Maintenance Matters

With cars in regular service, there are always minor maintenance problems that crop up from time to time.  If you don't make a note of them, they're easy to forget.  When running the 308 and 319 last Saturday, I at least wrote them down on the back of the report cards, which helps.

One of the windows on the 319 has been missing its spring latch for a while, and I finally got around to installing a new one.  It took some time, but here it is.  Not very exciting, I know.

You want excitement?  Look at this nifty new bulletin board Henry installed here in the shop.  He's very proud of it, and who wouldn't be?

There was a slow leak in the whistle valve at the #2 end of the 319, and I decided it was probably due to a weak spring.  It would take a lot of work to change out the valve, but luckily whistle valves can usually be serviced without undoing any of the plumbing.  I found a better spring in our box of miscellaneous springs, and that seems to have solved the leak.  

While checking on the 321 and looking for spare parts, I stopped to see what's happening with the Pennsy bobber.  Bill was busily sanding down the roof, while Victor and Dave had gone to R&B to check on some metal parts.  They continue to make good progress.

The larger room looks great!

And what is currently the west porch also looks like new.

Tim is working on the east end of the 1754.

And then John Sheldon, the druggist, was turning out large amounts of tack molding for the 65.  And speaking of the 65, project manager Jon Fenlaciki was today's motorman.

And I spent the rest of the day fighting stuck windows on the 308.  I decided that in most cases, if the window won't move at all it's because the leaf springs have dug little pits in the wooden posts of the car itself.   That's not easy to fix, and as at least a temporary fix I can remove the springs.  The windows are still tight enough, and I checked that they will not drop down unexpectedly.   That would be bad.  This process is time-consuming, but the result is that everybody now has equal access to air conditioning when the car's in service.

One strange thing about the 308 windows is that the leaf springs were installed on the same side as the spring latch, thus trying to push the latch away from the vertical cog bar.  On the other cars it's just the opposite, which makes more sense to me.  But either way, it will work.

And here you can see that all of the windows on this side now open, except for the toilet compartment, of course.  Next time I'll do the other side.   Note to self: 3, 4, 8, 14.

Where did the summer go???   Labor Day weekend is just around the corner.  The wood cars should be running all three days, if it doesn't rain, and best of all will be night-time operations Sunday evening.  You won't want to miss it!