Sacramento Northern Birney Safety Car 62 Restoration

RyanBlake · **Posted:** Wed Nov 02, 2016 11:51 pm

Hello all,

For the last 3 weeks I have been Helping restore the Sacramento Northern Birney Safety Car 62 at the Western Railway Museum. We plan to get this car back in service after being unused for a few years now. We plan on rebuilding the suspension, roof, motors and giving it a more accurate paint scheme. More Historic info here: http://www.wrm.org/downloads/wrm-fundra ... summer.pdf

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Here I show us removing the tar the SN applied to the truck

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Instead of tar we will be just painting it black

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The Newly painted truck looking real good after 3 weeks of prep work.

More parts of the suspension are being worked on now and the motors will be sent out to be rebuilt soon.

I will try to update this when progress happens. Also this project cant be done without donations! We are already at 78% of our fundraising goal. You can donate here: http://www.wrm.org/support/donate

JimBoylan · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2016 1:43 pm

Did that car also have 3rd rail shoes?

RyanBlake · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2016 2:37 pm

No, I don't believe it ever did.

Randy Hees · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2016 3:07 pm

SN had temporary 3rd rail shoes that could mounted to the car, to allow trips from Marysville/Yuba City to Chico where the shops were located.

There are stories about what a wild ride it was on the main line at speed (I think a Birney has a top speed of about 28 mph) With their 4 wheel, single truck, Birneys were known to "hunt" especially at speed.

Randy

RyanBlake · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2016 5:10 pm

I heard a story that they would tie down the controller and sit in the middle of the car because it was to bouncy on the ends when at speed on the mainline.

crij · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 12:15 am **Posts:** 585

What is the story with shat looks like it may be a rack and pinion brake cylinder (cylinder on 2X4 with small rubber hose running over the near frame) in the first few photos. Then it looks like there are shock absorber like snubbers next to the far frame.

Thanks,
Rich C.

Gord M · **Joined:** Mon Sep 06, 2010 10:51 pm **Posts:** 104

Looks like an automatic slack adjuster, not a type I am familiar with, though. Most I've seen or worked on are Westinginghouse E or J types.

Gord M

Al Stangenberger · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 12:59 pm **Posts:** 650

Gord is right, it's an automatic slack adjuster.

It is a J.G. Brill slack adjuster, not a Westinghouse.

I can't find the model number or other information right now.

I just tested it yesterday, and it works.

Rich:

The "snubbers" are brake release springs. They have tapered windings on each end to enclose the tapered endings of the rods which attach the spring to the brake beam and to the frame of the truck (where the adjusting nuts are located). (One spring, visible in Ryan's top photo, is a replacement which does not use tapered windings to enclose its end hardware)

The truck has seen a lot of repairs in its service life.

Bob Davis · **Joined:** Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:25 am **Posts:** 1025

It's interesting to note how many Birney cars (and similar models), which were built for light weight and low cost, and were, in some cases, the last cars bought before their streetcar lines were replaced by buses, have survived into the 21st Century. According to the Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars website, 82 still exist, with 11 reported to be in "operable" condition, and 7 are in process of restoration.