Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Trustees' Report June 2024

Look what happened this month

8042

With the help of Louie Mariano the new baseboards were painted.  This week I located the original baseboards and began laying out the location of the heaters and conduits for the wiring.  I hope to get started making additional wall frames and perhaps reusing some of the original pieces of wood.  The car spent many years out in the weather an as a result all of the baseboard panels badly warped.

 

1713

The “TERRIBLE TROLLEY” made a Great Leap Forward with Michael, Howard and even Kevin pitching in to cut, weld, attach and install the way to complete the preparation for painting, which will hopefully get started next month.

June 23 CJ Bick held the skirt forward of the center doors in place while Michael clamped it in place in preparation for welding.  The skirt was removed to facilitated work on the line switch and for final
welding of the center door sill.  

 

June 20 was the big day when Kevin and Michael completed the alignment of the center door step and then installed the overhauled Motor Generator set into the completely reconstructed enclosure rebuilt by Michael and beautifully painted by Howard, who can be seen on his last day of painting, seated on the other side of the car.  Thanks to Howard, Mark Hall and Michael’s parents for the very thorough job paint the entire underframe of the car!

Lastly no report on the TT would be complete without a nod to Fred Cooley for the patient careful wiring and component repair work he has undertaken on 1713.  I caught this under the car view of Fred on June 19, sorting out the new connections to the line switch.

The Sunday work session coincided with Louie Mariano’s graduation party which was held at the new Welcome and Education Center.  Congratulations to Louie as well as Jack Jost and Dom Bodek our 2024 grads all celebrating their achievement with us PTM.

For the event June 23, Louie made custom signs for West Penn 832.  Louie has made several similar and much needed signs for 832 and 4145

June 14 I attended the dedication for Barry Stout Park.
and captured the moment that the dedication plaque was unveiled. 

Those who remember our Santa Claus Caboose will be happy to see it is being well taken care of by our friends a Rivers of Steel at Carrie Furnace.


Michael mentioned our road trip to Akron to obtain the now out of production rubber flooring from the now defunct factory.  


June 8 it was my pleasure to narrate the parades of trolleys on our beautiful new street.  The most beautiful part of this is the stunning photos taken by Beau Miller using his drone.  Below are a couple samples!





We also appreciate the hard work of our friends from the East Penn Traction Club who bring their modules to our Western Penn Meeting.
 
June 5 was the presentation of 1138 after years of hard work.
The previous night I had lots of help installing the advertising cards chosen from the large library of scans.
Here's the before and afterfor the builder decal.  Above is what graced the panel above the rear windows for many years.  Below is the decal made from the computer file I created from a DC Transit center door engine cover donated by our good friend Bill Greenwood.
Many years ago I was told that Pittsburgh's original PCCs did not have a builders plate and instead the 1100s had a decal above the rear windo

I did 2 Op4'nHr rides this month.  Tate Fulton from Washington PA brought his family, including his son, the Chartiers Houston art teacher who painted our popular "Swiss Cheese" board where visitors could take a family photo.
 

 
 
 
On May 31 it was my pleasure to meet Dr. Dale Fruman...Bill Fronczek's lab partner from Med School.
Dale's wife surprised him with an Op4'nHr.

Finally, here's Mister 104 smiling for the camera during the second parade...What a Guy!

October-December 2025 Photo Report

I am putting together photos and commentary showing happenings at PTM.  The photos upload slowly while the commentary is even slower.  Check...