Progress report for the Saturday June 4, 2022 GGRM workday at Schellville

 The Saturday June 4, 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, but additional work was completed on the #141 Oakland business car and steam locomotive #2472.

 

Thanks go out to the GGRM volunteers listed below who helped make the June 4th Schellville workday productive:

 

Steve Coon, Nico Dacong, David Waterman, Seth Adams, Steve Rusconi, and Jay King.

 Below is the progress report for the Saturday June 4, 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.     Mow the weeds at the Victory Station Yard.  Done by Steve Coon

3.     Circulate the water in #2472’s tender and filter out the larger debris.  Done by Steve Coon and David Waterman.

4.     After filtering the tender’s water circulate 6,000 gallons through the Evoqua water softener vessels.  Done by Steve Coon and David Waterman.

5.     Weather permitting continue stripping, repairing, and painting the roof of the #141 Oakland Business Car.  No action taken during the June 4, 2022 workday.

6.     Fix any remaining water damage and prepare the dining room ceiling of the #141 Oakland Business Car for painting.  No action taken during the June 4, 2022 workday.

7.     Clean the interior of Oakland’s train line conduit in preparation for the installation of new air conditioning system wiring.  Done by Jay King and Steve Rusconi.

8.     If skilled volunteer resources are available start drilling the hole required to install new air conditioning plumbing.  Work is now in progress by Jay King and Steve Rusconi.  A small pilot hole was drilled through the top plate of #141 Oakland’s center sill to confirm that the proposed location for the air conditioning plumbing is correct.  Fortunately, the top plate of the center sill is only ¼” thick steel and the location for the piping hole was verified to be correct.

9.     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 June 4, 2022 workday.

10. Continue the electrical wiring installations that are needed to get the #141 Oakland Business Car running again.  No action taken during the June 4, 2022 workday.

11. 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 June 4, 2022 workday.

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.     At the start of the workday measure the battery of the #3720 gallery car to determine the charge status.  Nico Dacong and Jim Prettyleaf verified that each of the four 8-volt batteries have no internal short circuits and were 100% charged during the previous May 28th workday.

2.     Continue trouble shooting to find and eliminate electrical problems with #3720 gallery car’s built-in battery.  Nico Dacong and Jim Prettyleaf spent hours troubleshooting and documenting the behavior of #3720’s built-in battery charger.  We measured that #3720’ built in battery charger’s output voltage sags down below the minimum value required to charge the battery as more circuits inside the gallery car are brought online.  We adjusted the variable resistors to increase the current sourced by #3720’s built-in battery charger but at the end of the day measured that when all systems are online the battery’s terminal voltage was only 35.2-volts, 29 amps was being supplied by the charger, and the battery was still sourcing an additional 2.8 amps to power the car.  These measured results revealed that as more DC systems inside #3720 gallery car are turned on the built-in battery charger’s output voltage sags below the 38-volt minimum value required to correctly charge the battery.  These test results indicate that either the silicon rectifier diodes are worn out and need to be replaced or there is a corroded high resistance electrical connection somewhere inside the built-in battery charger’s wiring that requires clean-up.  In conclusion more work will be required to get #372’s built-in battery charger working correctly.

3.     Continue working on the air conditioning system of the #3722 gallery-car per the written plan submitted by Seth Adams.  Work is now in progress; Seth Adams changed the oil in #3722’s refrigeration compressor.

4.     Put air-tool oil into the air motors that operate the bi-parting center vestibule doors of the #3722 and #3720 gallery cars.  Done by Nico Dacong and Jim Prettyleaf.  Also lubricated the ball bearings in the door tracks, repaired an air leak in #3722, and adjusted the pressure regulator for the southwest side vestibule door of #3720.  All vestibule doors in the #3722 and #3720 gallery cars are now working correctly.

5.     Load test the gen-set on the #3722 gallery car by running with the electric heaters turned on and the gen-set door closed.  Started the #3722 gen set at 10:00 AM after a brief 5 minute warm-up period the 2.1 kW heater loads were turned on.  Periodically monitored the gen-set while it was pulling the 2.1 kW heater loads and discovered that the engine coolant temperature slowly increased to 210 °F by 11:18 AM.  Need to pull apart the Detroit Diesel engine’s thermostat housing during the next June 11, 2022 workday to determine if the engine’s coolant thermostat is defective.

6.     Complete additional troubleshooting to determine why the engine stop pushbutton for the #3720 gallery car gen-set is not working correctly.  No action taken during the June 4, 2022 workday.

7.     Continue the investigations and fabrication needed to make the #3722 gallery car handicap access compliant.  No action taken during the June 4, 2022 workday.

8.     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.  Done by Jim Prettyleaf, the #3722 gallery care is still the most likely candidate to first reach operational status, but the #3720 car is making significant progress and is in close second place.

9.     Inspect #3720 and #3722 and make a list of any parts that are missing, broken or inoperable.  No action taken during the June 4, 2022 workday.

10. Continue vacuuming and washing seats and mopping the floors of the #3720 and the #3722 cars.  No action taken during the June 4, 2022 workday.

11. Inspection and cleaning of the window shades in the #3722 and #3720 gallery cars.  Done by Jim Prettyleaf and Nico Dacong to determine the location of torn or defective window shades.  Discovered that all window shades in the #3720 gallery car are serviceable, only three widow shades in the #3722 gallery car have problems.

12. Make a list showing the location and number of window shades that will require replacement.  Jim Prettyleaf and Nico Dacong located the following defective window shades in the #3722 gallery car.  South end west side upper deck window #3 shade is torn.  South end east side upper deck window #1 shade is torn, and window #3 shade is stuck in the up position.

 

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.  New rocker cover gaskets and hydraulic governor gaskets were ordered by Jim Prettyleaf and are scheduled to be delivered by June 9th.  Jim Prettyleaf still owns the task to find a supplier for the manual rack control plunger seals.
  2. 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.
  3. Manufacture and install of replacements for the arm rests that have been cannibalized from #3714.  In progress by Jay King. 
  4. 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. 

 

If anyone has questions about upcoming workdays, you should contact the GGRM’s Schellville Site Manager using the information provided below.

 

The next regularly scheduled Schellville workday will be held on Saturday June 11, 2022.

 

Regards,

 

Jim Prettyleaf

GGRM Schellville Site Manager

 

Email:         jim.prettyleaf@ggrm.org

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