Tuesday Progress

 Another day, another several steps forward:

On the 453, I did some more work on fastening down the running boards.  And then, we're ready to start attaching drip rails and ventilators, with a good supply of new screws, as well as caulk.  On these cars, they used a lot more screws than I would have thought necessary, so it takes a while to install these parts.  Here's a drip rail:

And one of the ventilators:

Then it was time to see how the track guys are doing on replacing the south wye switch.  It's going quite well:

Workers included Bob Olson, Larry Stone, Marcus, and a couple of others whose names I didn't get.  Behind those masks they're hard to recognize!

Marcus has the IRM logo on his.  Here he is, running the locomotive:

I cleaned up the other ventilator and prepared to install it.

Joel supplied me with the correct die for threading the metal rods we saw last time, so I prepared them for installation.

Meanwhile, John, Gerry, and Fred were hard at work on the 306.  They pulled the tarp off and went up on roof to examine it.

It needs some patching, and some more trolley boards, but for now the current roof is probably usable.

Both handrails have been threaded and installed.  Of course, we still need to find the right material to cover them, but as a practical safety matter, for now they're perfectly functional.

Later in the day, we can see how the switch is going together.  

John examines his work on the sides of the 306.

Gerry has one of the windows clamped up for welding.

And the second ventilator is now installed.

And then, as I think about it, Pete Galayda was working on the 160, and Tim Peters was working on 50th Avenue, and Gregg Wolfersheim was working on the M-35, but I didn't get any pictures of them.  One can't be everywhere at once.