The Drought Is Over

... at least for the time being. It was raining most of the day, which is good in most ways. We certainly needed the rain, and it cooled off quite a bit, making work in the barn much more pleasant.

I spent most of the morning stripping paint from the #1 end of car 36, and finished wire-wheeling all the paint from the metal plate. Later in the day, Al put a coat of primer on the plate, so it won't start to rust.

And I put a first finish coat of grey on four windows, so they can be put back in the car next time.

Al and I drove over to R&B Metals in Woodstock, our usual source for steel of all sorts. I had ordered a couple of plates to replace rusted-out pieces from the side doors, as seen here, plus some new signs, which I'll show you in a later post.

Al has been working hard on restoring a side door from the 36, and today put a first coat of the finish color on the outside, as seen here.

Now here's a secret that can be shared only with you, our loyal blog readers. Nick seems to have used his mystic mind-bending powers to persuade Al Reinschmidt to be the official announcer for Thomas this year. All five days. Once he had escaped from the Kallas force field, however, he started to have second thoughts, so here's the deal. We need all of you, whenever you happen to run into him, to congratulate him on his promotion and express our heartfelt appreciation for his selfless service for the good of the Museum. Thanks!