Track Department

Trying to beat karma to the punch....

The weather was beautiful today... and that was the problem... Today's plan was to get some minor repairs done on the tie crane. We are once again getting ready to go pick up about 720 ties that were changed out by Volkmann a couple weeks ago. So to avoid problems we did a little preventative maintenance.

I arrived at the museum about 9AM and found Bill there already. Bill and I started to de-fuel the tie crane. Even though the fuel was out of the sight glass there was still about 10 to 15 gallons of fuel left in the tank. We drained the fuel then took the hose off the tank.  We also removed the fuel sight tube to replace that as well.  Jeron showed up and we ran to town to grab parts. While  I replaced the fuel hose, and sight tube, Jeron replaced the damaged mirror and Bill replaced the windshield wiper. We drained the fuel out of the transfer tank, but that was a drop in the tank so to speak. Unfortunately I left my keys in my winter coat..... at home.... SO no truck key, no fuel key.... Guess I'll fuel the crane in the morning.

After that it was time to take in some of the sights of the Illinois Terminal to do.  I took a ride (my first I'll add) on the IT B motor, to see how the ride is after our tie change out.  It's not perfect, but the 25MPH speed restriction seems to be adequate until we can get the line tamped.

While out and about today I did find three more sticks of rail along the ROW, that we need to get picked up and in the gon.  One is out near the Big tree, the other two are along the main line just east of the depot.  We also need to re-set the whistle post along the main. I think we can just pick it up and add some ballast to hold it up.

While all this was going on, Dave and Evan continued work on the 580 Motor car. They have most of the wood off now, and have started to clean old paint and rust off the frame.  They bought a couple of wire wheels for my grinder and were using that to clean it up real nice. They were getting ready to spray on some primer when I was leaving for the day.  It's looking really nice.  I also found one of the brake leaks on a caliper thanks to all the wood being off. Nice work guys! I'll post some pictures to the Members photo section in a few minutes.

Frank D.