Not Quite According To Plan

The 308 and 309 were scheduled for operation today, but it was raining when I arrived, and continued dark and cloudy for most of the day, so the 714 was used instead. I let Ron Seavers and Joel Ahrendt run the car, while I mostly worked in Barn 4 cleaning up stuff. The sun came out about 3pm, but by then it wasn't worth it to change out. Typically on such days we have fewer visitors, so a single car is sufficient. I would have liked to run the blue cars, but they just cannot be run if there's any chance of rain. Tomorrow will probably be fine.

I also worked on the roof of the 321 some more. The #2 end is worse than I thought. Some of this patch work must have been done at North Chicago - I can't believe Wheaton Shops would do work like this. Some of the carlines are missing parts, and were sistered, but the sisters are just junk softwood and were attached with a nail or two (outlined in yellow on the left). And the dutchmen are no better. I'm probably going to sister many of the carlines along the roof, but I'll use good hardwood, glue, and carriage bolts. I also noticed that the two sides of the upper roof where it arches down to the end are constructed in a completely different manner. I'll have to check the other end to try to figure out what's correct. So wish me luck!

News update: They've started stockpiling the materials for Barn 11. When construction actually starts, we'll try to bring it to you here first!