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Current ProjectsVisit our "From the Shop" blog for the latest happenings at the railroad. Flat Car Restoration Project(Note to readers: hundreds of hours of time by MCRR volunteers Griffin W, "CW" W, Jesse V, Dustin B, Brian B, Jennifer B, myself and a few others, completed this "impossible" task in a little less than two months. Various members, including Jesse V and Brian B also contributed to this report and the accompanying pictures at the bottom of this page -- Elliot the Web Lackey.) The restoration of the first of the two 6200 series flat cars owned by the Midwest Central Railroad is complete! One of the unique things about the Midwest Central Railroad is the wide variety of narrow guage equipment that is represented. Rolling stock has been gathered from all over the country. With Engine Number 16, the other side of the world (well, the other side of the Atlantic Ocean) is represented. When visiting the MCRR in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, one can see pieces of equipment from powered to non-powered rolling stock to numerous stationary items obtained from over a dozen railroads. The MCRR took possession of the flat cars in the early 80's. Since arriving at the shop, they sat on a special detached spur along the fence line west of the shop. The years of Iowa summers and winters were not kind to the flat cars (not that they were in such rosy shape to begin with). Most of the wood portions of the car had rotted away. Steel portions, not being painted since the 1930's, were in full rust regalia. Various parts were damaged during their original service and during transport to Mount Pleasant. The cars were often victims of our own cannibalization. After long discussions at several board meetings and lots of politicking during work weekends, the MCRR board voted to fund, with an upper limit, the renovation of two of the 6200 series Denver & Rio Grande Western flat cars, numbers 6216 and 6206. The restoration would include all new wood, preparation of steel, paint, and a thorough mechanical makeover. It must be said that more than one MCRR member doubted the project would come to fruition. Of the many hundreds of narrow gauge cars to operate in Colorado on the D&RGW, our two cars come from a group of only 20. Of those 20, about half survive. These cars were originally built entirely of wood but in a 1937 rebuilding they were upgraded with larger trucks, steel centersills, and bolsters from a cut down standard gauge car. In January, after getting the project funding, the first order of business was connecting the spur to the west shop track and moving the flat cars to a place where the renovation could be performed. The volunteers took advantage of a reasonable January day to move not only the flat cars, but the tender of Engine Number 1 off the spur. With the tender being at the southern most point of the spur, numerous free axles and trucks need shuffling. The tank car, long resting east of the South Station, was brought over to its new home on the west spur replacing the flat cars. A special moment for many of the staff was the mating of Engine Number 1 to its tender. Granted, looking at either Engine Number 1 or its tender would bring a question mark to the minds of most onlookers but the railroad buffs at the MCRR were quite pleased at the event. Following liberation of the two flat cars, 6216 was pushed into the shop to be stripped of its rotted wood, all of the fasteners and numerous bits of hardware. Disassembly always goes fast, especially when the years of outside storage did most of the work. The main slowdown was trying to preserve the square nuts and square-headed bolts throughout the structure. We wanted to keep as much of the hardware as possible. It is always pleasing to see how easy a 70+ year old nut spins when turned cherry red after a few seconds at the mercy of the acetylene torch's rosebud tip. The next chore was sandblasting years of rust off of the steel components. With the frame off the trucks and placed along side the center shop track, the MCRR's industrial sized sandblasting equipment made fast work of the mess. Inside the shop, the trucks were disassembled, inspected and repaired as necessary. Several of the journal boxes were badly damaged and needed large sections fabricated in order to be returned to service. Amazingly, none of the bearings needed to be re-poured, plus the axles' bearing surfaces were remarkably clean. In the middle of February, several members spent a 9 day week completing the cleanup, repairing, and painting of hundreds of components of the flat car. All the lumber for the car including the 35' long beams that make up the stringers were purchased from a mill in Minnesota. Six of these stringers run the length of the car in sizes as big as 5"x9". The stringers needed tenons cut to match the mortises which had been cut into the end beams. The knuckles were nowhere to be found. We located a good 3/4 size set in our outdoor parts warehouse (junk yard?). The knuckles had to have proper mounts fabricated and installed. The machining of the mount hardware and center frame required more time than expected because our cars use 3/4 size couplers instead of full size as on the D&RGW. It is amazing how many metal shavings can be created in a short time period. With all the preparation work complete, putting the jigsaw puzzle together was the next task. With "only" six stringers (lengthwise beams) and the two end beams, it turned out to be a real trick fitting these eight pieces together. the first end beam was no problem, as the long beams simple rotated as necessary to fit. The other end beam took some time due to the natural warping of the wood. With numerous winches, come-alongs, and pry bars, the second end beam was fastened in place and everyone took a moment to reflect on their accomplishment. After hundreds of hours of work, it finally looked like a flat car. Every section of steel and wood was painted. While the eventual exposed decking could be sealed or painted at our whim in the future, everything under the deck had only this chance to be protected from outside storage. The airless paint sprayer proved itself time and again. There was no trace of the original paint left on the car, requiring us to match the color from a set of scale model paints. Since the scale model paints were color-matched to the original car, we came "full circle." Before the decking was put in place, the air brakes were installed and checked for proper operation. With the chassis complete, the deck boards were installed. This may seem like a trivial task but consider this: numerous bolts which fastened the long beams to the steel frame had to be accommodated along the bottom of the deck boards. Every deck board has some sort of custom countersinking in order to lay flat. In keeping with the original construction, the deck boards were nailed, totalling over 500 nails driven home. There were lots of sore arms that day! Deck boards in place, air brakes working, bearings oiled, grab rails (grab irons?) installed, lift pin mechanisms installed, and the hand brake installed only one thing remained. Extensive lettering to document the work, exactly as the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway would have done was next. Just where does someone get stencils for lettering a early 20th century rail car? A little help from a computer and a period-typeface easily solved the problem. Many hours of hobby knife action later, the stencils were applied and the lettering painted onto the flat car. To celebrate the completion of the flat car, the staff hooked it to our diesel switch engine, Number 14, and tugged the flat car around the track stopping at North Station for a few extra pictures. The car was transformed from a dilapidated hulk to a fine museum piece in just a couple months time. The MCRR volunteers that made this happen, as well as all MCRR members can be proud of this fine piece. Next up: the restoration of car 6206. |
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Midwest Central Railroad Mount Pleasant, Iowa 52641 319−385−2912 (updated 03Apr08) |
