SCRM is refurbishing a 1957 Fairbanks Morse H12-44 Santa Fe 560. Vandals broke out all the cab glass years ago so we are replacing all 9 pieces. But 4 of those 9 are the sliding side windows in the cab. The fixed windows in the cab all use standard gasket rubber with a key strip to hold everything tight. But the four sliding windows don’t use a key strip so the rubber gasket material has to be pried over the glass edge all along the outside of the glass. It’s almost impossible to do because the rubber shore rating makes it very difficult. The rubber gasket material is fresh from Power Rail and matches the profile shown in EMD’s Maintenance Instructions. Yes, it’s obvious that FM used the same sliding window supplier that EMD used. Does anyone know the trick for getting the rubber gasket edges pulled up and over the edge of the glass? It sounds easy but appears to be almost impossible if the glass is cut to fit the opening all the way around inside the gasket webs.

Also, now we know that all sliding window frames are not the same size. They look identical but careful measurements show that there can be many different sizes that look the same. We ordered glass to the dimensions given in the maintenance manual for 1956 FM windows and found they were too large for the 1957 frames. It was cheaper to by new glass than pay to have abrasive water jet cut them down by 1/4”. Grinding off that much glass would have taken the glass supplier many man hours. New glass cost $56 per panel. But we still don’t know the correct procedure for installing it into the window frame. Those aluminum window frames have welded corners and do not come apart. If they did come apart then the glass could slide down easily. A final solution is to cut the frame but we don’t want to do that unless we have no choice. Who is the expert that knows how to do this?

We solved the problem. Very precise stainless steel clips were fabricated to pull the edge of the rubber seal away from the glass channel. The clips were installed all around the window frame and the glass sat perfectly down into the open channel. Then the clips were removed and the outside foot of the rubber channel was then pushed back into the frame. It turned out to be an excellent way to do it.

Would love to see a photo or two of that process.

Howard P.