Back to Work

After the parade has gone by, it's time to get back to work.

I had noticed a few minor problems with the 308 when we were running it in revenue service on Sunday. Two seat cushions had ripped, so I removed them and took them home for new material. The cushions I can do myself. A couple of seat arms were loose and needed to be tightened up. Also, one of the buzzer cord hangers was loose, and was fixed.

Most of the time, though, was spent stripping paint from the 36. Fortunately, I may be able to get some help. I talked to Bob Kutella and Rich Witt, and Rich in particular may be willing to help by sanding down and repainting the windows as a background activity in the shop. This will be very useful. Here they are looking at the first one, which Rich had started on.

Bob was polishing the brass handles for seats in the Sand Springs car. He does a very meticulous job, of course. In fact, it reminded me of Gilbert and Sullivan:

"I polished up the handles so care-full-lee..."

And here is the 36 again, as I slowly make my way down the side of the car.

Finally, Doug Johnson, a friend of Norm Krentel from Michigan, sent me a great 8x10 print of a photograph he took when they were visiting IRM a couple of weeks ago. He somehow failed to notice that I was standing in front of an otherwise beautiful train, but it's still a very nice picture. Thanks, Doug!