Sunday Rewind

Frank writes...

Follow me as we go back in time, all the way back to Sunday... normally we try and write this blog in chronological order, but I wasn't fast enough getting my Sunday update posted, so you got yesterday's news yesterday and you get Sunday's news today.

The outstanding feature of Sunday was rain - it rained pretty constantly for pretty much the entire day. When I arrived, I was treated to the above view of track 42, which was emptied out in a sizable switch move on Saturday. I'll have to respectfully disagree with my father about the date this track was last pulled; I believe it was about 1995, because I dimly recall when the Kansas City PCC was stored on this track, under a tarp, and I think that it was put inside when Barns 6 and 8 were built around 1994-1995 give or take. Also, a couple of the reefers on this track came from East Troy in about 1989. But in any case, it's been a long time, as the rollercoaster track (which has sunk underneath where the storage cars' trucks were sitting) can attest. And 1982 sounds about right for the last time the rails underneath the access road (in the foreground) were used. Next up: track 43, still loaded (for now) with storage cars which I think may not have been moved since c1985.

We'd been hoping to pull a GE 66 motor out of the container to send out for a rebuild quote - you can help! - but the incessant rain made that an unpleasant option so instead it became (for me, at least) a day of progress on the 18. First, I got the top of the new roll sign attached to its roller. So this sign is now complete, and the box with the remnants of the car's old side signs was given to Joel to put into storage.

I also spent a while applying Bondo to the drop section on the left side of the 18. At some point this will need to be welded up, but for the time being Bondo will have to do.

A huge THANK YOU to Joel, shown here setting up the table saw, for working on cutting wood for a new front end window for the 18. The end window to the motorman's right (if that makes sense) was not in great shape, so it was removed a few weeks ago for reconstruction.

And although that roll sign is now done, it didn't get installed in the car because the mechanism was frozen. I had to drill out the bolts to remove the gearbox from the car, but did get it off and brought into the shop, where we disassembled it. Some filing was done, and we even got to use the surface grinder a bit, and in the end we got the assembly working quite well. Many thanks to Bob Olson (center left), Bob Sundelin (top), and Nick Espevik (right) for all of their help with this! (And if you can find Joel in that photo, you win the prize!)

In other news, I stopped by and said hello to Ray and Julie over in the bus barn; chatted for a while with Richard and a pair of traction and trolley bus fans from Seattle; and helped sort through more donated books that will be forwarded to the Used Bookstore. Some of the regulars were working on checking out a suspect lighting circuit in the 4000s, and others repaired a brake valve for Veracruz 19.