First Serious Setback

While the wheels are in various stages of reconstruction, I decided to partially disassemble the wagon from it's undercarriage.  The undercarriage was painted red along with the attached stepup.  I thought I'd get a jump start on painting this evening.  My cousin's wagon is assembled identically to mine.  There are individually bent aluminum braces that are held on with brass screws.  It's a tight fit to loosen the screws, but with care and a set of jeweler's screwdrivers, it can be done. The wagon compartment slides down through angled wooden uprights at each of the four corners of the undercarriage.

I slipped off the first set of screws on the braces from the uprights.  I also removed the splash boards over the wheels.  Even tough these are notched to allow the uprights to slide through, the splashboards are very thin and to avoid breaking them, I removed them and placed them in sealed bags, labeled with their position.  Everything I removed got "bagged and tagged" to make sure it all goes back in the same spot, including the screws.  The braces are held to the undercarriage with brass screws as well, but because of the curvature of the aluminum braces, it's hard to get in even with a jeweler's screwdriver.

One of the uprights fell off the undercarriage before I got much futher.  I didn't hear a crack, but the peg portion of the upright was still in the undercarriage as the upright fell to the floor.  Most of the break surface looks old and darker in color.  There is a small amount of fresh wood showing at the center of the break, so it looks like it mostly broke a while ago from age and I just finished the job by disturbing it.  As you can see from the photo, the broken upright is the right rear.

In addition to that, the front right upright is loose in it's receiving hole.  That will have to be glued in place as well before I go any further.  I am not making accusations, but since both the broken and loose uprights are on the same side, it's possible that somewhere along the way, it was bumped from that side.  It is old, the pieces small, and therefore, fragile.  Or, more likely, it's coincidental.  In any case, I am heartbroken and worried.  It requires serious work and I don't want to damage it irreparably.

Because the broken upright is angled, but the peg is perpendicular to the undercarriage, it may be difficult to repair.  I am considering boring a small hole through the center of the peg and into the upright to insert an "inner peg" to join the two.  Glue will then hold it in place as well as secure the two broken surfaces to each other.  But I am going to take a lot of time to figure out the best way to approach this.  So repainting the undercarriage will have to be put on hold.  No more work on anything but the wheels so it gives me time to think this repair job through.