Progress in All Directions

One of the first things I wanted to do on Thursday was switching the wood cars.  They should be running all three days of Labor Day Weekend, including nighttime operation on Saturday, and with all the other trains available, two cars should be enough.  And we would like to limit mileage on the 309, due to the axle bearing issue.

That leaves 36 and 319, the "Brookins Special"!

This is a nice train -- examples of the earliest and latest orders of wood cars on the CA&E.  A switch job like that takes a while when doing it alone, but the result is worth it.

Then it was back to work on the roof of the 460.

Meanwhile, John has finished painting the letterboard on the 306 with three coats, and plans to start installing the upper sash soon.  First, they need a final coat of paint inside and out, so here he is masking up one of the frames.  

And Mike was once again hard at work needle-chipping various parts for the 1808.

Tim continues making new woodwork for the exterior of the car.

And I spent the rest of the day preparing and tacking down canvas on both sides of the car, starting from the middle.  It's going along well.

Maybe I should organize a pool.  Submit your guess as to how many tacks it will take to finish the job.  Whoever comes closest wins however many are left over.  That should be exciting!

And in other news, the old woodshop now looks much better.

Finally, we have a classic view of the 409 in operation on the Batavia branch.  Paul Schneble was the motorman.  I could be pretty sure he wouldn't try to throw a mailbag at me.

 So that was another productive and enjoyable day out at the Museum.