Wednesday Report

Back at IRM, my major priority is finishing the roof mats on the 714, but it was too cold in the barn for painting.  Just two more relatively warm days should finish that project.

In the meantime, the next goal is painting the rebuilt compressor for CA&E 36.  It's nice and warm in the shop, so let's get started.

This compressor came from the CTA, so it had painted messages on top.  It also had a brass tag from Skokie attached, which I removed and gave to Tim for safekeeping.

And I moved the cradle in from the barn to warm it up a little.

After a couple of hours of wire-wheeling, the compressor was ready for primer.

To be sure, there are several places on this complicated design that you can't reach with either the grinder or a brush, so someone could perhaps try hitting them with a rattle can.  You will notice the unpainted plug in the output port, which I inserted to keep debris from getting into the valves.

The cradle got the same treatment.  I couldn't find a good way to do the whole thing at once, so only half of it has been painted so far.

And the other regulars were hard at work.  Buzz is seen here using the big mortiser to make more window frames.

Tim continues to refinish doors for the 1808.

And on the 160, (L to R) Pete, Lorne, and Fritz were working on doors and other parts.

Here we see Fritz carefully polishing a brass grab iron.

Then I had some time to work on one of the windows for the 18.  I also removed one that I had made a year or so ago from the car, and took it home to work on, as it was slightly too wide.

Finally, let's look at the North Western building under construction.  Some of the walls are now in place.

And if you look up, you can see some material for the roof placed on the rafters.

And there were also several people working in the model railroad department, but I decided not to bother them.  They may prefer to do their own publicity, thus avoiding the mistakes that I often make when reporting on other departments' projects.  But I'm sure progress is being made.