It's Inspection Season

Frank writes...

Annual inspection season is upon us again! Over the next few weeks, we plan on conducting annual inspections of our regular service CA&E wood cars. At the moment, this means the 309, 319, and 36, probably in that order.

First up is the pride of the fleet, the 309, which Joel and the crew brought over from Barn 8 on Friday. Here it is in its first foray into the new Barn 4 extension. Joel did all the inspection work on the #1 truck, air compressor, grids, and roof - if you look closely, you can see him up there about at the junction between the new and old barn sections, adjusting the angle of the car's pole. A few minor things that needed fixing were found. I inspected the #2 truck when I arrived mid-afternoon.

Joel then pulled the 309 out to the car line using the 25-tonner, as shown above, after which I switched the car over to Barn 8. I also moved the 36 and 319, which were at the door, west into the barn. We ran out of time and manpower before we could test-fit the new axle cap bearing, but we hope to fit that job in sometime within the next couple of weeks.

At the end of the day, I put a coat of cream paint on the windows for the 18, shown here. These will be ready to install in the car the next time I'm out. There are very few drop sash windows that still need fresh paint, but there's plenty of other work to do on the car's exterior like patching the drop rail, painting the belt rail, fixing up the doors... the list goes on!

Sunday was opening day of the 2024 regular season, but there wasn't much of a crowd thanks to the cool temperatures and driving rain that didn't let up until about closing time (of course), after which the sun came out. Several volunteers were working on a variety of car shop projects but I didn't get any photos. I did snap a photo of this: the rail display that Richard is working on over in Barn 8 is starting to come together. The bottom shelf is done and the second shelf is in place, minus it risers. These will also feature under-cabinet-style lighting that will illuminate the sections of rail and make it a very eye-catching exhibit.

If you didn't see the post a couple of days ago, check out our Take a Seat campaign for the 451, 453, and 460! We're very excited about this opportunity improve the look of the 460, which is one of our regular service cars, and get the 451 and 453 closer to regular public operation.