Wicked wind from the west hits Hoosier Valley 11/19/16

 

Greetings -

Well, after an extremely mild fall this year, old man winter returned to northern Indiana with a vengeance today!  Temps topped out at about 39 degrees but a wicked wind made it feel like the low 20's!  Despite this, we had a good turnout at the museum.

John LaOrange did some sorting of items on the storage racks in the East Annex of the Shop.

The frigid wind failed  to deter Mark Knebel, Jason Ciastko and Kevin Kennedy from dragging the compressor out to the east end of the museum property to work on the track.  The first photo shows Jason and Mark with their pneumatic air hammers, digging down deep into the ballast as Kevin brings another shovel full of stones to add to some of the low spots.

Meanwhile, Joe Kingsbury and Tom Rainford continued working on C&EI tool car # A-1054.  The next three photos show their work in installing a new side door on the car.  That's Joe in the light jacket and Tom in the dark one.

Margrett Cook made both chili and chicken soup for lunch today.  The hot lunch was a welcome respite from the cold wind.

After lunch, we had the bi-monthly Membership meeting in the depot.  The current situation with the freight operator saw quite an interesting discussion.  Things continue in limbo. 

After the meeting, Bob Albert gave me a couple of framed maps of Grasselli Tower trackage both before the tower was put in place and then the original trackage with signals as of 1902.  We will eventually display these neat maps up in the tower.

Sparky Byers and Rich Warner worked on Notre Dame & Western diesel # 5332.  

One of the things that Tom Travis, Ross and Gee Robinson and yours truly did a number of years ago, was the restoration of Grand Trunk Western transfer caboose # 75072.  After the project was finished, Tom and I were asked to put some seats out on the end platforms for riders, which we did and the car was used on a number of museum trains, including the special trains at Hanna, Indiana.  Through the years, the caboose was used for other things and the platform seats deteriorated.  With two open air cars now in service, the seats were no longer needed and need to be removed.  Despite the cold weather, I managed to get the first seat off, as can be seen in the last photo.  Tom Rainford gave me a hand and we eventually managed to yank it off of the platform.  Hopefully the weather will moderate yet this fall, so that the rest of the seats can be removed.

Stay warm everyone.  The temps ARE supposed to moderate somewhat next week.

Les