Snow before the storm at Hoosier Valley RR Museum 1/26/2013

Greetings -   Finally had a  bit of snow earlier this week.  So there was snow on the ground at the museum, but some sun today, although temps stayed in the 20's.  Snow/sleet/ice storm forecast for tomorrow.   Big project at HVRM today was work on the diesel power plant under Long Island commuter coach 2937.  The diesel had apparently been overheating in train service this past season, so a number of the guys were working on it including Cory, Steve H., Dave, Joe K., Joe B. and Rich.  Dirty work!   Fred, Bob J. and I spent the day working on the ex-ICRR yellow display caboose.   John D. and Bjarne continued working on the interior of the ex-Pullman Troop Sleeper display car.   John L. and Bob A. worked on the storage racks in the East Annex of the Shop.   After lunch, LIRR 2937 was pulled out of the shop so that the repaired diesel power plant could be fired up without the exhaust filling the shop building.   When the two display cars were placed in the Shop a few weeks ago, the yellow caboose had been pushed in about 2/3rds of the way into the West Shop Annex so that there was a separation between it and the Troop Sleeper.  Unfortunately, this meant that the heavy canvas curtain that separates the West building from the rest of the Shop could not be lowered.  The West Annex is the only shop section that is insulated so by having the curtain remain up, the insulation advantage was lost.  So after lunch, a discussion took place to see if the caboose could fit into the West Annex behind the Troop Sleeper and the curtain lowered behind it.  Original placement had been made because it was not believed that the two cars would fit, but a measurement seemed to indicate that they might!  No motive power to move the cars so Mark K. got a manual car mover and shoved the Troop Sleeper up about a foot to the very end of the track.  Then he tackled the yellow caboose and soon a number of us were pushing on the car too, and eventually we got it in motion and a coupling was made between the two cars.  They cleared by about 6 inches!  Then we had to climb up and release the canvas curtain which had been tied up in place.  Kudo's to Steve H. for making the climb and cutting the ropes.  This should help keep the guys working on the two display cars a bit warmer this winter!   Bob Barcus manned the depot all day.  Actually had one or two folks drop by!   Temp was at 27 degrees on the thermometer attached to the wall of the watchman's shanty when I pulled out of the museum at 4:15.   Enjoy the weekend, and let's remember to be careful out there!     Les