The best laid plans...

Well today didn't quite go according to plan, though I was able to get a fair amount of work done for the time I spent out at the museum. I didn't get out to Union until after 3pm, and the first order of business was moving the recently-painted roof boards from out in Barn 4 over to the 205. I did this, laying them out on the sidewalk next to the car in the most desirable order for installation. The other high-priority item was installing the car's windows to close it up for the winter. I did this as well; it's great to have the replacement brass end windows in place (below left) and the new pane of glass for the closed-off side door at the southwest corner of the car fit perfectly (see below right - the new pane is the one with the camera flash reflection).



What's not obvious from these photos is that by the time I was finishing up this job, I was working by Braille since the lights in Barn 8 don't actually have a switch! They're solely operated by timer, and apparently the timer wasn't reset when Daylight Savings Time ended - so it got pretty dark in Barn 8 pretty early. Oh well... at this point I went back to the shop and started painting the trolley bases for the car black. At least that was the plan: shortly after I finished the first trolley base, the spray can stopped working. As a result I ended up with this:
I'll have to buy a new spray can and finish the second trolley base; the first one could use a second coat anyway. Finally, I went back to work on the MU jumper receptacle off South Shore 37; I had been unable to get the rust-frozen locking ring off the last time I was out, but this time Dan Mulvihill and Jeff Obarek pitched in to provide some extra "persuasion" and we got the thing apart. Below are the two pieces that will need to be modified. Areas to be cut off are in red; note that we're looking at the main receptacle housing from the back.
Finally, I took some photos and video of a switch move taking place on Track 40 that involved Wisconsin Electric Power L7 and the use of its extension cord. There's a video here (I recommend you watch it in "high quality" mode if you want the admittedly dubious thrill of watching an electric locomotive running with its poles down), and a photo below showing the stinger hanging from the Track 41 wire directly in front of the trolley base nearest the camera. Only at IRM!