I stumbled across this interesting possibility: 3D-printing with metalized plastics by Shapeways. It could offer an alternative to expensive pattern making, casting and machining to duplicate unobtainable interior hardware.
| Great Northern 1146 and 454-A sunning in the yard. 454-A was displayed at the Bandana Square shopping center, which was the renovated Northern Pacific car shops, thus the NP paint job. |
I volunteered to lead the restoration of MTM's GN buffet-lounge-observation car 1084 "Twin Ports". For baseboard heat on that car, we purchased a diesel-fired boiler/pump unit from Webasto. This is the supplier of hot water-loop heaters for Metro Transit's busses. The particular model we bought is larger, being sized for rail cars. We believe we can reuse the existing Vapor baseboard radiation by simply removing the thermostatic element from inside the valve at the end of the radiation assembly, so that the liquid can flow freely, and tying both the supply and drain pipes to the Webasto unit. It will use the same fuel tank as the Stadco Diesel generator and we will arrange it to plug into a 120 vac, 15-amp extension cord for cold-weather layover. We got the idea from the New York Central "Hickory Creek".
GN 1084 and 1146 use the same Peacock 800-RG hand brake. Manufacturer Ellcon-National, part of Faivley Transport, kindly sent me this lubrication diagram C-33962 Rev A. The "Cato Code 5226 Grease" specified does not come up in Google. I'm not sure what its equivalent would be today. They also sent an Instruction 128 for inspection of locomotive hand brakes, which I cannot currently find in their tech pubs. The American Public Transit Association "APTA" also provides general instruction APTA PR-IM-S-004-98.
To their inspection instructions, I will add some points I learned on my own:
 | The existing Peacock 800-RG hand brake in 1146. |
Reader David Kudrav found a source for hardware which I was not aware of: James L. Howard & Company. This should be useful: They can supply the door pulls of which I need two, but have not been able to find, for $55 each.
 | Stumbled upon another FRA glazing vendor. |
 | Stumbled upon another custom aluminum extrusion company. |
1146 needs restroom door hinges. I did some research on the supplier, the Loeffelholz Co. Their factory was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founder Adam Loeffelholz started out in 1856 and the business continued until 1961. They were located on the corner of Oregon and Clinton streets, adjacent to the tracks of the Milwaukee Road.
The American Plywood Association has a page of helpful builder tips which provide good information for prevention of buckling and squeaking of plywood floors, as well as proper storage and handling of plywood prior to installation. This will be useful, as I am leaning towards a plywood floor.
I happened across a wheel and axle vendor, ORX, whose website says they will do heavy-rail transit and historic cars. They are located in Tipton Pennsylvania off Interstate 99, near Altoona.
MTM is restoring GN Buffet-Parlor-Obs 1084 "Twin Ports", and I donated a vestibule step tread. It ended up being the middle step on the BR corner. It's easy to spot because 1084's steps are roughly an inch and a half narrower. The punched tread therefore runs all the way to the right edge where it was cut off.
 | Had another dinner in the diner. Here's the kitchen crew and their groupies. |
 | Museum, church people and my Lady Conseveller Torrance enjoying the food. |
 | Also in the diner. Terry Didion on the left actually worked in my car's kitchen - a college job in the early 60's. His memories are elsewhere on this site. |
 | Back in the kitchen. |
 | My sister and brother-in-law have a Hamilton Beach malt mixer. A unit similar to this was original equipment in the kitchen. |
I sold ten light fixture lenses! In other news I upgraded the software tools I use to maintain this website to: Java 1.7.0_45 32-bit, Eclipse Kepler 4.3.1 32-bit and FileZilla 3.7.3 on Windows 8.1 64-bit.
