This is a 98 year old exhaust fan from our 1923 Pullman DOVER HARBOR. The sits outside the car body in a garland box and comes on when a vent in DOVER HARBOR’s clerestory ceiling is opened. It’s original purpose was to pull out smoke from the men’s smoking lounge, which is what the lounge of the car was designated when first built. Recently we discovered that the fan was not working. Turns out a squirrel had been gnawing on the 34 Volt power DC supply wiring. which we quickly repaired for safety reasons (and fashioned a device to keep the squirrel away when the car is parked), The squirrel had also cremoved the brush covers and the brushes with it. Of course the parts we need are no longer mass manufactured. Solution: use a 3D printer to print new brush covers. Our DC motor electrical repair shop also fabricated new brushes, cleaned up the windings, and removed several layers of paint off the blades exposing beautiful brass blades..
So yes, even though we have an early 20th Century Pullman, sometimes we have to use state of the art techniques in battling the ravages of time, and even animals, to keep America’s Pullman on the main lines of America.