Unofficial workday produced more progress on preparing the railroad and club steamer for operation.
On Saturday, March 30th we had members out at the railroad with a few items on the to do list to complete. One of the items on the list included testing some of the most recent repairs on the club steamers. The crew was able to get the club steamer out and ran a little bit where they identified a couple of new items that will need to be addressed before the locomotive is operational. One of the new items includes one of the water filters has developed a crack most likely because of water being left in the filter and freezing during the winter months. It was also determined the steam brakes are also in need of some attention as the cylinder is losing a lot of steam when activate. Bob also took the injectors home for cleaning and will be bringing them back in the next week or two. A plan to repair the steam brakes is being discussed. If you are interested in getting involved with the club steamer let us know. No experience necessary just an interested in learning and getting involved.
Meanwhile, fine tuning of the water line track and switches were performed by Robby, Norm, and Gene. The team made an adjustment to the new curved switch by adding longer frog guards and regauged and leveled a couple of the original switches on the mainline. They also worked on leveling and ballasting some other areas of the west end inner loop. Ethel also stopped by and worked on cleaning up the picnic tables under the Breeseway. She reports much more cleaning is needed.
