Sunday, October 25, 2009

Autumn at IRM

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, at least in the afternoon. But my camera battery died, so I don't have any pictures of fall color on the property. Maybe next time. The 714 and 3142 were in service, and by the time I left, the actors were busily preparing for the evening's Terror trains.

I removed some more tools from the 321 and made sure nothing will fall over when the car is jacked up for the truck swap. I also removed the brake hoses, since they'll be in the way. Stan and I went out into the field and looked at the trucks. One of the 318 trucks is on track in Yard 14 and easily accessible, but the other is stuck in the middle of a swamp in the material yard. Since it continues to rain, we have no feasible way to extract it. But we'll find something to put under the 321. The tarp has been ordered and should arrive Monday. And I did some more straightening and rearranging inside the IT cars.

Next weekend several of us will be traveling to Cleveland to inspect the cars, collect all the spare parts our cars need, and prepare for the move. I'll make sure my camera is working by then!

But I still need a picture. So a propos of nothing, here's a mechanical marvel: part of a switch on the Pike's Peak Cog Railroad.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Randy - Can you fill us out of state guys in on what the plan is for the truck swap? Are the trucks and motors from the 321 going under the 319? If so, what is the reason for the swap? Bad motors on the 319?

Cheers,
Randy in North Carolina

Randall Hicks said...

Sure, Randy old buddy!

I think I mentioned this before, but the 319 is known to have at least one bad motor, and there may be other problems, such as armature bearings. So when the 319's body arrives, it will be put on the 321's trucks, which are known to be good. The 321 will be put on a 318 truck and probably a 4000 truck, mainly because one of the 318 trucks is currently in an inaccessible swamp. Sorry.