It was cold and drizzly again yesterday -- when will this ever end? Work continues on the Multi-Purpose Building; they mostly seemed to be landscaping the ground around the exterior. It struck me that we should see what the facade of the building will look like:
The Milwaukee Road society offices and library are on the left, the gallery space is in the middle, and the model railroad displays are on the right. This will be stunning.
And in Car Department news, four of the five trucks for the Electroliner have arrived, and are temporarily stored under a tarp:
Once the final truck arrives, we'll schedule the operation for putting the train back together. And we'll capture it here if at all possible.
Most of the usual Car Department projects were underway. Here Chuck Meter continues the arduous task of cleaning up every single part to the PCC truck. And Tim Peters was working on the 1754, Pete on the 160, John Sheldon on the 306, and so on. And Tim Wills was out yesterday and worked on cleaning up 451 parts. Thanks!
In spite of the dreary weather, daily revenue service continues. Ron Seavers was running the 4290.
And the 141 was in operation for training, and for limited passenger service.
All of the drop sash for the 451 were trimmed and installed, along with many of the track parts. Now I just need to find the spring latches....
And with some more cleaning and straightening, it's starting to look better. I think.
One interesting thing I found was this:
At first glance I thought it was a grinding wheel of some sort, but it must be the speedometer mechanism. The metal wheel is connected to a generator via a flexible shaft, and I suppose the wheel itself must rest on the tread of one of the wheels on the truck. This is completely different from the system on the 460, which is mounted directly to one of the main bearings and driven by the axle itself. That one didn't work either.
In any case, I see little point in trying to get this to work, other than as a science experiment. Of course, I like science experiments, but right now it would be nice just to put the car back together and get it to operate.
3 comments:
What is the status of the #453 fund? I trust that the car will go inside when it gets on the property.
I'm glad you mentioned the 141. Since it's still not running in regular passenger service, what's the best way for us West Towns fans to find out when it will be operating any given weekend?
If you go to the calendar on the IRM website and click on any particular day, it will bring up a page that lists the equipment scheduled to operate. But that's not always complete, and it is subject to change without notice... for various reasons. The 141, for instance, is still in the training stage. On Saturday it burned out a control fuse, I was told, and had to be towed back. But those problems will be fixed.
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