Sunday update

Frank writes...

On Sunday I spent much of the afternoon working on the second rear end marker light for the 18.

This is how far we are now - the housing and casting rings are (temporarily) assembled and all of the necessary holes, tabs, etc are in the housing. I ran out of time before I could wipe it down and prime it, but that will be done next time. I also need to scrounge a little more hardware so that I can affix the piece of red glass to the inner ring. Many thanks to Richard for helping with setup for drilling some of the larger holes and for fiddling with the casting to get everything to fit together.

Later in the afternoon, Jack, Richard, and I went over to the 18 and pumped the car up to test for leaks and also to inspect the new brake rigging that was installed on the front truck a month or two ago. The rigging appears to work just fine and will just need some fiddling with the slack adjusters once we can get the car on the pit.

I didn't end up doing anything on this project, but you may find this interesting. This is a 3D printed latch for the folding signs on the 309 that I drew in Fusion 360 and had printed and mailed to us. We are going to try and install it on the 309 and see how it works; as long as this goes to plan, we'll print a handful for use on the 308 and potentially other cars too. It's made of a resin with glass powder, so it's pretty strong and will hopefully hold up in service.

Well hey, it's our old friend Tom Schneider from the Steam Department, stopping by to see if a couple of guys can give him a hand. So let's take a trip over to the Steam Shop.

Right now the lineup in the shop, north to south, is 1630, 5, PS 7, and 428. Here's the third and most transitory of those, Public Service 7, which was the museum's very first steam engine. It is the current focus of cosmetic restoration efforts in the Steam Department and should look very nice when they're done.

Richard and I helped Tom for a few minutes moving some lengths of pipe around so that welding can be done. Here we see Roger, who stopped by visiting from the Coach Department, Tom, and Richard discussing the best way of properly cutting down the new pilot beam for PS 7 which is next to Tom. We're standing alongside the Decapod, which is tentatively scheduled to be in operation this year along with the Shay.

As always, plenty of other work was being done too. Nick E was working for most of the day on the heaters in CA&E 409 and ended up getting them all working, which is the first time since the car came from Trolleyville that's the case. That's a big step forward. Later in the afternoon he was working on getting ready for a contractor to come in during the week and replace line poles along the main line. Jack and Joel spent a while switching, and among other things Sand Springs 68 is now back over in Barn 7 following completion of brake work on that car. Tim was out, working on more pieces for the 50th Avenue project, while Nick D and Nick K made appearances to complete the Nick Triumvirate.