Oohs and Ahhs

Frank writes...

Yes, the fireworks show returned successfully - and spectacularly - on Sunday night! But more about that in a minute. I arrived in the early afternoon on Sunday just in time to serve as a "car line relief" motorman. I ran the 3142 for a little while so that its motorman for the day, Matt, could get a lunch break. After that, it was back to work - in this case, on Veracruz 19.

Our beloved open car's air compressor has the annoying habit of blowing a lot of water into the system, and that water likes to collect in the motorman's straight-air brake valve and start it rusting. As such, the valve had frozen up so badly that even after taking the thing off the car and putting it in a vise, it took a wrench with a cheater bar to budge the stem. But, Richard and I finally got the valve apart, as shown here, and cleaned it up. With the water out of it and some new grease, it was put back on the car. Thanks, too, to Nick and Greg, who helped reinstall one of the cross seats on the 19. Who's up for a ride on a one-truck open sleigh?

After all that, I took a tour through Barn 6, which is impressive during the day but truly awe-inspiring at night. Jim has really outdone himself - it's a spectacular addition to the exhibits we offer visitors during the HHR event. And then it was time for the fireworks show! Those of us who were in the car shop braved the 18-degree weather and trooped over to the 50th Avenue platform to watch the display. Above is Joel, Greg, Nick, Jimmy, and Richard.

This was early in the show - it went on for seven or eight minutes and concluded with a terrific finale that any municipality would be proud of.

And the show was certainly popular with the attendees! They were lined up along the station platform (our people wisely held off boarding until after the fireworks show was over so that nobody had to choose between seeing the show and boarding early), up and down Depot Street, and along Railroad Avenue.

It seemed like the first weekend of the event went pretty smoothly overall. There were a few hiccups, but nothing major. I certainly want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has been working so hard to keep HHR running. This year we've sold a record number of tickets, and all the smiling faces of the attendees are a testament to the untiring efforts of all the volunteers and staff who made it happen.