Inspection - Day 1

Frank and I were able to do most of the inspection work on the 309 today, and everything went well. There are a few items that still need to be done, simple things that we don't need the pit for, such as lubricating the controllers. At the end of the day, the 309 was moved back to barn 8, and we put the 319 over the pit. I plan to work on it tomorrow (Thursday). Frank will have pictures in the next post. I won't be able to download until I get home tomorrow evening.

And it's been a while since we've had a restaurant review, so watch for the next informative installment!

Frank adds...

The weather was gorgeous and we got a lot done, completing most of the 309's inspection.  No serious issues were found and the only really unexpected part was having to replace one of the brake shoes that was getting a bit worn.   Below left, the car sits sticking out of the door on track 41 with the west truck over the inspection pit (the paddle on the pole sticking out of the coupler is a blue flag); below right, my father works on inspecting one of the #2 contactor boxes.  The 309, unique among the CA&E cars at IRM, has two reversers and two complete sets of contactors and grids.

 

 There was a lot of other activity in the shop as well.  Below is a photo of Bob Kutella toiling away at the Great Northern emblems on the hopper car that was painted last year.  More progress was being made on the Cleveland PCC car, roof canvas was going onto the rebuilt cab on dump car D13, and Frank Sirinek, Mike Alterio and Bill Thiel were working on air brake plumbing on the West Towns car.  They even had the car pumped up on its own compressor, though the brake rigging is not yet complete.