TCDA No. 65 (Reefer) - Official Work Thread

[Steve Smith]

I'll try to post a sketch in hopes of explaining why the draft gear Mike has pictured (Feb. 4th post) requires only the one coil spring, which always provides its cushioning action by compression, regardless of whether the coupler is pushed or pulled.

The sketch shows three side views of the internal members of the draft gear. Top view: no load on coupler. Middle view: Coupler in tension (pull). Bottom view: Coupler in compression (push).

The dark rectangles are end views of the spring plates that sandwich the coil spring in Mike's second and fourth Feb, 4th photos. Dimension "M" in the top view is the maximum distance the outer surfaces of the spring plates can be separated. It corresponds to the spacing between either pair of cheek irons, one pair on each side of the pocket, showing in Mike's third photo.

A PULL on the coupler causes it and the drawbar and strap to move to the right, compressing the coil spring against the spring plate marked "C." The "C" stands for constraint, because the spring plate is held stationary by its mating cheek iron. So a gap develops between the constrained spring plate and the end of the drawbar, where shown.

A PUSH on the coupler causes a reversal. Now the spring plate at the other end is the one constrained and the gap develops at its end, as shown. But again, compression of the spring is what provides the cushioning.

In Mike's third photo for Feb. 4, you can see steel bars lying on top of the draft gear timbers. In the fully assembled draft gear these plates are fastened to the bottoms of the cheek irons, and the parts of the spring plates that project beyond the strap ride on those bars; thus preventing the drawbar, strap, etc. from dropping down.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

This just in ...

     Lots of progress on car 65. Saturday's crew included Zack, Fred, Dwight, myself and (at times) Steve Z. and Jason.  Breaking with tradition we started working on the west side of the car first.   The day began with Zack and crew installing the rest of the corner brace rods.  When they were in Zack put up temporary cheater boards at the base height of the belt rail.  Then we set the rail on them to mark where the studs, diagonals and tension rods pass through.   With the marks in place we took the rail over to be cut.  The process was made easier with Steve Z. notching the rails with his chop saw.  When the stud/diagonal notches were cut we hand-cut the smaller notches for the tension rods.  The rail was then clamped in place and drilled at each verticle.  The bolts were installed at each stud and diagonal with the excess cut off and ground smooth.  The belt rail really makes the side frame solid.  The south belt rail came next but we had to install the cross rod first.  This required drilling in from each corner and hammering the rod through all the upright members to the other corner.  This was the hardest part of the job - so much so that we did not install the rod or b/r in the north end.    

     The belt rail serves two purposes, it provides side support for the studs and gives another nailing position for the sheathing.  I cut steel for the corner and door post irons and Jason heated and bent the corner irons to Portland Company specs.  The corner and post irons have to be drilled so they can be installed where the belt rails meet.

     The coupler spring did not come in so we have to wait to do the north coupler and flooring.  The plan for the work weekend is to install the exterior sheathing if it comes in this week.  Zack will set a ledger board for the sheathing base so we can nail the wood up level.  We will sheath over the entire car except one spot where the coupler goes.  The window locations will be covered and then we'll come back and cut out for the sashes.  This will allow the window frames to be built from the inside which is important since we will have to cut the door post's diagonal brace to make room for the window.  The exterior sheathing will hold the two diagonal sections in place until the window frames are done.

I hope to see some of a lot of you next weekend.

Stewart

[Paul Crabb]

I asked this elsewhere on the forum but as this thread deals with the dairy car I'll ask here also. I heard that during winter work weekend that sheathing of the car will be started. Is this correct? If so I'll bring my nail apron and my hammer.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Hi Paul,

     As I noted in the post above - if the sheathing comes in, the plan is to nail it on this weekend.  There's no guarantee we'll have it since it was just ordered on Monday but I spoke to Zack this afternoon and he thinks it will be on hand.  The good news is that Steve Z. and Zack installed the north cross rod and belt rail today so the entire frame is ready for sheathing (except a small spot where the north coupler goes).

     See you Saturday.

Stewart

[Jock Ellis]

What kind of wood is used in the car? Did Portland specify any particular woods? When the house my paternal grandparents owned was built in 1900, workers cut the wood in the forest behind the house, milled it then let it air dry for a year. Was that really necessary or just the custom of the time?

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The Portland Company did list specific types of wood to be used in certain parts of the car.  The original cars had a lot of Southern Yellow Pine which was used for stringers, etc. because it is strong and resists rot.    Stress related parts such as end sills or needle beams were generally hard woods like oak.   Sheathing and flooring were softer woods such as white pine.

For car 65 we used Douglas Fir for the stringers and oak for the end sills.  Flooring is white pine.  As you have read, we used wood cut on railroad property to mill the oak and pine.  The Douglas Fir was purchased from a lumber yard.  General practice for sawyers is that wood is cut and stacked to dry for a time so it will cure and not warp.  That is why you'll see drying sheds at saw mills and lumber yards.

Stewart

[Mike Fox]

Funny, I would think they would have made the floor out of a harder flooring than pine. But when it was the most abundant tree in the State, I guess they would use it.

[Brendan Barry]

A few cell phone pictures taken this morning. The walls are sheathed and the roof is all done except for a few feet on the north end left open to install the coupler with the chainfall.

[Brendan Barry]

east side

[Brendan Barry]

Looking south.

[Brendan Barry]

Floor left open to install coupler on the north end.

[Mike Fox]

I have a few extra pictures this week. I was unable to make it last weekend so I had to take pictures of the belt rail before it was covered.

But first, one shot from underneath of the completed coupler.


Here is the belt rail.




And the sheathing crew worked quickly when the got going.







And I'm always looking for angles to try and get the big picture. This is from above coach 3.

[Brendan Barry]

Monday lunch update. Freeze boards and shadow boards installed on the south end.

[Brendan Barry]

another

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Great photos Mike and Brendan.  It's cool having lunch while watching car 65 photos being posted to the forum.  It started a new saying ... "That's so 5 minutes ago" 

Dept of Corrections -

Keith Taylor advised me that the top (wide) trim board on car 65 is a frieze board not a freeze board.  I quess I spelled it wrong because of how my fingers felt as I nailed it on.  Can't grip trim nails with gloves on ya know.

Thanks Keith

Stewart