Video of early shakedown run

Last month the car was operated on its own, for the purpose of turning the car around and doing testing of the propulsion system and brakes.

A video of excellent quality was captured, and is located here.

Overhauling the brakes

Let's review some earlier work. Many of the components of 1005's brake system have enjoyed an overhaul. Now we get a glimpse of the teardown of the brake cylinder. No, it hasn't been since 1956. You can see in the picture below, the innards of the cylinder.

Center is the piston itself, which moves inside the housing. The plate above it clamps a large rubber gasket. You can see the gasket on the edge of the picture being held by a volunteer.

Upper left is the non-pressure head of the cylinder, also viewable on the left side of the piston in the picture above. As you can see, it guides the piston and gives the spring a place to nest. The spring is a return spring, which assures the piston returns to its seat when pressure is released. Among other benefits, this also protects the piston shaft from the weather.

A hand powered forklift was used to lower the relevant sections from the car - as they are heavy. Parts were cleaned and painted, gasket renewed, and reassembled and returned to service.