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Volunteers:
David H.
Everett L.
Dewayne S.
Clint L. Jr.
Nick P.
Joe S.
Joseph S.
Karleigh S.
Wimbley V.
Glen A.
Gavin R.
Friday
Dewayne worked welding and grinding
on the smokebox on Heisler #3. He also welded a little rise to connect
the rails on track 3 with the bar stock on the cement slab.
Everett gathered materials for the reconstruction of the wheels and
axles on the weed sprayer flat car,
And put together the beginnings of the first axle.
Saturday
With a full crew, the first order of
business was moving the many chain saws of different types stored in the
finished lumber shed, and the former commissary shelves that they were
stored on, out from directly under a huge leak in the roof channel that
showered a miniature Niagara Falls down directly on them and left them
standing in water after every rain. Using the all-terrain forklift,
David, Joe, Everett, Nick, Clint, Gavin and Wimbley moved the shelves
and the saws down across from the bunk house and out of the weather.
Next up, the crew went up to the Engine House where Wimbley, Clint and
Nick finished the reconstruction and rebuilding of a problem rail joint
on the loop right after the junction switch.
While Joe helped David relocate the fuel pump on the M-4 down to the
tank so that it would start better, the rest of the crew started
gathering the remainder of the materials for the rebuild of the sprayer
car.
At the last session , the crew had tackled the fire bent axles, damaged
wheels and bearings from the motor cars destroyed in the 1980 motor car
shed fire, and salvaged the wheels, axle stops and roller bearings.
During the intervening time, David H. disassembled all of the 6 salvaged
bearings, and rebuilt them to functional status, inserting grease
fittings and making them fully serviceable.
The switch crew then swapped the positions of the motor cars, and
trailers, putting the M-8 and the passenger trailer on track 1, and
bringing the sprayer car and the M-2 on to track 3 where we could use
the chain hoist to lift the car to work on the axles.
Dewayne and Gavin, meanwhile completed the welding and grinding on the
Heisler smoke box.
Then, it was time to break for lunch where a delicious chicken and
sausage gumbo awaited us at the Lodge, prepared by David’s wife Vicki.
All agreed that it was the best gumbo that any of us had eaten in a long
time! The rest of Joe’s family joined us and a great time was had by
all.
After lunch, because of the beautiful weather, most of the group went
for an exploration of the grounds to look at things that many of them
had never seen.
David and Everett went up to the engine house and began on the Sprayer
car, completing both replacement axles and removing one of the old axles
from the car. By that time the group had returned and all pitched in
finishing the replacement of that axle by the end of the work day. The
only hitch happened when one of the wheels was found to have been badly
warped by the fire and was not only warped but out of round, which
entailed much verbal discussion and extra labor to get it off of the
axle and a replacement found.
Joe went to work on the big Hyster and had much of the brake hardware
that he needed to work on removed by the end of the day.
Sunday
Sunday morning dawned crisp and cold
after the torrential rain and spectacular lighting display of Saturday
night. (Makes you appreciate being inside the Finished Lumber Shed and
out of the rain)
All hands present set to work immediately working on removing the second
axle from the sprayer car and installing the new one. It turned out to
be more difficult that the first one in that the axle bearings and stops
had been fabricated to fit the first axle to the frame, and it was
discovered that the main frame beams were not parallel. The beams are
actually 1 inch closer to each other on the sprayer end of the car, so
that all of the bearings and stops on the axles needed to be re-adjusted
accordingly.
Once the car was completed, it rolled so easily that it could be
literally pushed with a single finger
Which will make weed spraying go much faster and easier.
Most of the old friction bearings and bearing blocks were found to be in
re-useable condition should we want to make a smaller and lighter car
for them to be used on.
With the completion of the car, the group performed a general clean up
of the work area and the lodge in preparation for the month lay off
before the next session.
-Tucker "Who Dat" Baker
RR&G Road Master
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