Work on 73 & 8042

 Work on Red Arrow center door #73
Kicks into Gear

McHugh truck turning from Haverford Avenue to 59th Street near Callowhill Depot
 

  

 

Michael works to remove upper sash from 73 that are badly dry rotted.

At the top of the page: Red Arrow 73 seen in 1976 being delivered to city division for ill-fated Bicentenial operation at Independence Hall. Work has started to renovate and reactivate this car for wheelchair guests at the Museum. 

 

The work on 73 has been progressing nicely with Michael Buchta spending considerable time removing the sash including the lift and stationary arched sash.  Saturday December 19 Michael was assisted by Operator regular CJ Bick.  Together they made a big effort to scraped paint and remove sash.  They also got out the needle gun and chipped all the paint off of the #2 end anti-climber.

 

In December Keith Bray inspected the car and removed samples of tack strip and roof sheathing.  He also discussed the fabrication of arched windows that would make their construction more robust.  The center door cars did not survive with these windows intact so, there were no samples of their original construction.  Building a rectangular frame with curved fillers to make the arch is likely the way they were originally constructed.

 

Riveting 8042 on the rear of the car 12-18-20

Friday December 18 we assembled a crew that included Ralph, Sarah, Michael and Ayden who worked with Keith Bray to perform riveting of the new steel sheets on the rear of Philadelphia 8042.