Just Visiting

Today my wife and I went for a drive and stopped in at IRM in the afternoon to ride the CA&E cars and just pay a brief visit.  It's relaxing to not have to work once in a while.  And here's a brief report.

Holding down revenue service this weekend: the 309 and 319.

The crew consisted of conductor Bob Kersey and motorman Fred Zimmerman.  They do a good job.

I came along as sort of a check ride, and was entirely satisfied.

For the end of the season we had a pretty good crowd.  I found a few minor things that need to be fixed: the 309's interrupter is out of alignment, the thermostat on the 319 is loose, one of the motorman's window shades is out of the track, little items like that.

Meanwhile, the 18 was over on the pit lead getting needle-chipped.  Nick E. looks on as two new volunteers take turns on the chipper.  I didn't write down their names, but Frank will have more details soon.

And he is happy with the progress that is being made.

But he was busy on another task -- this one is rather amusing.  The 415 will be repainted soon, and so we need tracings of all the lettering.  We already have complete tracings, and we know where they are, but the car they're stored in is now infested with angry bees, and nobody dares go in there until the middle of winter.

Frank is good at this sort of thing, so it's easier and safer to just retrace the lettering.

Whether they're bees or groundhogs, pests are a fact of life around here, and we just work around them.