Baby, it was cold outside

But shockingly, not a disaster!,
George, Fred, Steve T and Gary braved a cold day that was to wind up late after 5pm.
As Fred and John P have been working diligently to finish up the sub floor steel work on the cab of #35, all that was left to fabricate and install were 2 more pieces of angle iron. After Fred measured and created the 2, he welded them in and then moved on to fabricating a new step riser for the North East stairwell of the Ping Pong Coach. This top riser was so badly deteriorated at the top edge where it was welded to the diamond plate platform that there was no way we could weld anything to it. SO!, We made the decision to cut it out and replace it. We have found that we will also need to do the same thing with the opposite side top riser, next week.
As to #35's cab, at this point, I believe that we will need to remove the piece of diamond plate that is in one of the parts storage trailers to fit it up onto the new sub floor and measure for anything that will need to be added/replaced/removed. Our goal is to be able to add the shaker bars, firebox doors and seats in their original places to create another simulator.
We still need to complete the needle scaling of the interior and the paint removal on the exterior so that both John and Fred can continue their fantastic pace of restoration.
As for the Ping, after the riser is removed, we will be able to focus solely on installing metal on the interior.. THIS is a great thing.

We should be able to re-start working on the turntable collector box above the turntables arch as our electrician is scheduled to return from his winter vacation this week. As I can see, we need to hook up the 4 wires coming in from the power supply side through the underside of the collector box and the 4 wires that run inside the slip ring of the turntables delivery side. This will/should leave us the opportunity to actually energize the motor directly to see if we can move the turntable. IF all goes well, we then have to wire up the control stand and resistor bank to the motor. Hopefully, if all goes well, we can be completed by summer.
Gary

Weather? we don't need no stinking weather!

Actually, we don't care about the weather (to a degree).
Last Saturday wash a washout, so what to do?
Have a volunteer jam session on Sunday!!
It's been a long time since that happened and although I missed out at my local Historical Society day, , it proved to be a boon for OBRM.
We had quite a few hardy souls arrive to continue working on the cab of #35 which has seen tremendous strides over the course of 2 weeks. I'm writing this on Monday January 14th 2019 so this is right after this past Saturdays session where we had about 10 volunteers up and ready to move the cab project and the Ping Pong Project forward.
Back to the Cab's progress.
When we began this project , Steve Nappy was working out the steel reinforcements for the frame while John Petsche was going like gangbusters on #398, our GE 25 ton diesel locomotive.
Steve got very sick and needed time off to recuperate which I am very happy to say, he is. It was a long haul, but seeing him this past Saturday was great.
after #398's heavy work was completed, John P took over the cab work and fell in love with the planning and execution for this project. He took the BULL by the horns and ran with it even to the point of busman's holidays at the RR Museum of Pa to gather photographic proof of how the cab was erected.
with these and blueprints , he embarked on the cab restoration.
He planned his work and is working his plan using the talents of Fred Rubin who is our master fabricator and welder. Fred worked for the Staten Island Ferry and is using his many years of experience to create the parts needed to make our repairs.
as of right now, the lower frame for the ca has been created from 3+1/2 in steel angles to which were welded 1+1/2 x 3+1/2 in steel angles to create a 5 inch channel with 3+1/2 inch flanges. Both sides and the rear have been completed and  n extra 5 inch channel was fabricated and welded across the cab from side to side effectively boxing out a portion for the installation of the floor material.
Our volunteers began to needle scale the interior surfaces to remove the many ears of crappy insulation and coal dust/tar. this will allow safer and cleaner welding.
John's plan is now going to focus on the front sheet which goes over the boiler, then I believe the roof will be next..
Both lower walls on the engineers and fireman's sides have been completed with all new steel and the lowere rear wall sections have been drawn out to be fabricated this coming weekend. Assuming that we do not get the predicted 14 or so inches of snow, this is very doable!.
Until next time folks!
Gary