Hi folks,
It's now Sunday afternoon 4/25/10 and I have finally found the time to write down my impressions on Yesterdays (4-24-10) work session.
With plenty of hands on board, we were able to remove all of the remaining parts to be worked on from the trailers and moved around about 20 pallets of parts to get to them.
With the exception of the main driver bearing boxes, everything we removed has been cleaned, degreased and coated. They have also been wrapped, palletized and replaced into the trailers.
We also had a small crew working on the driver crankpins, bearing and journals as well as the pilot truck journals.
I took it upon myself to treat everyone to a nice lunch of BBQ burgers and dogs. I think they were getting sick of PIZZA.
For next weeks session the bearing boxes will be completed and that will leave us ONLY to clean out and coat both steam cylinders and both valve cylinders, the crosshead guides and the pedestal legs on the frame of #35.
With another crew like yesterday we can accomplish this task in about 4-5 hours.
This will then allow us to get back to working on the turntable.
During this coming week, a few of the volunteers who are retired will be going up to clean out and prepare the historic train station for our upcoming open house which will be on Saturday May 8th from 10-4pm.
We will also be dedicating our recently completed Worlds Fair Cab display which starts promptly at 2pm.
We are doing this dedication in honor of 3 of our volunteers who have passed away.
George Hunka, Pete "Fazoots" Taormina and James "Jamie" Carley.
This dedication meant more to me as I knew all 3 and Jamie was my brother in law. Many Carley family members attended the dedication and were grateful that we remembered him and our other 2 friends
If you are a faithful follower of my blogs, come on down and say hi. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend as my nephew is making his communion, but stop by and tell everyone from OBRM that you are a blog follower!
Gary
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Some NEW information
Folks,
just to let you know, we are on facebook and my photos are up at PHOTOBUCKET under THEWINEGUY35. Soon we will be on TWITTER as well. I guarantee you that I WILL NOT be doing the twittering! I am enough of a twit and our FACEBOOK page will be maintained by one of our younger members. I'm too much of a dinosaur for FACEBOOK.
Gary
just to let you know, we are on facebook and my photos are up at PHOTOBUCKET under THEWINEGUY35. Soon we will be on TWITTER as well. I guarantee you that I WILL NOT be doing the twittering! I am enough of a twit and our FACEBOOK page will be maintained by one of our younger members. I'm too much of a dinosaur for FACEBOOK.
Gary
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Work, Work, Work!
A dreary start to the work day.
Thankfully the coffee was hot.
With only four people at the worksite, we managed to move hundreds of parts around in order to remove the first set of pieces from the parts trailer. We worked on 1 set of drive rods, 1 set of reverser links and quite a few sets of valve gear rods and eccentrics as well as a host of smaller parts that needed attention. As I last mentioned, we need to clean all bearings of grease and old alemite as well as all journals associated with the valve gear parts and reciprocating parts for #35's drive train. With a few more hands over the next 3 weekends, we should be able to complete the task at hand before the contractor, Steam Operations Corp. comes in for their inspection date in May.
Keep your fingers crossed for a great turnout next week!
Gary
Thankfully the coffee was hot.
With only four people at the worksite, we managed to move hundreds of parts around in order to remove the first set of pieces from the parts trailer. We worked on 1 set of drive rods, 1 set of reverser links and quite a few sets of valve gear rods and eccentrics as well as a host of smaller parts that needed attention. As I last mentioned, we need to clean all bearings of grease and old alemite as well as all journals associated with the valve gear parts and reciprocating parts for #35's drive train. With a few more hands over the next 3 weekends, we should be able to complete the task at hand before the contractor, Steam Operations Corp. comes in for their inspection date in May.
Keep your fingers crossed for a great turnout next week!
Gary
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The beginning of (we hope) the end-of the tunnel!
Well, we started the restoration of #35.
Shouldn't I be happier??
Our crew started the restoration by working on the braking system on our forklift. We were still encountering a major issue with the brakes applying automatically while in reverse. Not a way to work, so we adjusted them. This meant a 3 hour marathon wheel and axle removal/replacement session.
After a short lunch, we set up a work tent and moved one of the 2 heavy duty shop work tables inside of it and the other was moved parallel to the parts trailer so we can set up a second tent over it.
This will give us plenty of dry work space and allow 2 people to use the tables simultaneously to get more parts competed.
We were given a list by our contractor, Steam Operations Corporation (S.O.C), a very prominent steam locomotive rebuilder and most of the list if not all was regarding the reciprocation assemblies.
Drive & pilot trucks, Valve gear assembly, rods and steam/valve cylinder interiors.
There are a lot of parts involved and since we are just a Saturdays only volunteer force, we need to move out many parts at a time.
These parts will need to have their journal faces, bearing faces and crankpin diameters checked against the PRR/LIRR blueprints for the G5s class of 10 wheeler that #35 belongs to in order to begin a plan to restore the parts.
We will be cleaning all of the area listed for us and then coating the pieces so the contractor can do his work.
This is phase 1.
After this phase has been completed, Scott Lindsey (S.O.C), will bring in his crew for a few days and measure/record all of the findings. Then he will go back to his offices and create a master plan with associated costs.
This plan will then be submitted for verification against the blueprints and work will begin to move the parts to his shop for the rebuilding during phase 2!
Pray for us to
finish on time.
Then we can go back to finishing our turntable!!!!!
Gary
Shouldn't I be happier??
Our crew started the restoration by working on the braking system on our forklift. We were still encountering a major issue with the brakes applying automatically while in reverse. Not a way to work, so we adjusted them. This meant a 3 hour marathon wheel and axle removal/replacement session.
After a short lunch, we set up a work tent and moved one of the 2 heavy duty shop work tables inside of it and the other was moved parallel to the parts trailer so we can set up a second tent over it.
This will give us plenty of dry work space and allow 2 people to use the tables simultaneously to get more parts competed.
We were given a list by our contractor, Steam Operations Corporation (S.O.C), a very prominent steam locomotive rebuilder and most of the list if not all was regarding the reciprocation assemblies.
Drive & pilot trucks, Valve gear assembly, rods and steam/valve cylinder interiors.
There are a lot of parts involved and since we are just a Saturdays only volunteer force, we need to move out many parts at a time.
These parts will need to have their journal faces, bearing faces and crankpin diameters checked against the PRR/LIRR blueprints for the G5s class of 10 wheeler that #35 belongs to in order to begin a plan to restore the parts.
We will be cleaning all of the area listed for us and then coating the pieces so the contractor can do his work.
This is phase 1.
After this phase has been completed, Scott Lindsey (S.O.C), will bring in his crew for a few days and measure/record all of the findings. Then he will go back to his offices and create a master plan with associated costs.
This plan will then be submitted for verification against the blueprints and work will begin to move the parts to his shop for the rebuilding during phase 2!
Pray for us to
finish on time.
Then we can go back to finishing our turntable!!!!!
Gary
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The dreary side of museum work
What a day it was!!
Sunny, dry and unseasonably warm.
This was a day that was a long time coming. Years in fact!!
Plenty of hands were on deck, which allowed us to perform MUCH needed maintenance on our truck and forklift. Even though some always said we were throwing good money after bad on these two pieces of equipment, they have always proven themselves when we needed them.
The forklift had MAJOR work done to change all of the fluids/filters, new battery cables and a horn was installed. Unfortunately, the parts store could not get us the radiator hoses and an air filter for it and we have not gotten the special wheel hub tool which would allow us to service the brakes.
These parts will be in this coming week and we will need to spend a few more hours performing the needed service.
As for our truck, all of the fluids/filters were changed out and the entire truck was lubed up as well. We also needed to lube up the door latches in order to open them up more easily. We only need to change out 2 more belts and the windshield wipers. Again, not available.
Both units are working better than they have in years and the truck also received a new paint job. Worlds Fair GREY.
The forklift will receive a new paint job next time.
These two units will be in heavy duty use over the next 6 weekends as we prepare to unload the 2-40 foot trailers of parts for #35.
Why? because we are starting the restoration of #35's frame & running gear!
Gary
Sunny, dry and unseasonably warm.
This was a day that was a long time coming. Years in fact!!
Plenty of hands were on deck, which allowed us to perform MUCH needed maintenance on our truck and forklift. Even though some always said we were throwing good money after bad on these two pieces of equipment, they have always proven themselves when we needed them.
The forklift had MAJOR work done to change all of the fluids/filters, new battery cables and a horn was installed. Unfortunately, the parts store could not get us the radiator hoses and an air filter for it and we have not gotten the special wheel hub tool which would allow us to service the brakes.
These parts will be in this coming week and we will need to spend a few more hours performing the needed service.
As for our truck, all of the fluids/filters were changed out and the entire truck was lubed up as well. We also needed to lube up the door latches in order to open them up more easily. We only need to change out 2 more belts and the windshield wipers. Again, not available.
Both units are working better than they have in years and the truck also received a new paint job. Worlds Fair GREY.
The forklift will receive a new paint job next time.
These two units will be in heavy duty use over the next 6 weekends as we prepare to unload the 2-40 foot trailers of parts for #35.
Why? because we are starting the restoration of #35's frame & running gear!
Gary
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