Pick a Number

 Here are your winning numbers for today.  These are the roundels, about forty so far, which we have made to be attached to the corresponding equipment signs around the Museum, for the benefit of IRMA users.  Frank did most of the work, but the material and the use of the laser cutting machine were donated by our good friends at Modeler's Choice, who make a line of modeling supplies.  I dropped the completed roundels off at Dave Diamond's office, and he is planning to attach them soon.  The blue tape covers up the words "and iPhone", because that's our next big ambition in life.

 

Most of the day I spent installing the train door on the 36, and installing the rest of the hardware.  The door handle and the headlight bracket were attached, and later painted.  (The handle was still in bare brass, so it's now in white primer, but will be red.)  And Henry had carefully installed a new ground wire going from the lower hinge to the headlight bracket, and I connected it.  So step by step, inch by inch, we're getting closer to completing the blue paint scheme. This is a big improvement, and thanks again to Henry and Jonathan.

And I put a coat of blue on the inside of a metal plate for one of the side doors.  Unfortunately it wasn't dry by the end of the day, so that will wait until next time.  At the top are several metal parts that Henry has painted with brown primer.  The green brackets are part of a woodworking machine, I think.

I worked on cleaning the controllers, and sorted parts, and so on.

And it seemed like a good time to visit the 321 again.  I picked up a couple of things I needed, checked the tarp, and went inside.  The interior, of course, still presents its usual gloomy appearance,  The floor appears to be a little damp in places, but there are no obvious holes in the tarp, so there's nothing to be done.  Except build another barn or two.

 Barn 8 Radio

I like birds, but not if they're living inside the car barns!  Barn 8 has recently had an infestation, and I want to persuade them to move elsewhere.  I don't remember where I heard this, maybe it was East Troy, but they suggested having a radio playing all the time to drive them away.  Talk radio seems to work best, they say.  I got permission from Dave Diamond to try this out.  We don't know if it will actually work for us, but it's cheap, easy, and harmless.  So we now have a radio plugged in at the main electrical panel on the south wall.  Once the birds realize it's talk around the clock, maybe they'll hand in their room keys and go back to the trees where they belong.

If you're working in Barn 8 or it's being opened for visitors, feel free to unplug the radio, but please plug it back in when the barn is being locked up.  Thanks!