12-07-2013, 10:31 PM
I was at the ARHS convention today and ran into a man by the name of Kermit Geary. He is an avid rail photographer and historian. Last year he was at Steamtown on the day that we dropped the rear truck of F-3 #664 for cleaning and reinstalled it. During his visit he took a series of photos of the work that we did that day, I asked him for permission to post them here and here they are. All these pictures are from Kermit's collection and I thank him for the opportunity to share them with you.
Here we are with the truck spotted on the drop table after cleaning out the #3 traction motor (it's the one on the far side of the truck). Soon we will lower it down into the pit and position it under the old EMD. That's me in the white hat and overalls.
This shot is of us taking pictures of the underside of the F-3 with our cell phones. Oh,, and we are spotting the truck under the unit.
Now we are going over our next move before we do it. It's a good idea in a case like this when you're dealing with large heavy things that are moving around in tight spaces.
Here I am taking a little nap in-between the rear truck and the under frame of the diesel.
Now we are doing the hardest part of the entire project, reattaching the traction motor cables on the #3 motor. They fit together like a set of glad hands, but you have to beat them together with a hammer. Then an insulating sleeve slides over them and they are secured to the frame by a bracket. the leads on the #4 motor (also on that truck) are a bit longer and that makes them easier to install. Not so on this one.
And I am sure that I have more hair than what shows up in that last photo.. It must be some kind of trick lighting. 
It was a hot, sticky day, and we did a very messy job. It was well worth it, getting all that old lube oil out of the #3 motor improved the traction effort greatly on 664. Now we will soon be doing very similar work on the B-unit, 664-b will most likely be it's number. But, that won't be for a while.
I just want to thank Mr. Geary for the photos. They show what most Rail fans never get to see.
Here we are with the truck spotted on the drop table after cleaning out the #3 traction motor (it's the one on the far side of the truck). Soon we will lower it down into the pit and position it under the old EMD. That's me in the white hat and overalls.
This shot is of us taking pictures of the underside of the F-3 with our cell phones. Oh,, and we are spotting the truck under the unit.
Now we are going over our next move before we do it. It's a good idea in a case like this when you're dealing with large heavy things that are moving around in tight spaces.
Here I am taking a little nap in-between the rear truck and the under frame of the diesel.
Now we are doing the hardest part of the entire project, reattaching the traction motor cables on the #3 motor. They fit together like a set of glad hands, but you have to beat them together with a hammer. Then an insulating sleeve slides over them and they are secured to the frame by a bracket. the leads on the #4 motor (also on that truck) are a bit longer and that makes them easier to install. Not so on this one.
It was a hot, sticky day, and we did a very messy job. It was well worth it, getting all that old lube oil out of the #3 motor improved the traction effort greatly on 664. Now we will soon be doing very similar work on the B-unit, 664-b will most likely be it's number. But, that won't be for a while.
I just want to thank Mr. Geary for the photos. They show what most Rail fans never get to see.
My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew