My finished pressure gauge...and it still works!

Might you need these, or are there others still on the car? They fit into an about six-inch long, open-top box on top of the truck frame, when the car leans to that side the frame of the car rides on them as it moves through curves. I saw this process firsthand in an ex-ICG yard in Normal IL (back in the days when trespassers were tolerated if they trusted you to be safe), the switchmen pointed out loaded covered hopper cars with the side bearings missing and instructed me to be very wary of walking near them anywhere with dips in the track (which the near-bankrupt ICG was full of) because the side bearings were the only thing keeping some cars from tipping over (which they occasionally did).

I think all the bearings are in the trucks. The only time she was tippy is when we just had the steel frame on the trucks. Not enough weight to keep the pivot in the truck. I do need a couple of Symington journal box covers that are missing.

So cool to see the detail coming back on this Estate Stove!

One more...

The plumbing going up into the cupola.... there should be a brake pipe pressure gauge, which you have... and another valve that allows the rear end crew, riding up in the cupola, to draw down brake pipe pressure. That's done to give a hint to the engineer up front that you want him to slow down.

I don't know for a fact that every railroad equipped their cars that way, but that elbow turned upwards makes me think it was.



You'd open that valve (which was graduated with notches~ at least the ones I've dealt with were like that) a notch or two and it would let out so many psi... and that would have the brakes setting on the train... engineer would notice his BP pressure dropping and would probably know the reason why his BP and react accordingly.

Thank you! Hope to get back to the brake plumbing this summer. Working on this stove and the steps right now.