If At First You Don't Succeed...

After I confessed to leaving the 319 over the pit last time, Rod sent me a motivational and informative message explaining that there were several other projects planning to use it from today through Members' Day. So something needed to be done toot sweet. I decided the only course was to try harder.

After about three hours of work this afternoon, using wood blocking and improvised levers, I was able to get the last brake shoe into position, reconnect the slack adjusters, and adjust the slack. Then I ran the car back to Barn 8. Everything seemed to work better; the brake rigging appears to be aligned properly now that we no longer have the old brake shoes that were worn at an angle, and the mysterious grinding noise seemed to have disappeared. And standing travel in service is now down to 4", an ideal value. I'm hoping to test it some more tomorrow, then put the three-car train together for Members' Day. I'll need somebody to run the car slowly while I stand or walk alongside. So that's a big improvement.