Friday Inspection Report

On Friday I was able to start inspection on the 309, although it stayed in Barn 8.  It was raining off and on, so it was better to leave the car inside.

Everything went pretty well: I was able to do the controllers, contactors, pump, air system, and so on.  Mostly what remains are the trucks and motors, and the roof.  Most of this isn't very photogenic, but the interior is always nice to look at:

One light bulb started to fail, with the familiar deadly purple glow, so that had to be replaced.  Otherwise we're getting close to being ready for service this year.

And Buzz got to help by twisting the controller as I checked the contactor sequencing.  With a little practice, he did quite well.

Most of the time, however, he was working on windows for the Milwaukee Road caboose.

Memorizing the contactor sequence is easy if you can make it rhyme:

First you will see     one, two, three;

and four plus seven      makes eleven.

Next alive       is number five;

Then one by one     to number ten;

And for series only,     that's the end.

I'm hoping that this weekend the weather will allow the department guys to finish inspection on the 309 over the pit, and also to install the rebuilt compressor on the 36.  Joel says that's the plan.

Progress is continuing on the new switch at the road crossing:

I then did some more adjustments to the new piece of tack molding on the 460, and it now fits well.  It somehow decided to straighten out during the trip, as you may be able to see, so I took it back home for some more soaking and bending.  Once the machine screws are installed, it should be fine.

Tim continues working on the end of the 1808.

And I painted the tack molding on the south side of the car.

Finally, here's this week's mystery quiz, which should be pretty easy:

What is this object and what's unusual about it?