Here it is Sunday, a day later and 6:03pm.
I waited until today to write my blog due to the fact that we were visited this morning by a troop of boy scouts from Babylon courtesy of our fellow volunteer, Elliot Courtney. More on this later........
Yesterday was a beautiful day-sun was shining and there was a slight breeze off the water.
I showed up a little after 9am and found Ronnie & Rich chatting it up on the bench waiting for me (someone) to open up the shop so we could get to work.
The focus was to finish up the painting of the turntable arch.
Mark, Elliot, John, Peter and Gerard showed up a bit later and then Wayne, Mike, Steve & Leon came over.
Mark and I began the task of setting up the ladders to paint while I had Ronnie take the other guys over to #35 in order to open up all of the valve and steam cylinders for inspection and its annual cleaning + lubrication.
While they were hard at work, Elliot & Peter were set up to lubricate the rocker gear on the pilot truck frame of #35. This is a very important component that allows the pilot truck to actually "lead" the Locomotive into the turns while also providing some springing action to soften the impact of the turn.
All the while, Leon and Rich were busy working on mounting the donated call phone into the crossing shanty and Mike was busy welding up #50's crash beams. These beams had some rust spots that needed to be repaired.
Steve & Wayne took a trip to Dodds and Eder our local garden center to pick up some plants for our entrance. after getting everything installed and watered, some of the guys built rain barrels so we could have an ample supply of "free" water which will save us the energy of having to set up a hose from the fire hydrant and dragging it across the street to water the plants.
Even though this is not something that helps us get our equipment restored or helps in normal museum operations, it does make our little corner of the world a lot less "industrial" and a lot more friendly (read: pretty!) to those who are visiting the park.
At the end of the day, unfortunately, we did not complete the goal of getting the arch finished. Next work session, we'll have to set up the ladders again and paint-paint-paint! we'll "get 'er done" and then??
the volunteers will be finished with our end of the turntable restoration and will have to wait for the electrician and LIPA to get us hooked up to the grid.
Josh came by to drop off a set of legs for the pot belly stove that was given to us by Wayne's grandfather and is being set up in the crossing shanty. A bit of welding repair needs to be done before they will work.
Also we have still to finish the welding repairs to the stove top from #12 AND the removal of the battery box from the dinky #397.
Today, Elliot courtney and his boy scout troop from Babylon arrived at the LIRR Oyster bay station around 12:50 and I was there to meet & greet them.
We had 12 scouts and their troop leaders join me for a walk over to the Historic, Oyster Bay train station to show them around and give them a brief history.
A lot of questions were asked as to its history and upcoming restoration which I was more than able to answer, then it was off to the visitors center up the street where the scouts found their respective "groove".
After all, they are growing boys and what boy doesn't like to ring bells and play with trains?? I don't know any myself......
After an hour we took a walk through beautiful Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park and arrived at the display yard where after opening up all of our equipment, the scouts ran in and out of the cars.
After a little while, I took them aside to instruct them on the differences between electric, diesel and steam locomotives. This went on for a while and they all took the time to look into the boiler and firebox of #35, the engine compartment and transmission of dinky #398 and the M1 simulator. around 12, the troop left to get a bite to eat in the park and get back to the train station to begin their trip back to Babylon. I received a text from Elliot around 1:30 thanking OBRM for hosting the scouts. I would do it again in a heartbeat!!
On another up-note, the Town of Oyster Bay installed a visitors kiosk on the western platform of the Historic train station. This will act as an additional resource for people to stop and visit and maybe lead them to our museum's visitors center in town.
A bit of an Eastern glare, but......
a much better shot looking west.
Well! Just another day in the record books.
Don't know what will be on tap for next Saturdays work session but, never the less, it will be memorial day weekend.
Please remember those men & woman who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we may live free.
Thank a veteran and FLY YOUR AMERICAN FLAG PROUDLY !!
Regardless of our flaws, The USA is still the best country in the world to live in.
Buy American.
Gary
Ladder can be useful for many ways. You can use it as industrial ways,for home necessity,for traveling etc. Useful equipment to use as a safety purpose and useful to keep doing work on it.
ReplyDeleteadjustable ladders