Shop Cleanup

Today a lot of discussion occurred in how best to organize the Lusa Car Shop. After discussing what machines should stay in the shop and what machines should be moved to other storage areas, a plan of action was made to get the shop in order. Pat McCann and Matty Doane kept busy today with the backhoe cleaning out the shop. It seems that trash gets piled up faster than it is taken away. They were able to empty all of the shop barrels into the dumpster and bring a lot of old wood to the wood pile.

I was finally able to replace the trolley pole rope on Montreal 2600 today as we received our order of trolley rope from the manufacturer last week. Eventually Rio 1850, Montreal 4, and Connecticut 1326 will have new rope too, but 2600's was in the worst condition.

John Pelletier was able to finish the roof work on Springfield Terminal 16. While the roof on the car is not the best looking, it should be watertight. The car really needs a new canvas, however, there are other things that need to happen to the car before a new canvas can be put on the car. The Boston Type-5 was switched with 16 to put it in the shop. The roof on the Type-5 is next on the list to be repaired.

Illinois Terminal 451 was brought over the pit today to diagnose and repair the braking problem. The car has been sidelined from service for the past few months because of a delay between the dynamic brakes and the friction brakes. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the crew was finished looking over the car so I do not know if they found the issue.



Just outside the shop, George Contrada was busy turning an old track crane into a flat car for the Track Department. The crane was missing parts and all over not functional. Since the Track Department was in need of a sturdy flat car for moving tools and ties, George took on the task of building them one.




On the front side of the property, Galen Semprebon has been busy leading a crew of volunteers moving the three Connecticut Company cars off of the Hartman Storage Track. When the Visitor Center was built, this section of track was disconnected and the end was buried. In order to get the three cars out, the track was dug out and partially reconnected. ConnCo 1739 is most of the way off of the track. In the coming weeks, ConnCo 771 & 154 will be moved off of the track and the track will be removed.

Overall it was a very productive day. Next weekend calls for the pilot to be installed on CA&E 303, car moves, and more clean up in the shop.