Working On Roofs

I started today by doing more work on the roof of the 757 - my part of this project is nearing completion. The rotten part of the trolley board shown earlier was cut away, and I trimmed the end so the new piece can be lapped in. Fortunately, the saddles are in very good condition, and the new wood will have a solid foundation.

You might notice that I needed to get the trolley pole out of my way. The base has a latch for holding the pole in the horizontal position, so it can easily be swung over to the side, after carefully removing the rope from the retriever.

I then tacked down more of the new tar paper. This isn't quite finished, since I need more tacks, but it will be soon. Now it only needs to get a coat or two of liquid roof tar/sealant.

I then worked more on the 321. Mostly this involved cutting out and installing a sister for one of the carlines on the end of the roof, seen here. It's attached with glue and carriage bolts, visible in the picture. This is actually more work than just replacing the carline, so I may not do too much more sistering on this part of the roof.

And I checked all traction motors on the blue cars, after their latest round of revenue service. Everything looks fine, so we're ready for operation in September. Ugh, what an annoying job. And I spent two or three hours straightening and sorting tools and parts in the 321.

Finally, for this week's view of the campus scenery, we feature the Goddess of IRM. I don't think she has an official name, so I prefer to worship her as Athena, the Goddess of Heroic Endeavors. I would have liked to sacrifice a bullock to Athena as part of the 309 dedication, but was sure they wouldn't let me. So I hope she was satisfied with an offering of chocolate cake instead.