Entries by Pauline Trabert

Saturday, September 20, 2014: Jim Windmeier power washed the caboose-end vestibule of the 1st Exhibit Car in Yard 5 while Kevin Kriebs continued sanding the exterior of the 1st Exhibit Car. Jon Habegger was at his station inside the Exhibit Car greeting visitors and answering questions.

Shelly Vanderschaegen and Mark Gellman assisted Michael McCraren with his class reunion getogether in the Birmingham. They wrapped up the party around 5:00 PM. Other Saturday visitors included Kevin Brown who stopped by with some cookies.

Mark Gellman helping out with the reunion gathering - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Birmingham Diner setup for the reunion gathering - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Railroad china and glassware on display for the reunion - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Michael McCraren (3rd on left) with his class reunion in the Birmingham - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Sunday, September 21, 2014: Ray Mormann, Mark Gellman, Michael Baksic and Jeff Calendine removed the air conditioners in the streamliner cars which took all day. Shelly cleaned in the Ely and took some photos.

Streamliner car air conditioner as it was - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Ray Mormann helping to remove air conditioners - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Michael Baksic stands on the fork lift platform - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Michael Baksic pulling out one of the AC units - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Jeff Calendine at the fork lift controls for AC removal - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

John McKelvey replaced and stitched padding for a chair from the Santa Fe Lounge Car.

John McKelvey with material from a Santa Fe Lounge Car seat - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Sunday lunch visitors in the Birmingham included Susan Stepek, her son David, and Nick Kallas. After lunch Gwyn Stupar stopped by and David crushed cans and showed off his new Thomas cars.

David Stepek displaying his newest Thomas cars - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Susan Stepek behind her camera - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Saturday, 9/13/14: Jennifer met with Mark Gellman about the Halloween train. Later Mark and Michael McCraren took the old window out of the Pacific Peak vestibule door. A new window and gasket were acquired.

Sunday, 9/14/14: Ray Mormann worked with Mark and Michael McCraren to install the new window and gasket in the Pacific Peak vesibule door. Michael Baksic, Ray, and Mark spent a good portion of the rest of the day in the Silver Ridge. Michael McCraren also worked as a conductor on the coach train on Sunday.

The new vestibule door window with gasket rests on a table in the Birmingham - Photo by Michael McCraren

Mark (outside) and Ray work together to install the window and gasket - Photo by Michael McCraren

Butter knives helped line up the gasket in the window opening - Photo by Michael McCraren

Mark is sqeezed in the door while Ray works on adjustments inside - Photo by Michael McCraren

John McKelvey took a chair from the Santa Fe lounge car apart, down to the frame. He plans to reupholster it.

Jon Habegger was going back and forth with visitors in the 1st Exhibit Car.

Shelly Vanderschaegen vacuumed the Loch Sloy and cleaned.

Michael Baksic and Mark Gellman set to work on the buffer of the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific 2555 that was pulled from the coach train last weekend. They spent most of the day on this project and will have to order parts to complete the repair. Later, Mark started changing light bulbs in the Lochsloy and Pacific peak for the Screamliner.

RI 2555 buffer repair was begun by Mark Gellman and Michael Baksic - Photo by Jon Habegger

John McKelvey continued working on the Henrietta seats but needed trim pieces to complete them. He fully expects to be finished with these seats this week, for this year at least. John is a snowbird and is getting ready to fly south. Thanks again, John, for your many, many hours of labor on the Henrietta seats.

Shelly Vanderschaegen completed vacuuming in the Silver Ridge and Pacific Peak which basically took all day.

Jon Habegger took pictures and then was in the 1st Exhibit Car greeting visitors.

Lunch visitors in the Birmingham included Bob Hunter who talked about the rubber flooring for the Dover Strait, and Kevin Brown, one of our favorite people. Nick Kallas also joined in conversations and food.

Lackawanna 556 report courtesy of Brian LaKemper: Over the weekend of 9/6 and 9/7, Brian P. and Brian L. each put in several hours needle-chipping and sanding the interior of Lackawanna 556. They also tested a new small media blaster that can use baking soda, ground corn husks, and ground walnut shells in place of the usual (and difficult to remove!) sand. The results: when the blaster is functioning, it does a good job of removing paint; however it is slow going and the blaster frequently needs attention. For the moment, needle-chipping and sanding will be the primary paint removal methods. However, the media blaster has not been entirely abandoned, and will be tested further as time allows.

Brian P. is sending chips of paint flying off the walls of the car - Photo by Brian LaKemper

An in-progress shot of the end of the car - Photo by Brian LaKemper

A close up of Brian Ps efforts - Photo by Brian LaKemper

Brian L. spent about a half hour on each of the window posts in this shot - Photo from Brian LaKemper

Between the two Brians, a large pile of paint chips, used blasting media, and other material was swept up on Sunday evening, along with a general cleaning and organizing of the various tools, cords, and air hoses that are needed for the project.