Spring cleaning

Frank writes...

I'd been traveling over the weekend but managed to make it out to IRM briefly on Sunday evening, apparently missing my father by only a couple of hours. But even though I didn't have much time to work, I tried to make the best of it. Greg Kepka and I helped Richard Schauer in cutting out a piece of steel to replace a rusted-out riser from the Shaker Heights car; below, Richard is making some final cuts on the band saw. The next step will be to drill some of the holes, make a 90-degree bend along one side, and begin the process of fitting it to the car.

Meanwhile, a bunch of the car shop regulars led by Joel Ahrendt were hard at work rearranging, tidying, and cleaning up the shop. Joel has developed a plan to move a number of the machines and tools to different locations to make things easier to access and easier to clean and maintain. The first step is to finally set up the air brake room that we've been planning for at least a decade, since Bob Bruneau was the department head. Joel has already cleaned out quite a bit of the accumulated "stuff" in the room, as shown in the below photos.

A scaffold bench has been removed and replaced with some shelving. The shelves at the far end mostly contain parts from the 306 project, active in the late 1980s, which tells you how long it's been since this room has really been cleaned out. Air compressor armatures are currently stored under the bench but I believe the plan is to relocate these somewhere else.

The 3T triple valve test rack was later moved further down the wall; the gasket cabinet went into the far right corner with the 3T rack next to it. Next to that, where the 3T test rack sits in the above photos, the 3UE universal valve test rack is going to be placed. That will locate both of our air brake testing racks together in the same (hopefully dust- and debris-free) space. Other changes were being made as well, including moving another shelving unit over to the spot formerly occupied by the gasket cabinet and some general cleaning. Nick Espevik, Jeron Glander, Greg, Richard, Thomas Slater, and Bob Sundelin were also working with Joel on all of this moving and cleaning.

And what, you ask, is a 3T test rack? Well I'm the wrong guy to ask. But this may help.