Greetings!
Forecast today was for heavy rains at times all day and possible flooding. But, although it was dreary all day and we did have both rain and drizzle at times, a surprising number of folks were at the museum.
When I arrived at about 9:00, there was no one at the Shop but were gathered instead in the depot where a discussion was going on about a possible solar panel installation where the museum track crosses Route 10/39.
No rain at that time, so I talked Tom Rainford into giving me a hand with the speaker phone that Mark Knebel had given us to use in the tower. With Tom doing the work, the phone was installed (see photo number 1).
Last week, a second coat was put on C&EI tool car # A-1054 and Bjarne Henderson had arranged to have a new set of vinyl lettering made for the car. The car, which is to be the future "table car/meeting room" for the museum, will be lettered HOOSIER VALLEY and given the number K-325, its old U.S. Army number when it was in service as a kitchen car.
Tom is shown in the second photo, putting the new vinyl K-325 on one of the car ends. Meanwhile, Kevin Kennedy (at left in the 3rd photo with Bjarne) are seen checking to make sure that the vinyl letters are straight. In the 4th shot, Bjarne is shown attaching another section of the lettering.
We stopped for lunch about this time. Tami Shaw and Jason Ciastko had brought down home made chili and spicy ham and cheese sandwiches while Margrett Cook brought home made ice cream and brownies! We eat good at Hoosier Valley!
John DeGan had cleaned up a short section of the side rods on Chesapeake & Ohio # 2789 and the results are shown in the fifth photo. This is John's 4th attempt to clean up the rods on the 2-8-4 and make them look presentable. Keep your fingers crossed! I then asked John if he could take his angle grinder and try to clean up the upper window tracks in the cab of the Kanawha and the 6th shot shows John doing just that. He also reported to me that these tracks appear to be in sections and bolted in. Which is good news for the future window installation.
John LaOrange put water into some of GE #11's batteries. A job that entailed a tight fit to get into the battery compartment under the cab of the 95-tonner.
In the meantime, work continued on the K-325 and after getting all the lettering for the museum name put in place, the afternoon was spent in getting the vinyl letters attached. The 7th shot shows Bjarne straightening out a "tail" on the "H" in Hoosier while Tom removes the paper backing on the "I". When I left after 4:00, only four of the letters needed to be completed. Soon the car will be moved out, switching performed, and the car put into place next to the museums current "lunch car", NKP # X58538.
Finally, parked outside the number 1 track of the Shop, was the museum's Purdue University crane as shown in the last photo. Mark Knebel had worked on new paint during the week with an assist from Bud Tibbie. Not quite finished yet but looking good!
Much more rain is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow and into Monday. Stay dry if possible!
Les
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