Pictures from Saturday's work

Here are the pictures from this Saturday's work on #18.


This image shows the relative position of the hole.

This is only area of extensive rot on the roof. One hand grab and the end of the rain gutter. It is amazing that the areas of rust on the locomotive are limited to areas with standing water and not the areas that have had extensive exposure. The rust on the sides and hoods is mostly surface and not extensive. The paint is falling off in chunks, not really peeling, flaking off from the metal to the last coat.

Finally the engine has weather protection. Using a combination of recycled plywood and new stock, I cutout and assembled 4 window blanks. David Coppola was a great help in assembling the 2 blanks that were made up of new materials.

Saturday evening update

Got the removed windows blanked off with recycled plywood and particle board. Finally, the interior is dried in except for the hole at the B end where the horn goes through the roof. Pictures to follow.

Saturday mid-day update!

After a slow start, I got a small hole in the roof sealed, and part of the roof surveyed. The kids working with me have gotten about another 2/5ths of the floor up and will have the floor stripped hopefully by the end of the day. They also opened up the motor access panels in the floor for the first time in about forever.

This Saturday!

This Saturday I am coming down to the museum with the sole purpose of lifting the rest of the floor and creating plywood blanks for the windows that are being restored. It should be a dirty and rewarding day. All help is welcome!

Weekend work

We worked on the getting the floor up in the cab over this past Saturday. We removed about 4sq ft of very wet, rotten boards. I did place the weather screens up temporarily to see them in position. I have not seen them on the engine before, but had seen then in pictures of the engine while it was up in Canada. Besides the front and back pieces there was a bit of a canopy over them to provide a protected area for the engineer to work in bad weather.

Next weekend is the annual meeting for the Connecticut Trolley Museum. I will be there for the day working and then it is off to the meeting....

This weekend -

This weekend, I will be down at CTM working in #18. I hope to start around 9am. The weather is going to cooperate and no rain is in sight.

I hope to get the wooden floor removed from the cab, start working on the windows, sealing the 2 leaks in the roof and general cleaning. I would like to take her for a spin also. It is always good to keep what you are working toward in plain sight.

As always, all volunteers are welcome! Those who do not volunteer, will be drafted.

Ted.

Last Weekend

Made it down to the Museum this past weekend to work on 18's floor and continue cleaning out the interior. Unfortunately, the rain did not stop as it was supposed to and the whole afternoon was a washout on 18. Fortunately, I did help out on the rebuilding and testing of a second motor for the museum's Type 5 Boston Street car #5645. We now have two motors running after complete rebuilds.

Welcome!

This is the first of hopefully many posts on the restoration and operation of Oshawa Railways# 18.

#18 is a 53Ton Baldwin-Westinghouse, Class B, electric locomotive. Originally delivered to the Auburn and Syracuse in 1918, she has had 8 owners and finally come to rest in East Windsor, CT at the Connecticut Trolley Museum (CTM) in 1962. Since then she as been a jack of all trades: shop switcher, display piece, and more recently the head of the freight train pulling cinder cars and the museum's recently cosmetically restored Reading caboose.

This restoration is going to be a more than cosmetic. Some of the issues that are going to be addressed are: New cab flooring, new windows, rebuilding her second compressor, extensive rust abatement, and a new look, one worthy of her longevity and charm.

This video shows #18 as she passes the camera on Track 2 at North Road Station on the CTM campus in 2005.