Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell Snow Plow

Hosing Around

Jim Leonard and Dave Rogan worked at making up all the remaining replacement hoses for the wings on the plow, with help from Rod Turner.  The heat wave continues and we better get used to it - forecast between 92 F and 97 F the next seven days.  Anyone want to go up on the steel roof and start needle chipping?

What is a NORBITT

NORBITT is marked on the porcelain base of the ceiling fixtures inside the plow and we need one more.  Also on this is lettering showing it to be a product of Crouse Hinds.  Can anyone help here?

Headlight

The existing dual headlight is fairly modern for this plow, but the plan is to use it as a stand in until the possibility of acquiring a Pyle National headlight materializes (with appropriate funding).  As can be seen, several parts are missing or damaged, although we do have the two special sealed beam lamps. 

Badge

This is nameplate badge for the headlight and amazingly, TRANS-LITE is still in business and may be able to furnish the needed parts!  But of course the price could run toward $300.  Anybody know of any such parts for sale or trade from another museum or even salvaged from a junkyard or railroad?

North Door

This does not exactly fit the title here, but just to fool you, and to avoid a new post with only one pic, Victor Humphreys completed  the first coat of finish paint on the north door of the B&O wagon top boxcar.

Windows

Every report needs to talk about WINDOWS.  Buzz Morisette is painting new sash for the AT&SF 1400 caboose.  Yes folks, he made all those in the wood shop.  And earlier in the day, completed installing the last three temporary plywood window blanks for the X 38.

Black Wings

We had a plan to try to avert punishment in the predicted mid nineties heat (I think it made it to 95 or 96).  Start early with the painting and assemble the crew to work through it efficiently and quickly.  The volunteers responded!  Dave Rogan, Jim Leonard, and Victor Humphreys are about an hour into the process and well along.

Tight Quarters

Dave and Jim are on the ground doing the brush work while Victor is on the scaffold doing the larger flat areas.

Cleaning

It was all elbows when Dick Cubbage joined us and he quickly set up to do more wire brushing on the side, to get more ready for primer, to get more ready for PAINT.

Hose Job

It was REALLY HOT but Jim Leonard continued on the project, here installing a new 250 psi rated air hose.  There are eight such flexible air connections to the cylinders which move the plow wings in and out.  They are all very old and hardened, and one had already cracked and broken.  As the wing is extended or retracted the entire actuating piston rotates slightly so the flex hose is an absolute need.  First one is done!

Cab Cupola

Buzz Morisette has been working to close up the cupola.  He has now completed that task using some of the original sash and some plywood boarding up.  This is somewhat of a necessary but temporary measure.  With some funding, the plan is to use the coming winter months (sounds funny saying that now) to purchase hardwood and fabricate eleven new windows and two new doors.

Jim Leonard had picked up his pipe wrenches and was heading home.  Good that the cupola is relatively more weatherproof but it did not make it any cooler working inside the plow body.

As mentioned in the steam report, we had a squall line with heavy rain coming through in late morning, and that changed our plans somewhat.

It Will Gobble You Up, Don Burkett Photo

It Will Gobble You Up

This shows the difference between a true PHOTOGRAPHER, someone who knows what they are doing - and a point and click hack like me.  This is not a view that most snowplows have had recorded.  But if you are ever standing in front of one, it resembles or reminds you of nothing else than a giant set of jaws ready to gobble you up.  Stand aside.

We are very fortunate to have new member/volunteer Don Burkett to share his work at IRM with us.  Look for more of it in the future.  I could see the potential DRAMA in a head on shot as I was standing there, but could not capture it with the camera.

Windows

This sure does not look like a window.  But Buzz Morisette continues to work on closing up openings in the X 38.  Dodging the weather, he moved into the shop to cut up some plywood blanks for the openings.  Other openings have some parts of the old frames existent and he is re-glueing and patching them together.  Not strictly a finished restoration but it will safeguard the equipment and buy us some time to make new ones over the coming winter.

Left Wing

New volunteer Tom Bernacki is finishing up the last small area to be ready for painting.  Tom is a careful and energetic worker, and flexible enough to dart into the shop when the rain began; he helped make sawdust from some new timber.  Thank you Tom, it was a pleasure.  And yes, Victor Humphreys got all that primed before leaving for the day.  In my case the higher you remove yourself form terra firma, the somewhat slower the work goes.