Rockhill Furnace Work Session: May 3-4, 2003

The second Rockhill work session of 2003 was held May 3^rd and 4^th. We had 19 volunteers on Saturday and 23 on Sunday, including several individuals participating for the first time. This means that Saturday set a new record for participation, but that record lasted only one day, as it was obviously broken immediately on Sunday! The whole crew is very impressed with how much we were able to accomplish with this large number of workers.

Those taking part included Bob Goldby, Bud Goldby, Wade Woodcock, Shawn Stauffer, Bill Adams, Bill Meltreder, Tom Kozub, Dick Ullery, Paul Chandeysson, Tom Diehl, Charlie Wootton, Larry Card, Pat Coleman, Chris Coleman, Dan Horting, Reggie Arford, Steve Jacobs, Cathy Ott, Al Smith, Jim Bacon, Vince Liberty, Wayne Campbell, Ben Sullivan and Lee Rainey.

Windows, Glass Work

Bud Goldby scrapes off old glazing compound.

The window crew consolidated all of our glass supplies into one location, in protective containers fabricated off-site by Bill Adams. A large amount of glass was cleaned and cut, and additional sashes were mended, painted, and glazed. The crew continued the work on the track side of the car shop, and will finish this major project in another day of work. The windows for the car shop doors were also prepared for remounting. Work was also begun in the area around the main shop entrance.

The glass crew turns out the clear stuff.

Bill Adams works on finish painting on the east car shop windows.

Ben Sullivan and Pat Coleman work to finish the remaining windows.

Charlie Wootton gives Dick Ullery some tips on cutting glass for the car shop Windows.

Al Smith, Bill Meltreder and Pat Coleman put some finishing touches on the car shop windows.

Machine Shop Floor

Reggie Arford (with barrow) and Tom Diehl (at right) haul out load after load of debris from under the floor. The generator room crew works away behind them.

With piles of old soil and rotten wood removed, the sleepers nears readiness for new flooring.

The excavation and clean-up around the damaged floor area was completed. During the rainy weather this past week, the railroad employees installed the new floor using the materials we provided.

Generator Room

The crew begins tearing off the many layers of roofing on the room.

Enormous progress was made on this major project. The remainder of the ceiling and the old roof were removed. (It was found that there were actually two roofs: a metal standing seam roof over an older roof of soldered tin squares.) Custom tapered reproduction rafters were cut on site and installed, and the new roof was sheathed and covered with tar paper. Soffits, trim, windows and painting will be done at a later session, and we eventually hope to install a standing seam metal roof.

Rot is evident in this view of the old roof boards. There was little that was salvagable.

Vince Liberty works on cleanup as we peer down into the room from the outside.

Jim Bacon and Tom Kozub finish up the deconstruction of the old roof joists.

The remains of the old roof set by the Blacksmiths Shop.

The crew formulates plans for roof reconstruction. There are always unexpected changes when you tear into an EBT structure.

Reconstruction begins as viewed out from the doorway to the boiler house.

Crew members finish up the new roof structure.

The new roof is on and roofing material is being added.

Car Shop

Larry Card and Dick Ullery finish up siding replacement on the Track 1 doors.

All carpenter work was completed on the doors and the entire side of the building was power washed, preparatory to painting at the next session.

Larry Card, Charlie Wootton and Dick Ullery cut and install finish trim on the north end of the car shop.

Woodwork is completed on the north end of the car shop.

Larry card works on power washing the north side of the car shop in preparation for painting.

Section House

The crew has pulled off some siding in preparation for erecting the temporary supports.

A pair of temporary braces (variously described as "saw horses" or "swing sets" due to the shape) were fabricated and installed to take the weight of the roof off the failing side sheathing. We can now commence the installation of a new front floor section and an internal skeleton to provide permanent roof support.

Shop Roof

We began the fabrication of additional roofing ladders which will be needed for the necessary roof work.

Track 3

Shawn Stauffer, Tom Diehl and Wade Woodcock excavate tie trenches, starting the Track 3 project.

The new ties required for the rehabilitation were installed between the Meadow Street crossing and the two hoppers currently sitting on this track. This used up all the ties on hand. A truckload of additional ties is expected in June.

Wade Woodcock holds up the remains of one of the removed ties. This was one of the most intact ties removed from the track.

With a number of trenches dug for ties, the crew transports the ties in on an EBT push cart and begins sliding them into place.

Having delivered the tie, Wade Woodcock and Reggie Arford stand back as Tom Diehl and Shawn Stauffer slide the tie in.

Boiler House

Recycled bricks being delivered will soon replaced these disintegrating ones in the boiler house Wall.

Through the excellent recruiting work of Jim Bacon, we have received an offer of help from Bill Horton, a retired mason in the Shade Gap area. Bill inspected the damaged brickwork and gave us a materials list. We acquired and delivered to the shop a first installment of the materials. (We can still use more 2 1/4 by 4 x 8 1/8 smooth-sided brick.)

Electrical Shop

Charlie Wootton created beautiful tongue-and-groove reproduction siding in his home shop to allow us to fabricate a replacement for the damaged door. A portion of the building was power-washed in preparation for repainting.

Supplies

The delivery driver for our Amish planing mill ended up in the hospital last weekend, causing a missed delivery of our millwork, but that material has now arrived. Our new scaffolding arrived and was immediately put to use on several different projects. It will be a major help during the coming season.

Next Session

The next work session will include all three days of Memorial Day weekend. Come for as much of the session as you can!

Lee Rainey,
Rockhill Restoration Coordinator

You can view other photos of this work session at Ben Sullivan's EBT Page and Bill Adams' EBT Pictorial

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