Submitted by W.D. Miller and Chris Lantz.
Carson and I arrived at the shop around 2pm Friday. He went straight to work on the front pilot to get it ready for a quick splash of paint the next day. Using the sander he was able to bust through most of the paint, and surface rust. He found what appears to be some original NKP Yellow from the yellow “bar” that would have been painted at the top of the pilot (Chris has a picture of it). The work on the pilot took most of his time while there.
I worked on cleaning the locomotive up in preparation for the open house. Just a bunch of general dirt and debris from the cab area, and around the locomotive. Did manage to use some air on the long hood and clean up a bunch of dirt, rust, coon poo, and other trash out of the prime mover area. It’s better, but not “perfect”, and at least presentable to those who wish to see the 567 greatness.
Also noticed that after the rain that we had earlier in the week, the locomotive seemed to be drier, than previous. The open drains have remained opened and are doing what their purpose in life is. Still a bit of water pooling up on the engineer side near the fuel pump area, may need to “help” that a bit with a well placed purposed hole.
Also took some air to see what it might do with the engineer side of the sill behind all the piping and cables that can not be reached easily with hand tools, it was working, but to do a better and complete job, I need a higher pressure and volume air line. Maybe if a portable BIG compressor comes back around soon that can be accomplished.
Did have a couple stop by for a visit who had been camping in the area the past week, they said they had drove by the shop several times during the week and was hoping it would be open before they left. So, took about 30 minutes to show them around, of course they took pictures and asked questions. They left happy.
Saturday, W.D. and Carson joined me on some work that included drilling holes for the headlight bezel and test fitting the Gyra light. The exisiting holes were in the correct location for the Gyra light so I chased the threads and the locomotive is ready for the light housing to be mounted. The Grya light housing was sanded to remove the paint and it,along with the pilot were painted black. The light will be mounted the Friday morning of the open house weekend. The mounting holes for the flag holder on the firemans side of the short hood were drilled and the holder was installed. Finally, the headlight was mounted on the short hood end.
Next weekend will see some final cleanup of the locomotive for display at the open house.
