Greetings!
The Pie (Pi) day observance at Hoosier Valley today was marked by temps in the 50's, sunshine all day, and much activity! We'll settle for that!
Managed to make it to the museum in time for the morning Board meeting. The ladies from the Starke County Community Foundation gave the Board a report on the museums Endowment Fund. Along with a nice check for the 2015 distribution. Worth considering a donation to the Fund for sure.
One of the things reported on at the Board meeting by Joe Kingsbury was the fact the the ND&W Porter diesel, after Joe and Rich Warner had worked on the wiring, had been successfully moved slightly forward and backwards with the throttle. Progress continues! Joe also reported that both the headlights on ND&W #5332 are now operational (see first photo for the recent installation).
Also reported was that the new ties for track repair would be coming in this week. A contractor is performing this work. As part of the museum contribution. we will supply ballast and to make sure that we have a supply of good ballast, a machine has been rented that will sort out our rock pile to remove dirt, "fines", and give good rock to the contractors.
It was noted during the meeting, that one of the boards for the walkway from the parking lot across the track to the depot, was missing. This board was replaced during the day. Not sure whether Bob Albert or Bob Jachim, did the work, but excellent work.
More info on Board activities will be found in the upcoming museum newsletter. Lots of interesting things going on. And also, a membership meeting coming up next Saturday.
Steve Henrichs used his grinder to wire brush levers 1 through 6 in Grasselli Tower, removing 100 years of flaking paint (see second photo). Hard to see in the photos, but the cleaned levers look really good. Nice job Steve! Also took measurements for leg supports for the old sink which he will re-install in the near future. And there are a lot more levers to be taken care of!
John LaOrange fired up Alco # 310 and went down a pulled out the Purdue crane and gondola NKP # 45622 and moved them over to the rock pile near Main Street so that they will be ready when the fore mentioned rock sorter arrives this coming week. The gon will be used for the storage of the "fines" until they can be moved to a suitable place on the property for fill. Dave Cook worked on getting our Chevy dump truck back in operation after it had been sitting all winter. The dump truck will be used to move the good ballast over to the location where the contractor is installing the new ties.
Fred Boyer was priming recently cleaned areas on C&EI work car # A-1054 (see third photo).
It was recently reported that Bob Albert was working on a set of metal steps. Today, Bob took those steps down to the ICRR display caboose today and installed them in place to be ready when the displays are put into the car. Check the 4th photo for the arrangement to make it easier for future visitors to access the caboose.
Finally, in reference to the installation of headlights into the Notre Dame Porter diesel, those headlights came from the Whitcomb 44 ton diesel, which is currently out of service. I felt that this left the Whitcomb looking a bit "naked" so I found the old reflectors up on the storage shelves. These reflectors had been sitting up there since the headlights had been changed on the Whitcomb a number of years ago to improve "lamp power". After quite a bit of trial and error, I finally got them both installed back into the Whitcomb's hoods. Photos show the "before" and "after" views. I think there's an improvement. Hopefully you might agree.
Loretta Kosloske and Bob Barcus ran the gift shop today. Margrett Cook provided lunch, including liver and onions and/or tacos (mild or spicy).
Good to see the signals operating today as the Alco moved over the museum trackage.
Spring seems to finally be here, even if it's not quite "official" yet. We had quite a few visitors show up today. We can always use help at the museum. Come out if you can!
Les
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