Bolsters, Part deux

Body bolsters are a lot of work, and they are heavy...very heavy actually.  Once they were completed they have to be fitted between the sides of the car body.  After the fitting and after all the holes were marked, the bolsters were removed and the drilling of the holes commenced.  There are six 3/4 inch mounting holes per bolster which attached the bolsters to the sides of the car body.  Once drilled the bolsters are once again fitted, nuts and bolts installed then removed.  The bolsters had to be removed once more so  I could install the upper center plate.  This job is easier to do with the bolster resting upside-down on a couple of saw horses. 

Oak blocks are used to mount the center plate to the car bolster.



The centre plate is installed to the car bolster, now the bolster is ready to install to the car body.

Body or Upper Bolster installed

The wooden block is basically a giant washer.  I imagine it would also dampen the sound and vibration between the trucks and car body.

Before the final tightening, Rhéaume checked to see if the car body was "square".  This is something I would not have thought of...but Rhéaume's years of experience working in a body shop straightening buses showed.  A chalk line down one side, a tug with a come-a-long here, then a chalk line down the opposite side, more pulling by the come-a-long results in one square car body.

Rear body bolster installed. Mike looks on as I take some critical measurements!  Photo: Bruce Dudley

Upper and Lower...bolsters I'm talking about, yes bolsters

The title sounds like something one might hear at their dentist's office.  I was going to make a reference to a railway ticket office but neither VIA nor Amtrak use the term "upper" or "lower" any longer, the younger readers may not have any idea about what I was making reference to.

Again I apologize for not have taken the time to photograph the riveting process when we fabricated the two upper bolsters.  These are relatively small projects but do take up a large percentage of the group to complete so finding someone "extra" to shoot the photographs becomes a problem.

**Thanks to Barry Thomas a photo was found of the group building one of the upper bolsters.**

 

Jim Stitt(gun), Jim O'Shea(bucking tool) and I (tongs) working on the upper bolster May 11/06. Photo: Barry Thomas

What is a body or upper bolster?  It is defined as,"the transverse members of the underframe over the trucks which transmits the loads carried by the longitudinal sills to the trucks through the center plates".

What is a truck bolster?  It is the cross beam in the center of the truck to which the lower center plate is fastened and on which the car body rests. This point is of course just below the upper or body bolster.

The top photo is a upper and lower bolster from a standard freight car in 1905.  696's bolsters are not exactly the same but close enough to illustrate a point.

Here is the completed upper bolster sitting upside down and beside the old one.

The new upper bolster was build in house by the 696 group while the lower bolster fabricated by an outside firm.  As you can see the original was cast while the new one is welded.

The original cast truck bolster....

....and the new fabricated truck bolster.

Erecting Sides

By 2006 one half of the lower body of 696 was nearing completion.  Two end stiffeners, two upper bolsters and the riveting still remained to be done. The lower body consisted of wood ribs fish-plated with 1/4 inch steel, two upper bolsters and the two stiffeners, one at each end of the car body.  These three components kept the two sides of the car equal distance from each other along the length of the car body.

In the beginning(2004)...the frame is laid out.  Photo: Barry Thomas Collection


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Each side is made up of an angle iron as a foundation, one 1/4 inch plate, a rub rail then a 1/16 inch plate.(yet to be added )



This was a new type of car construction (circa 1912); the car weight was reduced but its strength was retained. The weight was important factor since the track infrastructure was not ideal.

Building a 40 seat car by this method reduced the weight from 53,000 lbs to 44,000 lbs a difference of 4 1/2 tons.

Most of the important components will be hung from these ribs, the air compressor, resister grids, brake cylinder, line switch and air reservoirs.  These ribs also hold the car floor.

The stiffeners or end pieces complete the car body box.  They were the first pieces we started to rivet.  This was a good place to start because if they did not turn out perfectly, no problem they will not show when the car is complete.  These parts became the practice pieces for the next project, the upper bolsters.

The sides are up. (2006) Photo: Barry Thomas Collection

Getting Started

The first 3 or 4 Wednesdays I showed up was a bit of an eye-opener...here was this big rebuilding project yet there were very few tools to work with. The second thing that disturbed me was the lack of documentation, blue prints or any thing else to help in the rebuild.  Things had been started to be dismantled and forgotten about.  Some parts were tagged most of the others were not.  I remember find one "tagged" piece, the label read, "partly restored".  The label did not even say what the part was or what exactly was partly restored!  Yes,quite the mess...a sane man would have walked out.

But the thing was everyone was so nice and seemed to be able to work together.  Rhéaune was there, so was Mike Mueller who I had dealt with many times before at a local hobby shop, Peter Joyce who's son had worked for me.  There were new people like Jim Stitt, "Freddie the Welder" who was actually a retired Ottawa Police officer, George ------, Sebastien, Bruce Dudley, the father and son team of Gilles and Kevin Lafreniere and Barry Thomas, one of the "spark plugs" of the group.

In all it was an interesting bunch of individuals so I thought it would be a good group to stay involved with and help out.  The question was where would be the best place for me to help. The group was nowhere near the point of starting to rivet, (the prime reason for me joining the group) so I had to find something else to do.  Assessing the situation it looked like this group needed a mechanic. I would let the others handle what was needed above the floor of the car and I would preform the needed work below the floor.

No one in the group except  George, had any experience with railway appliances such as air brakes, so this is where I decided to apply myself.  George had already taken on a large project, this was the rebuilding of 696's two trucks.  George was set up on the east end of the building and I on the west, 696's car body separated the two of us.

My first workbench, I think someone in the group brought this old magazine stand in from their grandmother's rec room!  I told the guys I need something a little bit more substantial.

Next on my list "to do" list was find a work area, a place I could leave things and be certain they would not be disturbed. I also wanted a steel workbench. This was one of the things that impressed me about this group, you just had to ask and you received. Within a week or two Mike, Rhéaume and Jim built for me a steel workbench complete with a 4 inch vise.  Now I had a place to park my hat.

My new workbench, I just have to install the vise and I'm ready to go, thank-you Mike,Jim and Rhéaume.

How one thing leads to another....

How does one get involved with these kinds of efforts?  One generally does not get up in the morning and say,"I think I'll go and  restore a streetcar today."  The reality is... these things just tend to sneak up on you. This certainly was true in my case.

Here is the story of my involvement in the 696 project but first a little background.  I have had a love for ground transportation since I was a kid.  I still remember steam and remember riding Ottawa streetcars out to Britannia Beach.  The time period would have been between 1958 to 1960 thereby making me about four to five years old.   Of course I was too young picked up on the suttle details and other differences of what I saw or rode, all I knew was... I liked it! 

My interest in trains as well as trucks continued through the sixties and seventies.  Also my love of travel continued to developed.   Let me rephrase the last sentence, the means of how I traveled developed, the love of travel remained at the same high level.  Walking turned to cycling, which turned into a driver's licence when I was sixteen.  Not only did I get a license but I went for the "commercial" rather than just the common "operator" license.  Back in 1971 the Province of Ontario required anyone who got paid to drive, to have a "commercial" license.

My first summer job was at an Ottawa moving company, my first truck was a 1966 Ford pickup with a steel box.  The nice thing about the job was you got to travel to many different places on a daily basis and received money to do so. 

The five years of high school passed quickly and then it was off to college.  In those years young people studied what they wanted....not necessarily what was practical.  Girls took nursing or teaching despite there being  no jobs in those fields.  I took museum technology where the jobs were even fewer.  I did get to work at the National Museum of Science and Technology for two summers plus two three month terms.  I was lucky enough to work on CPR 1057, CPR 1201 plus help restore a 50T, two truck, Shay locomotive.  I  also went for a job interview in Moose Jaw, the director of that museum also was the one who checked the coats in,  needless to say there weren't any positions there to be had.

I never quit the moving company, they were quite happy to give me more hours of employment.  I enjoyed getting paid to travel.  The moving business unlike freight transport gives you more time to do personal things when you are on the road.  I got to see many museums and participate in other rail related activities.  I bought my own trucks, operated them and maintained them, these experiences do come in handy when one ends up restoring a streetcar!

Fast forward to November 24,2005, I'm still at the same moving company but luckily(???) in management.  Earlier that month my friend Bill Linley of Halifax,NS asked me if I could pick him up at Ottawa Union Station to which I replied,"not a problem".  After exchanging pleasantries with Bill, he asked if we could stop by OC Transpo's St  Laurent garage.  He had to forward some paperwork to a fellow regarding the ownership of an old Ottawa streetcar.

At the garage we were greeted by the supervisor of the body shop, Rhéaume Laplante.  Mr. Laplante is very easy going fellow and I quickly felt at ease talking "shop" with him.  Would we like to see the car, he asked.  "Sure", Bill and I replied.

Below is what I saw that November day.

As you can see, there is lots to be done.  In the back ground is the old car, in the foreground the frame of the new car has just been started, the side sills  are in place along with the wooden ribs fish-plated with 1/4 inch steel plate. One half of the new side panel with the rub rail bolted temporarily bolted, rests across the ribs. In effect the restoration had just started.

Next thing the conversation turned to bodywork and hot riveting, Rhéaume had just done cold riveting,  I had done a little hot riveting at the museum and offer to come in and help out. Rhéaume handed me a cold 5/8 rivet as a souvenir to take with me but I think he already knew I was hooked and would be back.

A Short History

I decided to write this blog so I would have a small journal on the rebuilding of an Ottawa street car I somehow got involved in.  Over the pass number years, people have come to and gone from Building 696  located at OC Transpo's St. Laurent garage. They all came to help out, however some did not stay long enough for me to get to know their name let alone remember them.  For this reason I thought I  had better take a few notes in order to keep their memory of alive, document the progress of the streetcar's rebuild and to better my poor writing skills.

The group generally comes together for 2 to 3 hours of work every Wednesday evening.  Not a great deal of time to get much accomplished...however progress is slowly being made.

A very large percentage of the members are transit enthusiast who know a great deal about streetcars and buses.  One member even operated Ottawa streetcars for three years before leaving the Ottawa Transportation Commission for other endeavours.  I know very little about streetcars or street car systems but I do enjoy riding on them.  My forte would be railways, with great interest in their passenger services past and present.  I also enjoy the mechanical aspect of railroading hence my involvement in the 696 project.

The first group of entries that I will present will bring the story up to the present.  Initially, photos will be few as it is hard to set up work projects and take photographs at the same time.  Once I'm up to date with the story, I will make sure that I take the time to shoot photos of the project's progress.  Now let the story begin.

Ottawa Transportation Commission 696 started life as Ottawa Electric Railway car 633 when it emerged from Ottawa Car Company in 1917.

How 696 looked as built in 1917.  At the time she was numbered 633.

A decade later 633 was rebuilt and renumbered to 696. This rebuild included lengthening the car from 45 1/4' to 49 1/2'. The added length was to the front vestibule, the car body stayed the same at 33'.

696 was retired 1958.  A few years later 696 ended up at the Canadian Railway Museum (Exporail) in Delson,QC.  Unfortunately the car was stored outside with little protection from the riggers of the Canadian climate.  In 1989 the car returned to Ottawa and was placed in storage at OC Transpo with the hope of being restored to operating condition.