A Day at the Lake Shore

Today's projects involved more cosmetic work on the Lake Shore Electric 150.  Frank's paint job still looks great, but there are plenty of opportunities for additions and corrections to the car's structure, what's left of it.  Today I started with a first coat of orange on the car's "letterboard", which never had any letters.  

Say, do you ever have any problems with dust buildup on your window sills?  Whatever you've got, it's probably nothing compared to this.

But of course, after a little brushing, there's a real improvement.

In the Local Nostalgia department, the John McKelvey collection provides this beautiful poster from 1988 of a nearby attraction.  I would have taken the kids there, but it was gone in the blink of an eye.

Next up was making some ersatz tack molding for the 150, so the edge of the roof will look more authentic.  Since it doesn't have to actually hold tacks, I used common pine, which is inexpensive and easy to work because it's so light in weight.  I took a Museum truck over to Woodstock to pick up a couple of 12' long pieces, and then started to mill them in our well-equipped shop.   It was a good day for working inside.

Then they are painted both sides with primer.   Gloss black will be next.

And here we see some visitors from Connecticut getting the VIP treatment from our esteemed Executive Director.  That's Galen Semprebon on the left, and Kelly Buffum riding shotgun.  Galen is the President of the Connecticut Trolley Museum at Warehouse Point, and we're discussing trading parts and so on.  It generally pays to be on good terms with other people in the same line of work.  And nobody is better at this sort of thing than Nick.