This year there are only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas, whereas last year there were five, thus cutting down on our opportunities for successful Happy Holiday Railways events. But we've been selling tickets for this weekend anyway, and while of course attendance is lower than usual, it provides a good occasion for testing out the new arrangement. More on that later.
Work continued on the 451. These later-model controllers are much more complicated mechanically than the earlier models, and I'm still figuring out some of the details of how they're supposed to work. Fortunately we have some spares. Here's one that we extracted from storage. I won't bother to explain the various parts, because after some effort it turns out that this one didn't work right either. We later went back and found one that does work right, but time ran out before the necessary replacements could be made. Thanks to Joel for doing most of the heavy lifting!
Among other things, I put in new bulbs to get all of the interior lights in the car working. And it looks like the heat in the main compartment is working, at least, so that's good news.
And we may be seeing some progress on the 309 bearing project soon. Our machines and machinists have generally been busy on higher-priority projects, but we're hoping that will change. I took the bearing over to the Steam Shop for Eric Hoyem to work on when he gets a chance, and there's big news happening there also.
The 1630 was moved over the new inspection pit on Saturday, and the crew immediately started using the pit to work on it. I'm sure this makes life easier for everybody!
Down under the locomotive it's pretty dark, as there are no permanent lights installed, but it is certainly interesting to be able to walk under the engine and look at everything. At least if they aren't shaking out hot grates over your head.
Speaking of the Steam Team, they also came over to Barn 4 and finished removing their machine tools that had been temporarily stored in the Lean-3. Once those were out of the way, it was possible to pick up the more-or-less finished PCC truck and move it into the barn. Here Jeff Calendine and Dan Fenlaciki are using two forklifts to move it. Careful coordination is necessary.
And finally, we have the first day of Happy Holiday Railways in operation. This year, operations have been moved to the main depot, and the train will load on Station 2. This is possible because the depot is now heated, and will eventually enable us to load longer trains.
And as an added bonus, we're adding free trolley rides to the package.
3 comments:
Light bulbs for the 451: Are 32V incandescent railroad-type bulbs still manufactured? Web search shows them for marine applications, and they're a bit pricey. What about 120V street railway bulbs? Does IRM have a secret underground bunker full of light bulbs?
For the PCC truck: I assume the truck will go under the CTS 4223, are those wheels railroad profile; will it be able to run the streetcar loop?
Mike M
There actually are permanent lights in the steam shop pit. They're installed into the pit walls. I believe there are 3 on each side.
Blake
Mike- Incandescent bulbs of most varieties will become a problem sooner rather than later. We buy what we can, when we can. And the bunker isn't underground :-)
4223's wheels are Shaker Heights compromise profile. They work well on our track, as they are a moderately wide, flange-guided wheel, like AAR.
R. W. Schauer
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