Sunday report

Frank writes...

I was at the museum on Sunday but didn't arrive until late in the afternoon. The first order of business was to swap the 36 and 309.

Now that's a nice looking train! The 309 is now at the door with the 36 coupled to it, ready for service on Chicago Day this coming Saturday. I also cleaned up the blind side of the 18 so that it's ready for paint (except for a few feet right in the center where more Bondo is needed along the bottom). One of these weekends, I hope to pull it outside so that I have better light and then paint it. Once that's done, almost the entire car - with the exception of that short section on the blind side, and the section between the two doors - will have fresh paint below the belt rail.

In the evening, I returned to my "after-dinner project," the smoker in the 460, and put in another hour or so on that. The L side is now done from the windowsill up, as is the part of the bulkhead on this side that will be visible above the seat. I still need to do the posts from the windowsill down, but the panels directly under the windows are Masonite (or something) and will just need a quick touch-sanding.

Earlier in the day, I snapped this photo of Doodlebug Bob (center) teaching two of the Electroliner volunteers, Kevin and Erin, how to use the lathe in the shop. There's more than one way to fulfill an educational mission! In other news, Joel was working on inspecting one of the regular service 4000s, Scott was working on the 757, and meanwhile Good Nick, Greg, and Zach were off on a road trip picking up some historic paperwork and car parts that we recently acquired.