Project Updates – 1/12/2020

This weekend saw some great progress with the project growing ever closer to completion. Throughout the week, Steve worked on constructing the East end roof walk, which fully completes that end of the car. Steve and others began prepping the material for the long, West end walk, and when I left yesterday, that material was being painted.

Friday saw the installation of the name boards on the North side of the car and Saturday, the South side name boards went on the car. While this was happening, Jeremy and Jim took a wire wheel and cleaned all four truck frames in preparation of a coat of paint. Diane spent her time inside cleaning and beginning to paint the insides of the closets. Rob was out on Saturday and helped with various projects on the car as well.

Sunday saw Chris and I starting the process of lettering the sides of the car. Jenna used the lettering schematic I received and made wonderful stencils that were exact to the dimensions needed for the car. Once applied, we used a high quality lettering paint and began the process of painting each letter. We were finished by noon and went to lunch which gave the paint enough time to set so we could pull the vinyl away and have clean lines. This new type of vinyl the Chris decided to use left very nice clean and crisp lines that will take little, if any touch up.

With all of this excitement happening around the project, Kelly and I have discussed an “unveiling” date some time towards the end of the month. Of course, this can be flexible depending on weather and where we are with the car, however, I believe we are on target for that date. With this in mind, Kelly has asked that our group/crew not post any pictures of the progress on social media until that time. We are all excited and want to share but we want the “shock factor” to be strong when we unveil to the general public and railfan community. With this being said, please know that it is fine to take pictures for personal use. At the unveiling,our goal is to snap some great pictures and videos to showcase our efforts. As details emerge, I will keep all of you aware.

The plan for this week is to have the roof walkway on the West side completed. Steve has much of the material prepped, so this should be just a matter of installation on the roof. Rich plans to be out Friday and Saturday to continue work on the windows and frames, while Chris and I plan to finish the lettering project on Saturday beginning around 10 AM.

With all of this being said, our to-do list is becoming shorter by the moment. Here is the last of the projects slated for completion:

– Finish West roof walk

– Finish framing windows

– Finish lettering

– Finish closet interior painting

– Touch up paint as needed

– Paint truck frames

Thank you all for your continued support and help in the completion of this project. Hard to believe where we started and where we were even just a year ago. Hope to see you out at some point to lend a hand in the final touches of the project!

DJ