B&SR #34 flat car - Official Work Thread

[Joe Fox]

A few visitors stopped by today, including an exchange stufent from Austrailia and his host family (who was from Portland). They toured the shop and in passing I told them about the rebuild on the flat car that Zack has done and they were very impressed. Then I made the connection to them by mentioning #9 was built in Portland and that the turntable was designed and replicated from the one that Portland Co built in Wiscasset. They seemed interested and will hopefully be back later this season.

[Dave Buczkowski]

I squired the exchange student and his hostess around the campus and on the train. The hostess was so impressed with us that she handed me a donation. I encouraged her to come back with her sons for work weekend. Unfortunately the exchange student is leaving the first day of work weekend and can’t join us.
Dave

[Brendan Barry]

The last deck board went on the car today.

[Gary Kraske]

Congratulations to Zack and any others who may have assisted him!

[Brendan Barry]

One of the trucks going under 34. The truck needs to be painted and have the bearings repacked.



The other truck dissasembled to swap out a wheel set. The brake beams also need to be installed.



The replacement wheel set in the lathe getting the bearing journals turned.



34 with the stakes and side boards installed. The Bridgeton flat cars had the end stake pockets set in from the end of the car.

[John Kokas]

A silly question.  Why put a truck under a car when it still needs paint and repacking?  It would be so much easier to complete when open to the shop.  Also, based on photos, looks like we might want to get out the wheel gauge and check a few things.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

The trucks won’t go under until they’ve been reassembled, painted, lubrication serviced, and brakes installed on one truck.

The wheelset nearest the photo has wear but is within acceptable limits.  The other wheelset had flat spots, so we traded it to Brian for a set which had its treads turned, but needs journals turned (which we’ve since done).

We are machining new bearings to match the new journal diameters.  We hope to reassemble the trucks and install brakes Saturday.  Lacking time to paint and service journals Saturday, I suspect truck installation will stretch into next week.  We weren’t expecting the flat wheel, or the pitted journals on the replacement, so our schedule is a touch off.

67 will come in the shop as soon as 34 leaves.

See ya
Jason

[John Kokas]

I knew I'd get the straight story - thanks Jason!  Had me scratching my head when I read the truck had been rolled under the car without paint and packing.

[Wayne Laepple]

I'm glad to see the big lathe in use again.

[Paul Uhland]

What goes on, or is on,  all the new topside wood to protect it?

Great work by Carmaster Zack and helpers, BTW.
Looks like the WW&F shop is turning into the Everhot Car Rebuild Factory! 

[Mike Fox]

Deck is pressure treated lumber. Between that and the frame members are some strips of bituthane, a product intended to be installed on roofs, but is found being used in several different applications in building construction

[Jeff Schumaker]

I see in the last photo, the flatcar has become a temporary storage facility. At least, I hope it's temporary.

Jeff S.

[Fred Morse]

That's because it's a flat surface!

[Jeff Schumaker]

Hopefully, it will be a mobile flat surface, soon.

Jeff S.

[Paul Uhland]

Bituthane, or something similar, is also used the same way in car rebuilds at C&TS.