Rockhill Furnace Work Session: July 15-16, 2006

The eighth Rockhill work session of 2006 was held Saturday and Sunday, July 15-16, 2006.

Those participating included Wade Woodcock, Dave Phillips, Shawn Stauffer, Lee Rainey, Ton Kozub, Barb Morgan, William Adams, John Morgan, Dave Dietz, Bob Harris, Andy Van Scyoc, Steve Jacobs, Charlie Wootton, Richard Schell and Chris Coleman.

Flatcar 108

The priority job for the weekend was to complete the rebuild of Flatcar 108. The 108 was known as the infamous "Tree Flatcar" the car on the coal dock track with trees growing through it. The railroad used the recently cleared (2004 and 2006) line south of the Coal Dock, currently used for speeder rides to switch our the flatcar car from the track along with the railroad's only four bay hopper and a good looking three bay hopper that were also in the string on the Coal Dock lead. The hoppers are intended for future restoration.

The flatcar is slated for maintenance-of-way uses and in the photo freights. It will be the only operational flatcar in its original configuration as a flatcar and not converted to passenger use. Prior to the work session the car had been power washed, primed and painted. The crew worked to plane down lumber, cut and notch it as needed and install it on the car. The previous experience of redecking flatcar 119 gave the crew valuable experience which was put to work on this car. During the course of the weekend the entire car was redecked, hold down strapping installed and all hardware was cleaned, painted and reinstalled.

Machine Shop

The job for the day on the shops was to complete painting on the north side of the Machine Shop. Previously the shop had been painted up to the eave line. During this session the gable was the focus of work.

The upper window received a finish paint job, glass scraping and a protective screen cover. The steam vent pipe was primed and painted. The missing roofing around the vent was recreated, installed and sealed to the pipe. The top of the pipe was sealed against the weather. Damaged or missing trim along the roof eave was recreated, primed, installed and painted. Various pipes exiting the building were primed and painted.

M-3 Shed

After dinner on Saturday, an "after hours" crew assembled to perform work on the stub switch and lead into the M-3 Shed (lean-to) on the Electrical Shop. This was in preparation for the return of the M-3 the next month. Two switch timbers were installed in the stub switch and two in the shed lead.

Hopper 802

Focus on the Hopper 802 was on assessment and disassembly of the trucks. The trucks currently under the car are not original to it and do not fit the bearings on the car bolster. An arch-bar truck from a sister car was removed by from one of the Carowinds "Circus Cars" in the Car Shop, and moved to the Paint Shop for evaluation. An original spreader wing, which attached to special plates bolted to the trucks, was test fitted and evaluated for replication. The center bearing and top bolster plate were removed to evaluate the structure of the truck.

Boiler House

The west wall of the Coal Bin was the last to not have received serious attention to the siding. That was remedied this session with the entire wall being resheathed with reproduction clapboard siding. The siding work included the reframing of what appeared to have been a window into the coal bin and a lower window area on the Boiler House. The siding work tied in the Boiler House work to the Machine Shop work for the first time. As the siding was recently sawn, it will not be painted until late in the year or early next year.

Chris Coleman
FEBT Webmaster