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Shop work - Exclusive shots of R-9 #1689's truck swap


SubwayGuy

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Note: Special Thanks to Y2Julio and Joe for photos. Some of my own made their way in here too. Also a big thanks to both of them and BroadwayBuffer for helping out with the work.

 

Well, as many of you may know if you have come up to BERA, our R-9, #1689, is currently out of service due to motor problems and has been for most of the past two years now. Keeping it simple, one of the motors went bad, and needs replacement.

 

What you may not have known is that we are working hard to nurse the car back to good health with some TLC in the shops. We had decided some time ago that even though only one motor was bad, both should be replaced under the car because the one that had not failed was overdue for some inspection and minor maintenance. So keeping that in mind, in summer and fall/winter 2008, two spare R9 motors were reconditioned and stored away to be placed under the car. Since a car as heavy as the R9 (at about 85,000 lbs.) had never been lifted in the shop before, most of the spring and summer was spent on miscellaneous projects to get the shop ready for that, as well as supply the jacks with the proper power to lift the car.

 

On Sunday, everything was prepped, and it was time to begin the repair of the car, by taking the motor truck out from underneath the R-9, and replacing it with a dead "shop truck" to support the weight of the car in the meantime while we replaced the motors.

 

We got an early start. The R-9 was coupled iron to iron with our R-17, #6688, which a few from here have actually operated before under supervision. With the R-9 non operational, the R-17 supplied the power. Here's a look at the coupling from in tight. These are two H2 head couplers, an H2A on the R9 side (left) and an H2C on the R17 side (right).

 

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Using the R17, we operated the R9 into the barn. Once the R9 was in position, we did the "cut" between the two cars, which was complicated slightly by the variation in coupler type, but ultimately worked. The R9 was chocked against movement of course, while the R17 was backed off a safe distance, then operated out of the barn lead to clear track space for the crane car, Montreal W-3, which we'd use to tow the R9's truck clear of the car.

 

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And here is the crane that will tow the R9's truck away:

 

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Now it's time to raise the car on the jacks about halfway. They do their thing:

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Before we can remove the truck or raise the jacks the rest of the way, all of the connections under the car must be broken. There are several. It's tight under there but a handful of people can get in there and work away at it (faces hidden by me, these TA logos are not in the original photos). Of course, we block the car for safety before going under there.

 

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Now the truck is free standing and can be moved safely. The car is raised the rest of the way so that the center casting which seats the car will pass safely underneath the bottom of the electric portion of the coupler.

 

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It clears, and now can be moved out by hand. Once it is fully clear of the R9, the truck is safe to be towed out by the crane.

 

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At this point the crane tows the truck back out. The shop truck is now placed underneath the R9 in much the same way as we just took the R9's actual truck out...just in reverse this time of course. No need to make up the connections between the shop truck and the rest of the car since we aren't going to run motors, use the brakes, or connect the car to power while it is on the shop truck, which appears below in all its rusted glory.

 

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With the R9 now safely lowered onto the shop truck, the jacks are removed and the car is moved back out of the shop and into storage. The R9 truck returns to the shop once the barn track is clear, and is stored inside to be worked on at a future date.

 

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All in a day's work. Hope you enjoyed.

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Thanks guys...and INDman I won't know yet about Sunday...depends on how the weather holds up over the weekend as well as what the plan is at Seashore, but I'll let you know

 

Ah ok and the following weekend, Sunday might not be a great day. PM if you need the reason why.

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And the work on the R9 has just begun. In the up coming weeks, the motors will be swapped out and the car retrucked. Once that is done, the really fun part begins, testing the new motors.

 

You know it. The fun part will be when 1689 is plying the rails again. Since I know you can say "shameless joy ride"

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What else has to be done on 1689?

 

LOL A lot:

 

-Drag the two reconditioned motors out of storage...megger them, test them, make sure they are still OK.

-Remove the current motors out of the truck, which involves disassembling the retaining bracket, axle end caps, and using the crane since the hoist is not rated to lift a subway motor of 5,000 lbs.

-Clean and lubricate the truck, likely including lubricating the waste in the journal boxes (a good idea).

-Place the reconditioned motors into the truck, seating them carefully and lining up the bull and pinion gears and replacing the axle end caps and retaining bracket. Lubricate everything that's a moving part.

-Test the reconditioned truck on the welder at slow speed to make sure the motors are wired correctly and to make adjustments if needed

-Bring the R9 back into the shop and swap the reconditioned truck under the car. Connect all motor leads correctly. and put the shop truck back in storage. Do NOT yet move the car under its own power though.

-Finish lapping the slide valve of the UE-5 universal valve (brake valve) in the air brake shop so that it passes a test pattern (doesn't leak too much air)

-Put the UE-5 back under the car, and test its performance doing standing tests with the car chocked.

-Connect the #1 grid to the main motor circuit.

-Hope and pray that it runs with no problems.

 

Then by that time, the car will almost definitely need a new paint job and some "spruce up" work on the interior. :cool:

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