Car shop extension

[Fred L. Kuhns]

 James, Thanks for the pictures of the car shop progress.    Fred L, kuhns

[Ira Schreiber]

Reloaded the site and got the photos. Thanks.
The splice bars for the shop rails were pulled by me and last I saw them, they were east of the shop extension, on the ground. There are three pairs of bars.
Ira

[Wayne Laepple]

Seems to me, if the objective is to get cars under roof, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to jack up tracks 2 and 3 to meet the new floor and use blocking to hold them in position. Uncover the doorways long enough to move two cars in under the roof, then seal the building up again and wait for spring to arrive. By my count, we have five cars (3, 8, 302, 320, 103) that need to be sheltered, along with the locomotives. Am I missing something?

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Just to clarify for those who don't get to Sheepscot.  Coach 3, box 309 and caboose 320 stay in the existing car shop.  When the new extension is ready, the plan is to have coach 3 and caboose 320 share bay 3, coach 8 and excursion 103 share bay 2 and box 309, engines 51, 52 and the Model T railcar stay in bay one.  Engines 9 and 10 will most likely stay in the machine shop.  Of course all of this is subject to change once the building is complete.  Yes, the front tracks could be connected without too much trouble.  Wayne has a good idea to bring rolling stock into the addition if it's under the roof and re-board the existing doors.  If the extension does not get enclosed this year, those cars would have to be ones that won't be going out for the next few months.     

[John McNamara]

Don't forget the big lathe, also in Bay 1.

[Wayne Laepple]

My thinking was to put whatever cars can most easily withstand being outdoors in the new shop for the winter. Thinking about this a bit more, perhaps the tracks could be raised and connected sometime soon. Then, after the Victorian Christmas trains run, the two cars could be shifted into the new shop and then everything closed up for the duration. I'm guessing the big lathe won't be moved into the new shop area until the building is closed in, so there will be less space available in Bay 1 for a while. But maybe the compressor car, handcar and fire car could be manhandled across the floor of the new shop to Bay 1 before the rest of the place is filled with cars.

[Mike Fox]

While the new extension might look roomy now, once everything is in place, like the big lathe, the space will fill up quick. When complete, I think we will only get 52 back under cover and Coach 8 as well. 103 will most likely be outside with the flats.

[Stephen Hussar]

Some pictures from Sheepscot this past Saturday...


Steve and Leon pause between courses to add bracing...


Zack and Ken cutting up the room... 


A beehive of activity...


wide shot of the progress...and the scale of the project.

[Fred L. Kuhns]

  Stephen,   Thanks for the great pictures.  The progress is very impressive.  Look forward to next report.  Fred L. Kuhns

[Duncan Mackiewicz]

Yes Steve, more great shots.  Thanks for keeping us abreast of the progress.  It's amazing the talented folks this museum has in the membership to pitch in and do a massive build like this addition.
Duncan

[James Patten]

Today we raised the knee walls on both sides on the second floor, and put up the first course of rafters (from edge of the building to on top of the knee wall).  Friday Zack put in the bracing at the south end for where the doors will go.

Lots more room to walk around in now on the first floor.

[Fred L. Kuhns]

 James,  Thanks for the progress report.  Looking for to the next weekend  report of progress.   Thanks,  Fred L. Kuhns

[James Patten]

Friday Fred and Zack started putting up the coller ties, which are the horizontal cross beams on roof rafters.  Saturday we continued working on them and finished them up.  Then we started working on the overhang beams on the east side.  After finishing that, Zack and Ken put up a couple of roof boards.

Next Saturday will be more roofing boards.  It would be nice to have many hands on deck for this.

[Fred L. Kuhns]

   James,  Hope you were able to apply the roof boards on Friday and Saturday. A picture of the progress would be greatly appreciated.  Keep up the good work and look forward to your next report.    Fred L. Kuhns

[Mike Fox]

James did take a few shots for posterity. The roof is completely boarded up on the East (station) side. Most of the trim was put up in preparation for the roofing. The west side was completely ready for boarding so it was not started.