Thursday, July 29, 2010

Ready for Service

The main priority today was to replace the governor on the 309; I was unable to adjust it, and as a result the compressor was cycling on and off too rapidly. I was unable to get one from storage, so I decided to test the one that came with the 36. It had been replaced with another governor of an unfamiliar type, which had evidently had an electrical failure. In any case, I tested the J governor in the shop. It leaks, but not as badly as the one on the 309, and I was able to adjust it properly to reasonable limits, about 105/80. After some work, it was installed in the 309 and tested. The 308 and 309 are now ready for service this weekend.

I was glad to observe that we've had several people sign up, so we should have full crews for both days. Sunday will be the Transport Extravaganza, of course; don't miss it!



Then I spent a couple of hours working on the 321's tarp again. It seems to be holding up OK; I always climb a nearby boxcar to check out the top.

I applied several more of Joel's clamps, as seen here. I'm working my way around the east end of the car. I should be able to finish it next time.



We had bought a tarp for this car which was much too large, basically as a science experiment that didn't work out too well. I'm trimming the tarp as I go along to fit the sides, and this works much better.





"Does this tarp make me look fat?"

3 comments:

David Wilkins said...

So I'm confused a bit. Did the 36 have a J governor? Had it been bypassed with a different unit? Was this a modern unit, or another type of governor?

Randall Hicks said...

Well, I'm confused too. I'm sure the J was used at the end of service, and it still works on 600V, so it was probably replaced due to the leak. The replacement unit had an electrical failure (on 750, I suppose) and started a fire, which was quickly put out. It's a type I've never seen before, and was attached with a flexible air hose.

Bruce Duensing said...

The car resembles a overgrown Twinkie. The more I read the more I respect the patience required to do this sort of work. I am a retired maintenance manager, and you folks are simply amazing.