Spring Has Sprung

Now that spring is here and the weather is much improved, there were all sorts of fun activities going on yesterday at the Museum, which we're happy to report.

Let's start with inspections.  Inspection now takes place most of the year, but the main push is in the spring.  The 4391 was still over the pit, so I started by switching out some of the wood cars to put the 308 at the door.  On Wednesday, if it isn't raining, I should be able to complete the inspection.  And here are all three blue cars, out in the sun for the first time this year.

Much of the inspection work can be done in the barn.  The 308's air system, for instance, was completely checked out.

And here's a picture of the compressor running, with essentially no sparking at the brushes.

Some of the contactors:

And the reverser:

Meanwhile, over on the pit lead, Zach and some of the others are trying to repair the one bad main bearing on the 251.  Here he's sort of holding a class on wedges and bearings with the McKays as students.  It's important to pass on our expertise to new members, otherwise known as institutional memory.

What a beautiful car!  I can remember helping a little when Dennis Storzek painted it forty years ago.

Chuck Meter and Ed Woytula were hard at work on the PCC truck.

And down in the pit, Nick is checking out the heat system on the 4391.

Joel verifies that all the contactors are making good contact when the drum rotates.

And here's the motor that drives the accelerator.

Buzz continues making parts for the velocipede.

Meanwhile, the B&G guys were busy in the great outdoors.  Here Dave Diamond and the others are taking down the fence which blocked off the area where the model railroad building will be.  All the permits are in hand, and once the roads are unposted the concrete will start rolling in.   Very exciting!

And our first stoplight was installed at the corner of Depot and Central!

Sorry, that was just a picture of Al taking a picture of me.   Let's try again:

The team consisted of Dave, Max, Gerry, and Al.  Dave wants me to point out that all these exciting improvements to the property will happen a lot faster with the aid of your tax-deductible contributions!

Gerry asked me to take a look at the control for the new oven, since we didn't get any instructions with it.  It seems pretty straightforward, and once the new three-phase wiring is in place, we should be able to test it.

This is the temperature control.   The little knob adjusts the red pointer at the top, which in this picture is set to 450.  The maximum reading is 650.  The black pointer below presumably indicates the oven temperature, and it's just an on/off thermostat.

The junction box is very simple.   It's obvious where the three-phase wires are connected; they were just cut off when the oven was moved.  There's an on-off switch for the control on the side of the box.

This, as I take it, is an overload relay.

On top of the oven is this convection fan; there's also a similar exhaust fan.

The fans are controlled by these two pushbutton switches below the junction box.

And that's it!  How would you like your axle bearings done: medium rare?

And in American Flyer news, the late Joe Reuter had a varied collection of model trains; the only AF piece seems to be this nice Pennsy K-5.  It's missing a few parts, but I'm sure I can get it to run.

Also, Henry told me about an interesting donation to the Museum of an American Flyer display layout.  But I think I'll wait until I've had a chance to examine and photograph it before I say anything more.  So don't touch that dial!