July, 2014 Work Weekend and Independence Day Railroading

With a number of MCRR people coming in for the Independence Day celebration (and the running of No. 6) the RR moved "Work Weekend" up by 7 days. Trains on Friday; continued maintenance and repairs on Saturday and Sunday. In general, one crew dealt with No. 6 and another did track maintenance. A few side jobs also occurred.

One of the side jobs was with John G. and Kendall O. assembling the experimental "class lamp" brackets, originally seen here.

Roger R. mixed the water treatment chemicals together and injected them into No. 6's boiler

No. 6 peeks out of the pit track at the shop building.

Engineer Dave R. supervises his two daughters Lindsay (at ground level) and Jennifer (on the locomotive) while they clean and polish the air compressor and boiler jacket in its vicinity.

No. 6 ready to be brought outside and get a natural gas fire.

A few pictures of No. 6 pulling a train.

The weather was so nice bringing the "toys" -- the "T" and "A" -- out to help was a given.

No. 12 gets a bath.

Ryan F. prepares to toss a few ties into the backhoe's bucket.

Cleaning debris from between the rails.

Cleaning the trench for the new tie.

Using the skid steer, Griffin W. fills the tie installation trench.

Several track crewmen finish the installation of the new ties. Matt C. does some investigations into a mystery wire uncovered during the tie removal.

The tie installation was nearly done when the train started running. Work was interrupted as the train passed.

Since the next operating event isn't until late August, the boiler was drained and the locomotive was prepared for two months of inactivity.

-steam.airman

June, 2014 Work Weekend

Our thanks to whoever is responsible for the beautiful weather this work weekend!

Chris P. and Braden G. had been painting the signals, taking advantage of the Haulotte manlift. Chris P. drove the manlift to the fueling station when Matt C. noticed a drip of diesel fuel coming from the engine compartment. Matt C. removed the bad hose and replaced it with a new part, resolving the fuel leak.

New brake shoes for No. 12 had been purchased. Using our forklift, the shipment is removed from the FedEx Ground truck.

We consolidated some of the hardware being stored on the flatcars and "donkey" car. In particular, the cab from No. 2 was taking far too much space on a flatcar; it was moved to the donkey car. With the donkey engine's boiler centered on the flatcar and No. 2's cab in the rear and No.2's stack on the front, it makes for an unusual "steam engine."

One of the shop overhead doors had a minor problem: the chain drive's chain fell off making it impossible to open the door. Rex F. adjusts the chain with the recently repaired manlift. Unfortunately, with the manlift inside the shop it was noticed that one of the wheels was leaking hydraulic fluid. Rex F. had a close look at the leak to help determine what needed to happen next.

One of the major efforts this work weekend was readying No. 6 for the Lennis Moore "Celebration of Life" scheduled for the following weekend. The staff cleaned the locomotive, plugged and filled the boiler, and performed the pre-event hydro test.

Kendall O. finishes the pressure washing of the tender.

Matt W. installs the plug in the smokebox flue sheet's hand hold.

Not the best time to take a telephone call!

Using the "Squirt" -- the Vulcan Gasoline Switcher -- No. 6 is pushed back to the watering station in front of the South Station. This was one of the first times this season that our engines and rolling stock were to cross "Zephyr Crossing" and the winter's plowing of snow had pushed a large amount of gravel and gravel dust into the flangeways. With a derailment as the alternative, Randy V., Matt W., and Kendall O. scraped the flangeways and railheads clean.

Ryan F., John K., and Rex F. anxiously await the arrival of No. 6 at the watering station.

What would a work weekend in the warmer weather be without track work?

A bunch of ties needed replacing east of the sawmill crossing along with the removal of large amount of gravel that migrated east of the road which in turn caused drainage problems.

Same exercise: scrap a path for the removal and replacement of the tie, remove the bad tie, place the new tie, spike the rail, add and tamp ballast, and clean up.

-steam.airman