In general news, a lot of grading has been done and Main Street has now been extended all the way west to the gate on Olsen Rd. It looks like the bottom layer has been spread and rolled.
And as you can see, our Museum is hopefully extending the parking lot facilities, and now it's up to us to help fill all those spaces. Tell your friends and acquaintances to come visit!
As for me, today was inspection of the 309. Things went well, and no unexpected issues were noted.
While I have the car centered over the pit, let's see what's there and make sure nothing is missing.
(L) One of the traction motors; (R) the grid boxes. This car has two complete control systems, one for each two-motor truck. That's why there are two rows of grids.
Many of the CA&E cars had this feature, and there are four other preserved cars like this, but the 309 is the only one at IRM.
(L) The equalizing tank on this car is slung under the brake cylinder.
(R) The two main reservoir tanks.
The D3-EG compressor in its cradle.
The outside and inside of one of the DB-20 reversers. I meant to take a picture of the open contactor boxes. You can see a corner of one on the right.
Well, that was a long, exhausting day, but it only has to be done once a year. Now just the 36 remains. And Frank is planning to help me finish the lubrication on the 309 this Sunday.
Tim Peters was working on the 24, and John McKelvey was recovering seats today, as usual. John is making good use of the canvas I removed from the roof of the 319 to repair seats for the Rock Island cars, which are a vital part of our operating fleet.
Hmm, I guess there will be no rails in them thar streets. Every drawing I saw over the years showed rails for the new streetcar line. Will there be a security gate at the end of this roadway to access Olson Rd?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry about that. It will probably be a while until we are ready to lay track along the Main St. alignment, and I imagine until then the road will be just gravel, so it can be easily excavated. And the access gate was already in place, ever since the fence along Olson Rd. was installed.
ReplyDeleteHi Randall, I am researching the availability of Westinghouse brake cylinder seals here in the UK and wondered what your experiences were of obtaining replacements. Here we have Westcode Ltd which can help, but wondered about alternatives which you may have been aware of. If you could share your experiences along these lines I would be very interested.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Colin Beckwith