The volunteer staff had lots of chores to do this weekend.
With the area between the shop and South Station beginning to clear of snow, we needed to move some items out of the shop. First order of business was to get some long pine boards intended for the boxcar's catwalk out of the shop and into the SS.
Using the enclosed personnel carrier (there are some other names, but EPC will do for here), we stacked the boards on the EPC.
Next up was to move No. 14. This was more challenging than moving the wood. Most of the snow had melted but there was still 2 to 3" of ice on parts of the rails.
We used No. 101 (the "squirt," our gasoline Vulcan Switcher) to pull No .14 out of the shop to warm the engine and build some air pressure for the brake system.
There are rails down there, somewhere!
Roger R. went back to the shop for two pickaxes.
Elliot H. and Roger R. pick away at the ice over the rails.
No. 14 slowly makes its way over the icy rails and moves towards the South Station.
No. 14 had to stop just short of the building due to more ice blockages.
Matt W. supervises the switcher's movements while standing on top of a large ice pile.
After picking the ice out of the flangeways and the tops of the rail, Roger R. and Matt W. take a break.
Inside the shop, Dave O. had applied the second coat of paint to the boxcar and is seen here getting a few spots with a brush.
Started a few months ago, Elsie B. and Elliot H. continue the cab cleaning project.
Despite their efforts at cleaning the slatted wood inside No. 12's cab, it looks like a stiff brush will be needed to get the dirt out of the slots in the wood. The black highlighting doesn't look right.
Matt W. scrapes some of the built-up dirt and grease off the floor adjacent to the rails. Ryan J. and Melissa B. help Matt W. with the sweeping of loose dirt from the floor.
A surprise for the MCRR volunteers and staff was the unauthorized removal of the large pile of river rock located just north of the large fuel tank. We are still trying to figure out who helped themselves!
After we moved some of the flatcars out of the way, we were able to roll two trucks from the west track to a position that allowed the backhoe to move them to the pit track.
Kendall O. and Matt W. disassembled the trucks. New journal boxes need to be made or the old ones need some serious reworking. The axles will be refurbished in our shop by Matt C.
-steam.airman
