Rain, wind and work at Hoosier Valley 11/18/17

 

Greetings -

Very rainy all day today with the winds increasing as the day went on.  Temps were in the mid-40's and then slowly fell.  Meanwhile, work went on at the museum.

The first photo shows a cap made for HVRM in celebration of the ongoing work on Chicago and & North Western boxcar # 284.  Neat cap!

Speaking of C&NW # 284, Mark Knebel has continued working on the lettering in the East Annex of the Shop building.  The second shot shows the nearly finished lettering on the side of the car with the "400 Streamliners" lettering.  Mark has another coat of white paint to apply on the "400" part.   Looking sharp!  The third photo shows Mark masking some of the smaller lettering before spraying.

Meanwhile, Joe Kingsbury was up on the top of ND&W # 5332, removing old paint as shown in the 4th photo.  Note that some of the Porter diesel has now been primed.

There was supposed to be a membership/business meeting today, but the raw weather kept some members home and a Quorum was not present.  Those that were in attendance had a long discussion on the possibility of securing some composite ties. 

Finally, John LaOrange, Rich Warner and Cory Bennett worked on the oil pump on G.E. diesel # 11.  The fifth photo shows John working on the pump while Rich observes from below.  The pump was eventually removed, fixed and was being reinstalled in the unit when I left for home.

Have a good week everyone.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Les

Smaller rewards are good too, at Hoosier Valley 11/4/17

Subject: Smaller rewards are good too, at Hoosier Valley 11/4/17

 

Greetings!

No trains today at HVRM.  That and drizzle with hard rain at times, kept member participation down.  Still, the rewards for smaller projects are satisfying too!

Last week, the K-325 table car was worked on in an effort to find the leak.  That was a success, but the car had to be put back together today.  The first photo shows what was done as David Cook at left and Tom Rainford wait while Cory Bennett is over at the Shop getting the necessary tools for the work.  Job done by lunch!  In the background, Doug Kosloske (at left) discusses operations with Student Conductor Stephen Bulla.

Speaking of lunch, the menu today was chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes and green beans, along with desert.  Thanks to Margrett Cook.

Loretta Kosloske handled all of the depot duties today.

After the last Pumpkin Train last week, Chicago and North Western box car # 284 was moved into the East Annex of the Shop and though temps were in the 40's today, it was still warm enough for Mark Knebel to continue working on the cars lettering as shown in the second and third photos.

Last week, Tom Rainford and I managed to get the three window frames into the engineers window on Kanawha # 2789, even though a "sticking-up-bolt", caused us some headaches.  Today I worked on the fireman's window and the bolt on that side is shown in photo number 4.  Before work even began, I cut that sucker off!  Tom and I eventually managed to get the lower window channel sill removed and the windows in, although these channels too are tight and they will also have to be cleaned up before the frames can be successfully open and closed.  One of the original upper channels on the fireman's side had a screw missing making it loose and not in its proper track.   Looked for some time through the Shop, never figuring I'd find a replacement screw, and of the two possibilities I did find, I had no hope that either would work.  The first one was horribly off, but the second one actually went in and the channel is now secured.  Eureka!  Made my day!

Last week, Bob Albert took one of our blue flags and did some straightening on it (apparently someone had run over it in the past).   Bob took it home and "Rube Goldberged" it.  Today, Cory welded it to make it solid.  So the trash can in the 5th shot is strictly a support for Bob's spray painting and NOT where the flag will end up!  We need every blue flag we can get!

Speaking of Bob Albert, he recently made some new chains to throw under the drivers of 2-8-4 # 2789 when it is parked and a couple are shown in the 6th photo.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Les