Submitted by Steve Winicker.
LAST WEEKENDS SHOP ACTIVITY
Friday Zack and I finished up most of the jacketing above the firebox. It probably is not as pretty as if Bob Gold did it but it should be effective. Zack welded on the staybolt cap over the bolt we replaced. Glaze thought they might have some washout plugs done but apparently not as they went home, and no plugs are here. They should be done next week. A fine thunderstorm came up and rearranged the furniture. Water was coming in the west door at a rate the safety feature apparently thought was some poor soul that would be crushed if the door could close; brief pause in the wind allowed me to shut the door.
Saturday, we were able to clean paint and apply more jacketing as well as remove paint from the underside of the locomotive including drivers and frame. Zach Hall has set up a “Jacket Blitz” weekend for the 21st of June through the 24th or however long it takes to get the jacket done. Chris Zahrt and Joe were able to replace the cinder shield that had come loose in the smoke box. Chris also got the last of the UT readings needed to finish out the new form 4. Thanks to all who helped.
Sunday, since we get the safety sense early, Bob Whitman fresh from a western adventure where he lost a dollar in Los Vegas, spent some time cleaning up the mess from Saturday. Following which he worked on cleaning the front of the locomotive. We worked on some jacketing and putting scrap metal into the bin. Carl had checked out the furnace and found it to have no more than background levels of radioactivity, so we dumped that item into the scrap bin as well. We are reasonably certain it will not set off any radiation detectors at Omni Source.
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
The plan for next weekend is to continue some work on the jacket where we have material. We also need to do a final cleaning on the areas under the running board that need painted later. If all goes well, we should have washout plugs to install and seats to machine. Hopefully we will have the packing ring for the whistle and can install that as well.
If you can schedule some time the 21st of June through the 24th or longer we hope to put a serious push on getting the Jacket on the engine. More details as the time approaches. The following weekend, June 29th to July 1 is likely to need a lot of volunteers as well.
