Charles City Western 300

We have been very busy lately with special events, but those are now mostly over (with one very large project remaining) and shop work was returning to normal.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Pete Galayda had this bell from the CCW 300 completely refurbished and sitting on the shop bench when we came in.  Of course, everyone just HAD to ring it.

Installation

Gerry Dettloff and John Faulhaber helped hoist this heavy item up on the hood and then bolted it in.

Head In the Clouds

While it looks like Gerry is about to scuff his scalp on the roof rafters, it is just the photo angle and perspective.  But this is a RARE shot of Gerry without a hat!

Pete Galayda is project manager for this restoration and he sent a few additional images of the work to restore the electrical and headlights for this locomotive.

Jacks

Not the children's game of JACKS but some of the old jacks and blocks for plugging in and making the electrical connections for the arc headlights, and the new set made in our shops.  Clearly, the old split and rotted wood need new replacements made.

Arc Lights

Earlier this week I posted an image in the wood shop report of one of the new lights installed on the locomotive hood.  Here is a better shot of NEW vs OLD.  It may be only a small part of the overall project but it is a significant amount of work, more than cleaning and repainting some old metal.  John Nelligan has worked to document and discover the old wiring schemes, conduit has been replaced, the switches cleaned and repaired, the headlight resistance unit fixed, and so on.  Pete and John both deserve a lot of credit for this and all the other work to bring this locomotive back to life (eventually) and make it an attractive and worthy display in our collection.

Project Manger Pete Galayda supplied some nice pics of recent work on this steeple cab locomotive.

Arc Lights

The locomotive uses arc headlights which John Nelligan has adopted as a project.  Here are the original jacks and a restored set.

Welding

Gerry Dettloff pitches in on a LOT of projects where his special skills are needed.  Here he is welding a repair on the pilot of the CCW 300.

Paintwork

The welding is complete and the parts cleaned up.  Pete Galayda is applying primer to the raw metal.  It will not be long before shiny black enamel is applied to finish this area.