Having restored some things in my life, I understand how incredible it is how much more work is involved than originally thought there would be. Doug
We have occasionally. Just drink lots of water and position lots of box fans to blow air through the inside. We have been working on getting a Cummings diesel generator up and running and park it next to the car to provide HEP as well as getting the AC working for the upcoming summer.
The new windows were delivered. Here I am with another guy hauling one up into the car to stack in the dining room while we try to figure out how to install them.
This shows the aluminum window frame without the glass installed yet. The gasket that goes all the way around and holds the glass in place is a real challenge to get inserted into its track in the frame. Then you have to position the frame in the hole and pull the outer lip of the gasket through the opening in the car side before inserting a locking zip strip in a channel in the middle of the gasket on the outside to press it firmly against the car side and provide a water tight seal. Here is a new window installed with an older one to the left. This same window system is used on most AMTRAK cars from the Superliners to the Viewliners. Yet it is difficult to get any installation information out of either AMTRAK or the window manufacturer on how to install them. It is not intuitive and has taken us a while to figure out on our own. And the way we are doing it is not fast or easy. Here we are struggling to get the gasket mounted on a frame. This is the easy part. After the glass is pushed in to the frame from the inside, the inside removable gasket is installed to hold the glass in place. It has the red handle at the bottom to pull it all out in case of emergency so you can then remove the glass panel.
Here I am installing the emergency pull out gasket to allow the glass to be removed if you need to get out quickly. In a bit of serendipity, we found that Windex makes an awesome lube for inserting gaskets. Not as messy as silicone lube and a breeze to clean up with more Windex. Short pieces of old gasket are used to hold the glass panel in place while the new gasket is installed. Still need a little pounding with a mallet and a wood push stick to get it seated.
Last week we replaced two florescent lite fixtures that have been refurbished. Still have to install the diffusers and trim around them. Sure makes a difference as Amtrak covered all the windows during their rebuild. All finished with installing the new windows. Now trying to decide what to put in the frames on the bulkhead at the end of the dining room. The NYC posters will be given to the owners of the two New York Central cars on the train to display. We could go with Amtrak posters to fit the new interiors or go with something historic from the Southern Pacific era.
One of these diners in service on October16,1951 east of Tucson. The 4th car from the rear. M. D. McCarter photo.
Another interesting project car! In the photo, what kind of car is it that has the radio antenna (?) running its length?
That was a lounge car. The SP called them "French Quarter" lounges as the interior decorations reflected that district of New Orleans.
Found this drawing rolled up in a corner of my train room. Forgot I ordered it from Carstens many years before we bought the car. It does not look like this anymore since AMTRAK tubed it out and rebuilt it.