Inspection Finished

Inspection of the 308 went off without a hitch.  Inspection can be quite interesting if you've never done it before, and we've posted pictures of what traction motors look like without the covers and things like that in posts from earlier years.  Anyway, here the car is over the pit.  Anybody remember how we did inspections before we had this nice inspection pit?  It was brutal.  It seems to me that we checked the pole piece clearance before a car was operated for the first time, and then assumed that if it was OK, it would stay that way.  None of this once-a-year inspection routine....

After a long hard day in the pit, it's nice to take a walk after supper and view the spring scenery.  A couple of trees have fallen across the creek.  It was a severe winter, but Nature is used to this sort of thing and recovers quickly.  More quickly than I do, at least.

Here's our Art History lesson for today, courtesy of the Johnson Collection.  The lower window is from a 1909 Kuhlman interurban car.  The flowery motifs and curved lines have a definitely Victorian flair.  The upper window is from a 1914 Jewett, and exhibits the characteristic features of... on second thought, perhaps I should stick to teaching physics. 

Don't ever do anything to annoy Dave Diamond.  Maybe it was something I did or said, but I used to park my car near this door of Barn 8.  So Dave went to great trouble and expense to install some concrete blocks and pile a year's supply of coal to make sure I won't ever do that again.  Sorry!

Actually, the coal pile had to be moved because a new connector track is being installed to access the south yards.  And it goes right where the coal used to be piled. 

Here you can see the stakes set out for the new track.  The problem we face currently is that longer cars and locomotives can't access the south yards (13 and 14).  The newer yard tracks have wide curves, but getting to the ladder track is limited by sharp radii, no matter which route you take.  So this new track will be a significant improvement in letting us allocate storage space efficiently.  And because two (count 'em, two!) new barns are going to be built soon, that's important.

 

After finishing work on the 308 this morning, I spent the rest of the day working on seats in the 309, and other miscellaneous tasks, including a tour of Barn 9 for several visitors.  It sure beats working!

Tim continues to make progress on the 24, and Buzz was working on the Ely, and many others were out on Wednesday working on various projects.  

Of course, the last two days only accomplished the inspection of one car.  We here at HCW still have two more to do on Wednesday and Thursday of the next two weeks, so you're always welcome to show up to help!