Its a dogs life!

You are probably wondering why there wasn't a post last week-Well because I wasn't there and I figured I can double up this week.

My personal saga first.
After losing my sweet Sammydog at the end of September, Things at home just weren't the same. I had toyed with the idea of adopting a greyhound, as a companion for Sammydog, about 3 years ago, when I found (rescued) my boxer, Roxey, off of the Cross Island Parkway near Belmont Racetrack and brought her home. Don't need a greyhound now!
Well, after Sammy passed away, Roxey was in a daze and lonely. So was I and I began to think about the greyhound rescue again. I filled out The paperwork and last Saturday brought home a very frightened and skinny greyhound.
She is still a bit skittish, but her bubbly personality is beginning to shine through and she has been enjoying the good life with Diane & I (and Roxey and Miss Kitty and Fred).

Now for our regularly scheduled Blog-
Last week in my absence, Steve & Wayne ran the show at OBRM.
Somehow, they managed to get almost everything I asked for accomplished and more!
The steam cylinder covers were removed and new wooden ones were fabricated and installed.
The tender truck frames were needle scaled and primed and today, they were tarped over.
They did manage to get the forklift stuck in the dirt and killed it. However, we were able to get it fired up today and moved out of the dirt. No big deal. This must have happened near the middle of the day and while trying to get it moving the motor quit and there was no spark. A few new parts and BINGO!, a working forklift.
We also managed to get the dump truck battery charged today.
The main job today was getting the 6 driver bearing boxes assembled into six units. After a few phone calls to our contractor, he walked us through the assembly as best as he could remember without the plans, and Steve R, Leon, Rich, Paul and "little" John, were able to get 4 completed units together. The 5th unit still needs a bit of work and the 6th unit has no interior parts.
When we did the photographic inventory of #35's parts earlier this year, I screwed up and put the 6th crate of parts on a different pallet and it wound up under the brake hangars in the parts trailer. Without a heavy duty pallet jack to move the pallets around inside the trailer, we can't get to the parts, so I need to get one and get all of the pallets out AGAIN!.
This is not as bad as it seems as we have moved out a lot of parts already into the finished parts trailer, so.......

As I was finishing up today, I realized that we were able to accomplish all of the goals that were set down for 2010.
We completed the turntables motor frame assembly and hooked it up the bridge.
We ordered the new ties for the turntables deck
We completed #35's pilot truck assembly-our portion
We completed the tender truck assemblies-our portion
We completed #35's frame-our portion
We completed #35's drive wheels-our portion
We moved the crossing shanty between the Ping and the WF cab
We cleared the area for our newest acquisition a LIRR M1 simulator which will be arriving shortly
We dedicated the Worlds Fair Cab.

Next year some of our goals are:
Begin the restoration of the Ping Pong Coach
Install the M1 simulator
Install the turntables decking, walkways, handrails, collector arch, power pickup and wire up the motor.

IF possible, I would also like to get #35's cab restoration begun with the assistance of Barry Technical school.

There may not be too many more work sessions as the weather is really getting to my back. We'll be taking it day by day going forward.
GARY