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April 1999
Cleaning interior continues.
Emergency exit windows are sealed correctly with gaskets into the
car body.
Various interior bedroom hardware organized and re-installed starting
with Bedroom "E".
Les Kasten and Ben Butterworth at Illinois Transit Assembly (www.iltransit@iltransit.com),
found eight former Milwaukee Road Skytop swivel/reclining parlor car
chairs. Although these will require a lot of work, they should be the center
of attraction in the "Lookout lounge".
Work continues in the kitchen, stripping away the white self-adhesive
plastic film that protects the new stainless steel.
A temporary hook-up was made with an old stereo to "pipe" music throughout
the car. Lounge already has speakers installed in ceiling. Bedrooms and hall
to receive speakers for music, P.A., and video.
Search for various hardware parts ongoing.
May 1999
All unnecessary under car brackets and conduits removed.
Onan 40KW Generator, fuel tank, and waste water tank removed. (Generator was brand new but deemed too small due to the addition of
many electrically operated accessories added to the car. A new Stadco 65KW
generator will be installed at a later date. We will also purchase a new
automatic transfer switch gear to go along with the generator from North
West Rail Electric Inc. (http://www.easystreet.com/nwrail/).
The complete underside of car was high-pressure steam cleaned of 50
years of grease and grime.
Preliminary work for full retention work started.
Stainless Steel Microphor toilets added for all bathrooms (http://www.microphor.com/)
June 1999
Work Continues with a few remaining roof- leaks being corrected.
Full stainless steel shower in general bathroom gets final caulk job.
Door closer and lock installed on general bathroom door.
GFI receptacle and hair dryer installed in general bathroom.
Separate thermostat installed for bathroom heat.
July 1999 WHEW!!! It is HOT!!!
New exhaust fans installed for general bathroom and all bathrooms
in car.
Overhead blower motor for heat/A.C. removed for rewinding to boost H.P. rating.
General cleaning of overhead around heat/A.C. unit.
Automatic fresh-air damper mechanism located, undamaged, in a wrecked
sleeper.
Various parts sent out for re-plating.
Suitable replacement window shades, rollers, and tracks located.
Design and draw various unsalvageable, missing or retro-fitted parts
necessary to rebuild original bathroom folding wash stands with current
common 4" center lavatory faucets.
Laciny Brothers (a stainless steel fabrication shop in St. Louis)
manufactures five retrofit sink boxes for wash stands.
Pickup truck-loads of parts in need of repair, polishing, re-plating
and retrofitting continue to head north to Roger Verbeerens shop. This
work will be done in the Chicago area as time permits.
August 1999
Aluminum window shade tracks are cut and fitted to hallway, bedrooms
and porters area. We cleaned and polished one track- nice!
Overhead blower motor is re-installed. Ahhh
fresh air at last!
Automatic air intake damper is removed from another car -and with
minor modification- will fit. Now we must take it home to clean and test.
Technical drawing made for custom stainless steel general bathroom
sink base cabinet.
Additional drawings and measurements made for stainless steel, felt-lined
mini-blind tracks for all lounge, dining, kitchen, side service door and
general bathroom windows.
Stainless fabrication work jobbed out to Laciny Brothers- St. Louis,
MO.
Plywood used to mock up bathroom in Bedroom B sink wall.
Cove light installed
Stainless steel framed mirror stainless steel towel shelves, cup holder
all positioned as a sample plan.
September 1999
Continued work in Chicago on parlor chairs, specifically the stainless
steel bases and cast aluminum sides of chairs. With the assistance of Phil
(Mr. Buff), we have restored the metal on one parlor chair to better-than-original
condition. The reason I say "better-than-original" is that the pictures
we have of these chairs show the sides painted instead of the polished
art deco look we have achieved. Lots of work left on these puppies!
Les Kasten (I.T.A.) had some original Budd bedroom fold down tables.
The hardware is ok, but the rest of the tables and tops will need to be
replaced. More Chicago-bound work!
With the blessing of Les, we were able to get some other missing parts
from the now infamous wrecked sleeper. Small waste receptacles, several
of the correct size and hand bathroom shelves and two of the three needed
metal, folding, couch wall pans necessary to prevent the bedding from slipping
down behind the couch seat when the couch backrest (bed) is raised.
October 1999
Not a whole lot of work being done on the car. We are all busy preparing
for a 6-car charter from Chicago to New Orleans and back.
Work continues in the Chicago area shop. Many additional door latches,
wall shelves and swivel lounge chair sides continue to be polished.
November 1999
Time for one last quick jaunt to Madison, IL (St. Louis) to work on
the Wingate before the holidays. My better half, Donna, accompanied me.
She attended to many more cleaning chores. She and I discussed placement
of the various kitchen appliances that have not been installed. Cooking
utensils, glassware, and dry-goods storage design issues still need to
be resolved.
Several cardboard mock-ups for additional cabinets between the dining
area and the step-up Lookout Lounge are tried out. Concerns are to keep
the unobstructed rearward view from the dining area through the lounge
rear windows (that is so we can better see that mail and express car on
the rear).
December 1999
The holiday season interrupts our ability to travel to Madison, IL
(St. Louis). Merry Christmas and hang on to your hats for Y2K.
January 2000
Will you look at that, were still here! No, we didnt blow up, black
out or get lost in the general chaos.
Work heats up in earnest in the bathrooms. The wall mock-up is complete.
Now begins the job of fitting the toilet, remote flush valve, sequence
valve, water shut-offs for sink and toilet, air lines with shut-offs, trap
for sink and toilet- all within the confines of the sink stand. Two days
of figuring and fitting and we might just have it. Now, all we have to
do is get it all mounted and working in five other bathrooms!
As a change of pace, we went to work in the overhead down the hallway,
installing a missing section of ply metal ductwork. This eliminated the
air blowing into the bathrooms where the exhaust fans should have been
sucking air out.
February 2000
Polish work continues at our Chicago shop- specifically window tracks
and parlor car chair arms.
Some remaining Dutch door latches are being reassembled.
Sandblasting parlor car chair frames continues.
Stainless steel sink stand boxes are being drilled for faucets.
Work in Madison, IL continues.
My wife, Donna, once again cleans, scrapes and polishes various stainless
steel kick plates and baseboards. She also vacuumed each bed (which had
accumulated dirt and paint chips).
More discussion on storage areas for glassware, dishes, and cooking
utensils. |
