Weather respite at HVRM 2/21/15

Greetings one and all!

After frigid weather (below zero at times) this week and more in the forecast for the upcoming week, old Mother Nature gave us a break today at Hoosier Valley with temps approaching 40 degrees!  Thank you...thank you....thank you!  There was no museum report from last week as, right after the Board meeting, everyone hit the road.  There were white out conditions on the way home, and a number of accidents, but fortunately none involving HVRM folks.   

Arrived at the museum today a bit after 9:00 a.m. and talked to Doug and Loretta Kosloske in the depot.  Then over to the Shop, where things were humming!   Fred Boyer was on the green manlift, grinding rust off of the car sides of C&EI tool car # A-1054.  John DeGan was "relaxing" by laying on the cold concrete floor, where he was wire brushing and using the grinding wheel on one of the cars trucks (see photo #1 below).  Fred eventually determined that some steel patches needed to be welded to cover holes in the car side of A-1054.  Fred found a suitable piece of steel so enlisted Bob Albert to start cutting (second photo below).   John was called to do the welding job and I took over cleaning the cars truck.  Unfortunately, John found a bad part on the welder and had to run out to the local farm store in Knox for a replacement only to find out after returning that something blew in the welder, and repairs need to be made.  Next week!

We seem to always have visitors to the museum, even in the winter.  Shown below is a photo of Bob Jachim finishing up a talk on C&O 2-8-4 # 2789 and HVRM with a mother and her interested son.  Always glad to take the time to do these and Bob especially, is an expert.

Lunch at the museum is often mentioned in these reports, but I thought that today I'd include a couple of photos of our lunch car before the guys came in to eat.  NKP # X58538 started out as a box car and was converted by the Nickel Plate into a camp car.  As you can see, it's a bit crowded, which is the reason why we are restoring our C&EI tool car, which will be used for table space after it is finished.  Members are encouraged to spend a Saturday or two with us, and help us in our efforts.  Margrett Cook provided todays lunch.

After lunch, Steve Newland cut out one of the window inserts that the C&EI put on the A-1054 when it was in work train service.  We needed to cut out these old inserts as we prepare to put in new moveable windows.  Unfortunately, the photo of Steve's work didn't turn out.  Will try to get one next time.

Joe Kingsbury and Rich Warner continued their efforts in restoring the cut up wiring in our ND&W Porter diesel # 5332.  Hard to get a photo in the tight confines of the Porter's cab, but here is one of Rich doing his thing.  There was some hope that today, the wiring for the reverser on the unit had been figured out, and it was decided to test it.  John LaOrange brought up the 55 gallon drum of fuel and pumped some into the 5332's fuel tank, but although the diesel power plants then fired up, the unit just wouldn't move. Back to the drawing board!

John and Mark Knebel then opened the back door of the West Annex of the Shop and replenished the inside pile for the wood stove.

Also at the museum today were Dave Cook, Randall Downs, and others I probably missed.

Have a great week everyone.  And....STAY WARM!

Les  

Welding & Grinding Tool Car/ERIE 310 2-7-15

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Greetings,

 

After a snowy week in Northwest IN, it was a delightful day at North Judson, temps were in the lower

40's with a bright sunny sky. Snow was rapidly melting off the shops roofs an large chunks of snow

falling below. A record snow level of 15 inches plus fell Super Bowl Sunday. Cory had the back hoe

out pushing snow for a place to park an drive.

 

I arrived about 10am an went into the depot. Bob Barcus and Loretta were both working. Spent a

few minutes talking to Bob about his week. Had been a hard week on everyone.

 

Driving down to the shop, snow was melting fast in the bright sunshine. Entering the shop a couple

of projects were in progress. Doug an John DeGan had taken off a bent bar on the ERIE 310

and applied the torch to it to heat it up and bend it back in a straight. After twisting an turning the

steel rod, it was finally straight on the uncoupling rod to pull the pin. Just a cosmetic thing, but

made the steel look better.

 

Joe and Richard were at it again in the ND&W 5332 tracing wiring an replacing worn wire. The highlight

of the day was when the diesel engines were started in an attempt to trace an electrical problem.

The engines sounded great. Don't know if that helped or not. The shop door was opened to let

out exhaust. The wood stove had the shop at a nice temperature, an was actually getting a little

too hot.

 

Fred Boyer was busy grinding on the outside of the tool car. Dave Cook an Grandson were up on

the manlift working on grinding down the edges of the old ventilation openings and welding blanks

over the open holes. So this completes work on the vents, Doug has come up with an idea

for replacing the window openings with a wood frame glass window that will open in the summer.

Doug will make up a model to show how the wood frame an window will work. When its decided

to torch out a section of the windows, the size will be known or decided on. The frame will be built

when the inside is framed out with wood.  A number of people worked on grinding today, Steve Newland,

Les Beckman. Many thanks for working on the tool car.

 

Back to the ERIE 310, once the steel rod was fixed, it was decided that the drooping coupler had

to be fixed somehow. It ended up taking the big steel plate on the end of the diesel body off, to get

at the bolts holding the coupler in position. After using the torch to loosen up a couple of nuts,

the bottom plate was finally free an fell to the ground, and after that the coupler pin fell out an

the shaft itself easily was pushed out on the ground with a thud. John Degan did his torching work

of removing the old plate installed years ago. The old plate was used as a pattern for a new 3/8 inch

plate. In the meantime, Cory an John LaOrange took the bottom plate down to the hydraulic press to

bend the steel flat and after putting some heat to it, the steel plate finally was flat again. Over the years,

hard couplings wore the old plate down and bent the bottom plate, resulting in the drawbar to sag some.

After John DeGan welded in the new plate, Doug, Cory & John lifted the heavy coupler back into the

pocket. That was it for the day, time was 3:30pm. Tools were picked up, power to the welder was

turned off, light turned off. The only thing left is to reassemble the drawbar and put the steel plate

back on the front of the engine.

 

Next Saturday is Board meeting at 8am in the depot. Days are getting a little longer, lighter earlier

in the morning, soon to spring ahead next month to CDST. Spring is on the way, soon to turn to

outside activities, track work is top on the list, with new ties arriving next month for the replacement

program. New train times are being implement this year, along with guest engineer programs.

Come on out an volunteer soon.

 

Regards

 

Tom Travis