Cab Lining
Yesterday the process of lining the #4's cab with wood began! The roof bows to which the bead board is nailed to form the ceiling were fit and bolted into place. The rest of the wood framing to support the walls has begun to take shape as well. Soon all of this will be hidden by hundreds of feet of bead board, bringing the cab interior closer to the finish line!
In the interest of preventing future corrosion the interior metal surface of the cab was painted. Baldwin didn’t do this originally. The cab was painted when it was finished, after the wood lining was installed- so they wouldn’t have ever had the chance to! This small deviation from BLW practice will help to better preserve the cab and won’t be visible once the wood work is finished. However, the lighter green seen here is the same that we will use on the finished ceiling and walls.
The underlying wood supports and roof bows will be painted with a water-resistant coating before the bead board is put in. Longevity is the third goal in our approach to preserving #4, next to safety (Always first!) and historical accuracy/preserving the original fabric of the artifact. We want our restoration to last as long as possible so that future generations can enjoy the #4 and not have to redo substandard work!
We have retained every piece of original cab wood that was removed when we started. This has helped us greatly with making reproductions of certain pieces and making inferences as to how missing sections were made. Here, a couple pieces of 112 year old bead board are positioned over the new roof bows.
Additionally, the locomotive's ash pan was sent out so that a replacement could be fabricated.
The ash pan is an already harsh environment. Coal ash, particularly when wet, makes quick work of corroding steel as you can see. It’s not surprising what rough shape #4’s ash pan is in after sitting for so many years.
