Time Is Running Out

Time is running out to do everything you needed to do this year, such as make contributions that can be deducted on this year's taxes. And think of some New Year's resolutions that might actually be achievable.

My resolution for next year is to get the 36 running, in between putting the other three cars in service. I finished disassembling the moving parts of the reverser, more or less, and took them to the shop. Here they are, laid out on the bench:

The square frame is the rocker arm, with its two bearings. In front is one of the insulated contact boards, which was removed at Cleveland because it had a piece broken off at one corner. And then there's a pile of the contact fingers.

With Tim's help, I mixed some epoxy and glued the piece back together; the break was at the upper left corner. It was left to set up on the table.

The metal parts all need to be cleaned, and the contact boards need to be repainted with Glyptal. Then it can probably be re-assembled.

After that, I started sanding down the side of the car. I did all of the lower siding, and started on the letterboard and upper siding.

(R) For this job, you need to protect ears, eyes, and nose. And keep your mouth shut. The Museum has a nice big sander for me to use. It's heavy, but this sure beats the way the CA&E did it. Bob Bruneau told about how he would visit Wheaton, and during the summer they would hire high school kids to sand down the cars by hand. There would be several guys standing on a scaffold just pushing sanding blocks up and down all day. Ugggh!