One Month of Progress for JTC #311 Pays Off

The month of March has been a busy one at the Rockhill Trolley Museum.  Efforts with regards to car projects have had one primary focus - the ongoing heavy overhaul of Johnstown Traction Company #311.  Volunteers have been at the museum working on the car for at least part of every weekend from March 1 through March 24, with the contractor support of Keith Bray present as well for the weekends of March 9, 16, and 23.  Substantial progress has been made.

The photos below present a chronological synopsis of the work over the past month.

Rick Hoffmeister emits "showers of sparks" (like the warning labels used to say on old fireworks) as he burns off the remains of an old rivet to allow a new underfloor structural beam to be installed.

 

 

By the afternoon of March 1, two new structural beams were installed and heavy structural work to the underframe was now completed.

 

A major morale boost came on March 16 when one new side was hung on the "shop" side of the car.  The new side sheets are slightly heavier gauge than the deteriorated ones that were removed.

 

This is how the new sides look from inside the car with the seats, window sill, and interior trim removed.  Like peeling back an onion, as the project has progressed, the scope has grown.  The decision has been made to replace the significantly deteriorated floor as part of the overhaul. 

 

This is a close up of the floor condition.  Look carefully and you will see some significant cracks besides substantial wear to the top layer.  Note the vapor barrier between the floor layers.

 

Now we are starting to look like a trolley again!  Installation of new window sills is completed and the letterboard is hung and the first new hot rivets are in place.

 

Another view of the new window sills.  These were custom fabricated to a pattern we provided as a donation by our friends at UTCRAS (www.utcras.com). 

 

The rivet furnace keeps the process moving. 

 

The inside of the new letterboard.  Note the first of the new rivets are in place.

 

Besides the structural work, work is being done in many, often out of sight, but equally as important to the completion of JTC #311.  Volunteers have been busy sorting parts, stripping and refinishing the roof boards, cherry trim for the interior, disassembling air brake piping (to facilitate floor removal), marking of wires and removing the resistor grids, and organized what has been removed to facilitate an organized reassembly once the carbody work is completed.  The museum has even located a set of large diameter headlights similar to those used on the car around 1950 which will be overhauled and installed in the finished car (the current smaller headlights were later substitutes).

 

Many volunteers have been assisting with this project, including Rick Hoffmeister, Budd Blair, Matt Nawn, Joel Salomon, Phil Sauerlender, David Brightbill, Nicholas Brightbill, Fred Wagner, Courtney Brown, and Valerie Robbins-Rice.  Keith Bray has been working alongside our volunteers as a contractor.  Any omissions from this list are purely accidental and solely the fault of the author.

 

The next work session will be April 6 - new volunteers always welcome!

 

Best wishes,

Matt Nawn