Sunday update

Frank writes...

I didn't get out to IRM until mid-afternoon on Sunday, so with the final day of the Thomas event already winding down, I headed over to the car shop.

My first goal was to get the 18 a little bit of time on the inspection pit to start work on adjusting the brakes and generally inspecting the car's running gear. Here it is on the tail track, waiting for some of the revenue service cars to head back to the barn before proceeding to the pit. This is the car's first trip outside since this side was painted and lettered. I didn't get any photos while the car was on the pit, but Joel and Jeron were extremely helpful in getting the brake rigging adjusted. A little bit more work on this point will be needed, but things are working far better now than they were before. We will also need to try and procure a new brake shoe or two - this car has an odd design with the shoes held in by cotter pins, so I need to determine whether any of the eastern trolley museums have spares they could sell/trade us or whether we will eventually need to make a pattern and get some cast. Hopefully it's the former, not the latter. In the meantime, Zach tackled some wiring mysteries on the car and traced the inoperative tail lights to a bad resistor under the left rear bench seat. Once that resistor is replaced, we're hopeful that the tail lights will work.

In the evening, after the car was back in Barn 7, I installed the second of the three plywood panels that will cover the big hole in the ceiling aft of the doors. Here you can see the second panel in place but before I reinstalled the light fixture base at this location.

And here we are with the light fixture back in place and lit. One more panel (already painted and just awaiting cutting down to size) is needed, and then once the lap strips and ventilator covers are installed, this little project will be done. At least until we decide to go back and do it "right" in a few years with a single, huge, atrociously expensive piece of ceiling material.

In other 18 news, Joel put in an order with our in-house paint mixing department for a couple of gallons of Tile Red canvas paint. That will improve the 18's appearance noticeably. This is starting to sound expensive - help!

And finally for today, a quick stop by the Steam Shop revealed the impressive results of recent cosmetic work on Public Service Company 7. This was the museum's first steam engine and I believe it is being repainted for display in Barn 3. It's getting a new pilot beam and that was out of frame to the right, getting holes drilled before it's mounted on the engine.