Submitted by Steve Winicker
LAST WEEKENDS SHOP ACTIVITY
Due to the Holiday I have delayed this report to include our work on Monday.
I spent most of the week putting bolts that had been sitting on the floor in front of the bolt bins for the last few years into the appropriate bins. It proved to take an incredible amount of time but did clear up a few square feet of floor space. There are a few boxes yet to go. Jerrad and I spent Friday preparing Gary’s crane for its trip to Wisconsin. After changing oil, the battery and adding brake fluid the crane improved its operation. Rich W came and picked up the west end beam from the Wabash Caboose with the goal of replacing it with the new wood which was acquired. This was taken to the Wolfgang shop for further work and the fitting of the end rails. On Saturday Brody and Bill Martz came to work on the tender. I decided that it would be useful to spend some time cleaning out the rust and scale that had been knocked off the sides of the tender. The vacuum hose was threaded in the tender and the rust and other debris was sucked out. This continued in the afternoon with Bill and I removing more scale, eventually getting the right water leg cleaned out and about half of the left one. Tim came out Sunday and again on Monday to knock off more of the scale on the walls of the tank along with gathering some additional material that had been removed from the walls. Rob and DJ fasten in the floor of the Wabash caboose and began installing the interior siding. This project continued Monday with DJ and Tom doing the honors, resulting in around half the wall material being installed, all to the melodious background of Tim needle gunning rust off the inside of the tender. I spent some time Monday looking for superheater parts with Charlie Dine. Unfortunately, we did not find what Gary needed for another project. Everyone decided to honor the Presidents Day holiday by leaving midafternoon.
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
The upcoming goals for the weekend are simply to make significant progress on prepping the tender. This project is a lot of work and not too glamorous but essential for the operation of the locomotive. So far Tim, Sarah, Bill, Jeremy and Brody have done most of the work on this project and brought it along nicely, but we now need to double down on it and get it done.
SAFETY SENSE
Hazard identification and awareness is the key to injury prevention. If you don’t see it you cannot control, avoid or mitigate it. As work progresses and other activities begin and /or end the hazards to you and others frequently change. You and others may be in harm’s way if one doesn’t remain alert to the changing surroundings.
Stay alert and you minimize the chances of yourself and others from being injured or worse.
SAFETY IS JOB 1
- SAFETY FIRST ALWAYS
