The highlight of South Station expansion effort this weekend was the completion of concrete work in and around the building.
The expanded area (the west 75 feet) has a 14 foot x 75 foot (approximate) level concrete pad. We plan to put some of the larger and seldom used shop tools in this area. Currently, most of these items are on the flatcars which makes them unusable.
The concrete pad in the original portion of the building was expanded from 8 feet wide to 14 feet wide for the entire length of the building. There is a sloping transition area between the additional concrete and the level pad in the west extension.
As a casual observer of concrete workers, I have always marveled at their ability to use the "float" to smooth concrete. This craftsman had an interesting addition on his float: a vibrator mechanism to insure a perfectly smooth surface with a minimum of strokes at the concrete.
This isn't exactly part of the South Station expansion but it is a new concrete pad for the MCRR's fueling shed. (It makes a nice patio to enjoy cooler evenings in Southeast Iowa.)
The blog entry following this one has a start to finish series of pictures documenting the South Station expansion.
It has often been a problem when we move rolling stock that doesn't have proper draft gear to connect with the locomotives. Matt W. and Elliot H. resolved most of those issues by making a "fits all" link with replaceable jaws to attach almost everything that we have to one of the switch engines.
Dave M. removes some of the ugliness from one of the panels for the water tank on the 6's tender.
The shop's pit needed a thorough cleaning. John K. and Matt W. scrubbed it until the concrete was visible.
An addition to the MCRR's collection of railroad tools is this power tamper, acquired in a trade with the Cumbres and Toltec Senic Railroad. It looks a bit rough but it should be usable sometime this summer.
-steam.airman
