replaced. The over hang was 90 percent rotted top and bottom. We were able to save the tack edge.

Several pieces of what we believe to be the original canvas has been pulled from under the flashing.

There have been questions on what color roof the CA&E would have painted this car while it’s body wore the “coffee and cream” color scheme. From all the pictures of the car from that time period, not that there are a ton of pictures, all are in black and white.  So, it is not easy to tell the roof color from the photographs.

During the Museums' research, many knowledgeable folks have stated the roof would have been maroon. Others simply weren’t sure. I think the proof is in the pudding here. Multiple areas of original canvas has maroon paint on them, so as of right now that’s the plan!  The roof will be painted maroon.

Jeff helping John and Thee to pound out some roof work on 316. With the nicer weather as of late, we are light on volunteers.

CA&E 458

The drip edges are mostly installed on 458 as of June 4th. One drip edge was missing from the car, so we called our good friend and metal worker Leo Metz. He promptly came over to pick up a sample and said he will have a replacement fabricated and ready for us next weekend!

Another long shot taken from the top of 458, shows the progress of the new wood installed on the top section of 316. 

And the reason we were on 458 was to paint the entire roof with the rubberized paint. 

Here Jeff is just finishing up the touch up work around the roof saddles of 458. 

And then the perimeter of the car where the canvas racks on, just under that is slight overhang. Normally we wouldn’t go to the trouble of getting that area a good coating of rubber paint, BUT this car when finished will be stored outside. So every outside stored car we do, we take extra steps to make sure it’s water tight. 

These are the horns going out for a quick sand blasting and paint job. Then back to the roof of 458 next weekend. 

Our ever faithful helping hand Mike G. is watching roof garbage come down the garage shoot into the can that he shuffled out to the dumpster about 40 times! He got his steps in that day!

And here’s where all that garbage was coming from. More than half of the entire upper roof of CA&E 316 was either rotted, or needed support structural repairs, so off it came.

The entire length of the car required tear off and replacement. 

Repair and Maintenance on CTA 4451
Jeff Bennett here is hanging out with Fred Lonnes and Ralph Taylor on Track 2.
All three are working on 4451. It got cranky and decided it wasn’t gonna run.
Fred and Ralph skillfully and quickly isolated the the problem to loss of battery voltage from the Edison cells. Once they opened the battery box, loose and corroded connections were found. New terminals and some washers took care of the problem.

While the box was open we topped off the water in the batteries. 

Mike and Jeff got all the roof saddles installed on CA&E 458.

Next we will be ripping down the oak boards for the runners and painting the whole roof with our custom rubber paint. 

Here we have John working on the EAST side of 316. John and Thee made a genius plank system between the car and the barn wall. The area is too narrow to get traditional scaffolding in there so they improvised!

John is holding one of our inferred stripping guns that makes the tar removal so much easier. Also it can be seen the canvas has all been stripped on the lower roof as well. 

While working on top of CA&E 458, Chief Car Officer Jeff Bennett snapped a picture of the roof work being performed on CA&E 316.

Thee has finished rebuilding the NW corner and has moved over to the east side to work on wood replacement.  John worked on tar removal and window sash repairs.

Great shot here by Jeff from the roof of CA&E 458. Here is Mike Giles shuttling tools and materials up to Jeff who is working on saddle installation for roof boards on 458.  Thee, in the background on CA&E 316's roof, is replacing massive amounts of rotted roof panels. 

Jeff, obviously happy with the recent installation and completion of the canvas on CA&E 458, snaps a chalk line down the center of the roof to start installing the saddles.  Jeff snapped this selfie to document his excitement!

Another great view of just how much is involved in CA&E Car 316’s restoration work.

We are saving as much of the original “fabric” of the car as possible, so the whole restoration is spot repairs and reinforcements.