We Know You Have Sand, Illinois

 Today's educational subject is sandblasting, so be sure to take good notes.  

One of the many current projects is restoring our big North Western crane 6363, which has been up on blocks south of Barn 9 for a while.  So our semi-portable sandblasting equipment has been moved to that vicinity so Gregg could sandblast the entire thing.

On Tuesday, as they were getting set up, Frank Kehoe suggested that they could also do a couple of baggage racks from the 453 while they were at it.  He called me to get permission, and then moved the two that had been removed from the smoker down to the work site.

Here's an example of one which has been partly blasted (on the left).

And here it is complete.

The "sand" is actually crushed glass, mixed with water.  I take this to mean we're using old whiskey bottles and broken windows to do the work, rather than excavating beaches and sand dunes.   Save the environment and recycle! 

When I arrived, Rick Marzek was helping Gregg, and he also helped with my baggage racks.  Later, project manager Mark Secco arrived.

I transported the two baggage racks over to Barn 4 and rinsed them off, then left them to air dry for a while.

Frank K. was a great help in handling these large, heavy racks, and the we managed to remove two more for eventual blasting.  It's not easy, because several of the machine screws were frozen and had to be drilled out, but we got the job done.  Here's a not-very-good picture of him in the process of driving an impact hammer on a difficult screw.

With the two racks removed, the main compartment looks like this.

And for now, the racks are stored alongside the S-105.  Next step: primer!

My thanks to Gregg, Rick, and Frank for all their help today.  I couldn't have done most of this without their assistance.  As I mentioned, these racks are big and heavy, held in with way too many screws, and are evidently designed to hold a load of lead bricks.  Not at all like the brass racks the wooden cars are equipped with. 

By the way, is anybody missing a door?

In other Car Shop news, John Sheldon was hard at work on the curved molding strips for the 306.

  

Here's his setup outside the shop, with the boiler to the left and the steam pipe on the right.  Once the 306 is finished, our next product will be "bourbon".

Oh, and after straightening up the baggage racks, I spent some more time needle-chipping the letterboard.

And by the middle of the afternoon, a lot of progress had been made on the crane.

I believe that's Marko in the white suit.

And that's what we have for another interesting and productive day at the Museum.  In a little while, I'll have another armchair travelogue for you to enjoy.