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Reply to "Restoring a Lionel PRR Prewar Steam Switcher & All Things Related to Keeping Them Running! Winter 2023"

Cosmetic Work- December 28-29, 2016

I went over my friend Bill's house to get some more work done on my switcher yesterday. Prior to that, I had ordered 8 handrail stanchions to replace 7 broken and 1 missing stanchions, from Harry Henning. I admit, I should have counted how many I needed since I lucked out and used every last one (Harry, if you are listening I could use 8 more of the short version handrail stanchions!).

Prior to all of this work, I had given the boiler shell another good cleaning, this time with Zud and a toothbrush which did a pretty good job of getting things mostly all cleaned up. Bill also used rubbing alcohol and Q-tips for the final cleaning. Judging by the dirt still being removed, both of these methods definitely helped to give the boiler shell a nice clean surface. 

So, here are some pictures...

Pulling out the broken stanchions that could be easily removed.

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Drilling out the ones that could not easily be twisted out. Prior to drilling, my friend Bill filed the broken piece as flush to the boiler as possible, then used a hole punch to help guide the drill bit to drill out the remainder of the stanchion (multiply that by 7!). 

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After the stanchions were installed, we opted for using a (Krylon) clear coat to balance out the work previously done on the cab roof with the boiler and the smoke box door. We used a turntable substitute/"Lazy Susan" to make the spraying process easier. I liked the clear coat idea since I really did not want to repaint everything and cover up all of the original paint and the original cab numbering. See what you think...

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Today (December 29th), I used 20 gauge galvanized steel wiring to replace the handrails. 

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While visiting, I was able to run the locomotive for the first time with its adopted tender...

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More work to be done in the new year includes replacing the broken marker lights, reattaching the rods that were temporarily removed and reattaching the boiler shell. 

Happy New Year everyone.

Tom 

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Last edited by PRR8976

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