Progress report for the Saturday May 21, 2022 GGRM workday at Schellville

 The Saturday May 21, 2022 workday was focused on the GGRM passenger cars located at our museum’s storage sites at Schellville Junction.

The primary emphasis was on the tasks required to get two of the 145 seat bi-level gallery cars ready for operation.

 

Thanks go out to the GGRM volunteers listed below who helped make the May 21st Schellville workday productive:

 

Steve Coon, Nico Dacong, and Jay King.

Below is the progress report for the Saturday May 21, 2022 workday.

 



At the Victory Station Yard worksite:

1.           The GGRM EIC is required to send a text to NWPCo General Manager Ryan Martin when flag and derail protection has been set at the Victory Station Yard and the north leg of the Schellville wye.  Done, Jim Prettyleaf.

2.           Weather permitting continue stripping, repairing, and painting the roof of the #141 Oakland Business Car.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

3.           Fix any remaining water damage and prepare the dining room ceiling of the #141 Oakland Business Car for painting.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

4.           If skilled volunteer resources are available start drilling the hole required to install new air conditioning plumbing.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

5.           Install the new copper pipes required for the #141 Oakland Business Car’s new Northwest Rail Electric air conditioning system.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

6.           Continue the electrical wiring installations that are needed to get the #141 Oakland Business Car running again.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

7.           Continue sorting out and reorganizing the contents of the #6752 Diesel Shop Car and the #5131 Steam Shop Car prior to the start of operations.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

8.           Place FRA boiler time extension email in cab of steam locomotive #2472.  Done by Jim Prettyleaf, the email extending #2472’s boiler time to December 31, 2022 is stored behind the FRA Form 3 document.

9.           Install the west end door latch on the #5901 RPO car.  Done by Steve Coon.

10.       Check the water level in the batteries for the #1487 Fairbanks-Morse locomotive.  Done by Steve Coon, 3.5 gallons of distilled water was added to the eight batteries.

11.       Start and stationary load test both of the GGRM’s diesel locomotives.  Done by Steve Coon, both locomotives started okay and load correctly, all systems checked okay.   

12.       The GGRM EIC is required to send a text to NWPCo General Manager Ryan Martin when flag and derail protection has been taken down at the Victory Station Yard and the north leg of the Schellville wye.  Done, Jim Prettyleaf.

 

At the Sonoma Rail worksite in Schellville:  

1.           Continue working on the air conditioning system of the #3722 gallery-car per the written plan submitted by Seth Adams.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

2.           Rollout the gen-set on the #3722 gallery car and install the missing squirrel cage fan.  Work in progress by Jay King, and Steve Coon, rolled out the gen – set and discovered that the squirrel – cage fan driveshaft on the #3722 gallery car was damaged and has been worn down to a smaller diameter.  Used the electric impact to remove the worn fan driveshaft from the nose of the Detroit Deisel engine’s crankshaft.  Jay King will follow up to manufacture a new squirrel – cage fan driveshaft and Steve Coon will borrow the squirrel – cage fan drive from the spare generator stored in Antioch.  Inspected the gen – set in the #3714 gallery car and confirmed that squirrel – cage fan is missing.

3.           Continue the investigations and fabrication needed to make the #3722 gallery car handicap access compliant.  In progress, Jim Prettyleaf was assigned the action item to determine the requirements for the required supplementary handrails.

4.           Complete some additional troubleshooting to determine why the engine stop pushbuttons for the #3720 gallery car gen-set and the #3722 gallery car gen-set are not working correctly.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

5.           Use a DC clamp on ammeter to adjust the output voltage and current of the #3720 gallery car’s built-in battery charger so that something between 37.92-volts minimum to 41.28-volts maximum is applied to the battery terminals when charging in the absorption mode.  In progress, most of the May 21st workday was wasted attempting to track down a false DC current reading that was caused by the residual magnetic field of the #3720 gallery car’s battery box.  The Hall effect sensor in the new A’MES CM1000A AC/DC Clamp Meter that Jim Prettyleaf purchased was reading the residual magnetic field of the metal battery box of the #3720 gallery car.  The Clamp Meter’s bogus 3 to 5 - amp DC current measurement was caused by the residual magnetism of the battery box and could not initially be told apart from current following into a fault in the DC wiring of the #3720 gallery car.  The GGRM volunteers finally convinced themselves that no DC current was flowing when the #3720 gallery car’s battery knife switch is open by using a Fluke Digital Multimeter that measures current by inserting a low resistance shunt in series with battery leads.  Online reviews of the A’MES CM1000A AC/DC Clamp Meter indicate that it is a well-made tool, but the paper manual and the online manuals for this tool are worthless garbage.  By watching reviews and experimentation Jim Prettyleaf learned how to use the A’MES CM1000A and will write an operators manual that can be used during future GGRM workdays. 

6.           Continue working to select the gallery car with the least number of problems and concentrate on bringing #3720 or #3722 up to operational status as quickly as possible.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

7.           Inspect #3720 and #3722 and make a list of any parts that are missing, broken or inoperable.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

8.           Continue vacuuming and washing seats and mopping the floors of the #3720 and the #3722 cars.  No action taken during the May 21, 2022 workday.

9.           Inspection and cleaning of the window shades in the #3722 and #3720 gallery cars.  Inspection was completed during the previous May 14, 2022 workday, two window shades are torn and need to be repaired or replaced.

10.       Make a list showing the location and number of window shades that will require replacement.  Need to write down the location of the torn shades in Jim Prettyleaf’s field notebook.

 

Ongoing Offsite Projects that Support Schellville Workday Objectives

  1. Locate a supplier for 3-71 series Detroit Diesel engine rocker cover gaskets and hydraulic governor gaskets and seals to eliminate oil leaks on the #3722 gallery car’s gen - set.  Jim Prettyleaf will own this task.
  2. Updated the drawing for the squirrel – cage fans used on the gallery car gen – sets.  Done by Jim Prettyleaf on Friday May 20, 2022.
  3. Need to locate a supplier that can make new squirrel cage fans for the Delco 1-991 gen-sets that are installed on the GGRM’s gallery cars.  Jim Prettyleaf has created a Word file named “Squirrel Cage Impeller Manufacturers”, but additional work is needed to locate a viable supplier.
  4. Make a new squirrel-cage fan driveshaft for the Delco 1-991 gen-sets that are installed on the GGRM’s gallery cars.  In progress, the owner is Jay King.
  5. Find and purchase a currently available functionally equivalent power contactor to replace the three-phase contactor that was cannibalized from #3714’s north end low range electric resistance heater.  In progress Seth Adams, and Jim Prettyleaf.
  6. Manufacture and install of replacements for the arm rests that have been cannibalized from #3714.  In progress by Jay King. 
  7. Repair the broken sink that was removed from #3722.  Owner Steve Rusconi. 

 

Objectives that have been deferred until a future time.

  1. The restoration of the #3714 gallery car
  2. Creation of a written record of the repairs needed for the #3720 and 3722 gallery car’s CO2 fire systems prior to a visit from AAA Fire Suppression Services. 
  3. Prepare the gallery cars for painting. 

 

Regards,

 

Jim Prettyleaf

GGRM Schellville Site Manager

 

Email:         jim.prettyleaf@ggrm.org

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Progress report for the Saturday August 27, 2022 GGRM workday at Schellville

The Saturday August 27, 2022 workday was focused on the GGRM passenger cars located at our museum’s storage sites at Schellville Junction .   The primary emphasis was on the tasks required to get the GGRM’s passenger cars ready for display during the September 4 th  and 5 th  2022 Labor Day weekend open house.   Thanks go out to the GGRM volunteers listed below who helped make the August 27 th  workday productive.   Nico Dacong, David Waterman, Ted Davis, Manly Hyde, Jay King, and Steve Coon.   Also scroll down the following list to see the work that has been progressing off-site and during mid-week workdays.   Below is the progress report for the Saturday August 27 workday.   At the Victory Station Yard worksite: 1.                The GGRM EIC is required to send a text to NWPCo General Manager Ryan Martin when flag and derail protection has been set at the Victory Station Yard and the north leg of the Schellville wye.   Done Jim Prettyleaf. 2.                Do whatever is needed to
Read more

Progress report for the Saturday January 29, 2022 GGRM workday at Schellville

  The Saturday January 29, 2022 GGRM workday was focused on the following items at the Victory Station Yard and the Sonoma Rail storage site at Schellville .   Emphasis was on the tasks needed to get the GGRM’s passenger cars ready for operation.   Thanks go out to the GGRM volunteers listed below who helped make the January 29 th  Schellville workday successful:   David Waterman,  Nico Dacong, Steve Coon, Steve Rusconi, Seth Adams, Tim Dulin, Ron Vane, Burr Wilson, Mike Pechner, and Peter Schulze.   Below is the progress report for the Saturday’s January 29, 2022 workday.   At the Victory Station Yard worksite: 1.             The GGRM EIC is required to send a text to NWPCo General Manager Ryan Martin when flag and derail protection has been set at the Victory Station Yard and the north leg of the Schellville wye.   Done Jim Prettyleaf. 2.             Install new control system for the #2979 Tavern Car’s air conditioning and heating.   Significant progress by Seth Adams, a separate re
Read more

Progress Report Saturday October 30, 2021East Sunol Edition

  Working at sites far removed from our home-base at Schellville are scary events that require loads of advanced planning.  If one or more small mistakes are made in the planning process the remote workday can easily turn into a disaster where nothing gets done due to missing tools or parts.  Yesterday’s remote workday at the East Sunol Yards was a stunning success because everything kept falling into place enabling a tremendous amount of work to be completed by the GGRM’s volunteers.   I want to thank the following GGRM volunteers for supplying the tools, the parts and the labor resources needed to prepare the museum’s F7A locomotives and Harriman era suburban coaches for movement to Sonoma County.   Severn Edmonds, Scott Vogel, Nico Dacong, David Waterman, Jay King, and Steve Rusconi.   Progress made during the October 30, 2021 workday at the East Sunol Yard of the Niles Canyon Railway.     1.             Verify correct dead in train response of the airbrakes on the #6378 and #6380 F
Read more