| BLOG | DIRECTIONS | SCHEDULE | STORE |
|
|
| BLOG | DIRECTIONS | SCHEDULE | STORE | |
Sunday, November 23. 2008Second 1/2 a Track Report 11/23Frank and I were out today, naturally Frank was out Way before me though. Good thing because he installed the new radio in the Amtrak brushcutter where the old Amtrak one was mounted. Everything is installed ready to go minus the power to the unit. Nice work for sure. I arrived after lunch with the intention of getting the wine car parts unloaded from the UP hopper from California... Nick asked nicely. Frank had gone over the Model 50 earlier topping off fluids and repairing a tranny leak he found coming off the main pump. seems a lock nut was loose and was leaking at high RPM's. gonna have to keep an eye on that one. Frank was today's crane operator and his luck doesn't seem to be improving when it comes to travel mode. He was able to get it to move one direction but not the other. He found that pivoting the boom one way or the other made it function which tells us the contacts on the swivel post are dirty or corroded... After a while it worked fine so Frank said he'll clean up the contacts and hope that solves the problem.We picked up the UP hopper on station 2 and dragged it over to the steam leads where we picked out the 2 complete freight car trucks, coupler, diesel loco foot boards and steam loco firebox from the car. The car by the way, still has half a load of 20 year old coal in it. Thanks to Jim W and Dan M for running the USA8537 for the day. After lifting the trucks from the car, Jim W pulled the car out and Frank lowered the truck to the ground where Nick was ready with the forklift to move the trucks to Yard 10. Everything went smoothly including the unloading of the 1800's steam locomotive firebox that came along. To wrap up the day Jim, Frank and I dug the EJ&E 529 caboose out from 100 track and put it in Yard 11 for us to use with the Burro crane. The heat does work and I imagine we'll use it this winter. All in all it was a good day. Adam Robillard Sunday, November 23. 2008ATSF 1400 Update November 23, 2008 Prime Painting Buzz Morissette is back at work in the shop restoring metal parts to be reinstalled on one of the platforms. He has been involved in several other 'museum' projects, including completing foundry patterns for casting new brake shoes for the CSL 3142. Thursday, November 20. 2008Woodshop Update November 19, 2008 Window Molding, Too! Henry Vincent is also working to complete a new cab door for our Milwaukee Electric steeplecab locomotive L4. Here is the first coat of grey going on the interior of the door.  Not Their Best Side Henry Vincent and Pete Galayda work on final wiring for our Fay molder.  100 Year Old Window Victor Humphreys, Ed Chase, and Kirk Warner go over an original mahogany window from Boston and Maine 1094. Several new windows need to be made to replace failed windows. The failed sash do not appear to have been made by the railroad, but perhaps a fan threw them together in his home workshop to fill the opening. Thursday, November 20. 2008Milwaukee Electric L 4 November 19, 2008Window Molding, Too! Henry Vincent is also working to complete a new cab door for our Milwaukee Electric steeplecab locomotive L4. Here is the first coat of grey going on the interior of the door. Wednesday, November 19. 2008Extending 40 trackThe big project for the weekend was the extension of 40 track near the electric car shop. Saturday's crew was myself, Tom H, Steve L and help from Jeron G. After a trip to Farm & Fleet, Tom continued to tackle the brush cutter in yard 11 replacing more fluids and filters as well as replacing the battery. The machine was almost entirely lubed and ready to use when the starter went out near the end of the day... Sunday Tom managed to get the starter removed and is getting a repair done during the week. Steve, Jeron and myself spent the rest of the day getting material ready for 40 track by locating and loading the rails, tie plates and joint bars. Thanks to Stan from the car shop the Amtrak flatcar was dug from yard 13 and placed with the Model 50 burro while two of us dug out the hydraulic power pack from Track 24. The flatcar was loaded up and by that time it was time to hit the road.Sunday's crew was myself, Tom H and Steve from the track dept as well as MANY more folks from the electric car shop. We had a bunch of help from from other depts including freight car, passenger coach and diesel as well as the day progressed. John B from the freight car dept helped us out from start to finish, thanks for the help and good meeting you John! At the start of the day, 40 track was cleared off by the shop folks using the Milwaukee Electric L7. After laying out the ties and getting our machines to the work area, we torch cut the rail to length, drilled holes in the existing rail, bolted it all together, laid out tie plates, spiked and gaged the track, raised leveled lined, dressed the track and to top it off we spotted the caboose in its final resting spot. In total we built 24' of new track and it took us till dark to finish it all up. The Model 50 burro crane got a good workout as the workhorse crane of the day. We used the forklift to set the ties, burro crane to set the rail, hydraulic power pack to drill the holes, air compressor to spike the ties and tie crane to nip the ties. Incredibly nothing needed to be jump started the entire day... Thanks to everyone for braving the cold including those who could only help out for a little while. It was all appreciated and very enjoyable working together with everyone. It was tiring but I think most of us can agree it was all very rewarding when it was all said and done. The next big project will most likely end up being the yard 11 project. With or without stone there is a lot of work to still get done including the construction of the new 11-4 track and first pass with the tamper on the other 3 tracks. Until that gets underway we will continue to cut brush along the mainline and get more work done of other machines such as the Jackson 6000 tamper, switch tamper and EJ&E 580 & 585 motorcars.I will eventually get some photos up on my Member's Photo page soon from the weekend. http://www.irm.org/gallery/lzeje657 Adam Robillard Wednesday, November 19. 2008Charles City Western 300 Update November 19, 2008
Since our last entry here months ago, the new decking has been completed, the air tanks tested and painted, and Project Leader Pete Galayda has endured some shoulder surgery.
 West End Pete is recuperated enough that you can see the accumulated progess here, with (l to r) Pete Galayda, Kirk Warner, and Dick Cubbage just lifting and placing the tanks on the new wooden saddles. Wednesday, November 19. 2008 |
Blog AdministrationFind us on FacebookCalendarQuicksearchArchivesSyndicate This Blog |
Comments
Sun, 05-19-2013 22:13
Hello again. I had an idea that was (somewhat rudely, mid-sentence) dismissed in talking to a museum volunteer a few years back, but here it goes [...]
Thu, 05-16-2013 21:52
Looking good Bob! I hope to come out soon once I'm done with school.
Wed, 05-15-2013 21:28
I was not around at the time. General discussion suggests that it was "pretty marginal" in a number of areas. Nigel
Mon, 05-13-2013 11:08
"THUMBS UP!"
Fri, 05-10-2013 02:15
No, it will not be necessary to hold any of the work waiting for the plow to be turned, end for end. Weather will be the major factor, but there will [...]
Thu, 05-09-2013 19:54
The CGW X-38 plow is really coming to life. Bob Kutella and Vic and crew need to be very proud of your collective efforts. I am very appreciative of [...]
Thu, 05-09-2013 15:20
The snowplow looks great! Are you going to apply the door and upper windows befor it is turned to continue work?
Thu, 05-09-2013 09:09
Max, Is there any progress to report yet, in regards to the installation of the poles and overhead wires? Have a good day, sir.
Wed, 05-08-2013 18:40
Thanks for the update! I still don't understand why Commonwealth #5 was removed from service. Do you know why?
Tue, 05-07-2013 09:28
Mr. Kolanowski.....I was just wondering if the Spaulding webcam will be up and running soon for us stay-at-homes. Thanks!2FP
Mon, 05-06-2013 23:04
Max, Has work begun yet on the construction phase of erecting the poles and putting up the wire? Wish I could be there to watch it happen.
Mon, 05-06-2013 23:02
Keep up the good work, Bob. Wish I could be there to help!!!!!!!