Spring time at MNGRR?
Steam Team Work Session 5, April 7, 2007
By Hans Brandes
MNGRR Mechanical Department Volunteer
Today was our fifth work session of 2007. One would think that by now that the daffodils would be coming up instead of shoveling snow, but no, we once again had to shovel out the engine house door to begin the day. At least the Easter Bunny was around to add to our day.
Another well attended session by the following: Rick Knight, Roger Merrow, Joe and Jay Monty, Gerry Bagley, Rich Currie, Brian Durham, Mike Moulison, Shawn Cavaretta, Colby Miles and yours truly. Eric Hinckley was here starting diesel training with Arthur Hussey.
Lots of jobs on the plate for the day. The goal was to close up #4, put water in and perform the annual hydro. But Murphy’s law stepped in: the water in front of the PYS office building was not turned on yet, there was a large pile of snow at PYS East blocking the track to building 7 and the combination to the lock on building 7 had been changed and no one knew the new one. So much for hydro today. That will now be scheduled for our next work session on April 21.
#4 was pulled out of the house and car 22 was uncovered. Lots of decisions needed to be made requiring input by our Steam Operations Manager, Rick Knight. First Rick worked with Brian and Roger looking over a couple of trucks that had recently come out of the workshop. The wheels on these will require profiling as they are not as they should be.
Joe and Jay Monty arrived with the pin for the throttle and the new cut levers for #4. Joe had been provided the material and did all the bending at his house using a coal fire forge. Joe and Rich installed the levers using Joe’s portable welder. After a little while the welder blew the fuses in the breaker box in the yard so it was off to the hardware store for more fuses. With new ones in hand, the welding was complete. The new cut levers fit great and look like they have been there for many years. Great job, Joe.
Joe Monty stands proudly by the newly installed rear cut lever now on #4 that he fabricated and installed. Photo by Rich Currie
While waiting for Rick to give some advice on car 22, Shawn, Rich, Mike and Hans took the snap track pieces off of the flat car and started loading short ties to be used on the siding in front of building 7. The plan is to start work on this before the end of the month and prepare it so that rail can be laid during the track weekend.
Ties that were used for last year’s Santa Fest temporary track are now starting to be loaded on the flat car in preparation for laying the new siding in front of building #7. Warmer weather can’t be too far away. Photo by Rich Currie
In parallel, Shawn was up once again to continue work on car 22. Rich and Hans pitched in and finished taking the siding off the land side. This time fortune was on our side as this side of the car has much less severe rot and can be fixed without replacing the whole wall and sill. This will save time and money. Shawn can now concentrate on building the new water side wall.
By this time, it was time for lunch. Mike made the run for ‘round steaks’ and fries from McDonalds. They always like it when we show up and ask for 20 or more burgers.
After lunch, Joe worked on finishing the installation of the cut levers while Gerry and Mike installed the new laminated windows.
Jay then continued to finish lapping the throttle. This is now done and the dome is ready to be put back on.
Off site, Russ Page has been working on building a replacement steam feed line for the lubricator. The one that was on has had a pretty good dent in it. So thanks to Russ for using his talent and machine shop to do this job for us.
So despite the lack of water, it was a day of good progress. At our next worksession, on April 21, we plan to wash out the boiler, install plugs, fill #4 with water, hydro it and hopefully steam it up. In addition, we may be working on car 22, so bring your tool boxes as always. If all goes according to plan, we should be able to hear the whistle blow once again!
As always…we continue to have a lot of talent and will power inside the engine house. We still need money, it’s that simple. Our list of work that we would like to do is far longer than our funds are deep. Today’s results is another case of making something out of nothing. Hans donated the raw stock for the cut levers. Joe made them at home and installed them using his own welder. Russ is donating the feed line and the shop time. Rick donated the material and labor to make the new throttle shaft. Even the new glass was donated by Portland Glass.
Our many thanks to Portland Glass for donating all the new laminated glass for #4.
Our restoration efforts can only go as fast as funds are available. Let’s not have lack of funds be a reason for having to delay completion of projects. Please help us by contributing what you can so that we can provide safe and presentable equipment to our public. Thank you.
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