Submitted by Tom Nitza
Supermarket did a great job of forming the two corners on each side of
the radiator shutters. We gave them a sample of the old one, and the new
ones fit perfectly. The attached photo shows everything held in place
with clamps. At the end of the day it was all disassembled for painting.
The shutters are receiving black paint while the two corners will be
gray until we decide on an overall color for the locomotive. However,
that won’t happen this year since there’s a lot more body work to come.
More work was done on the cab doors. The wood panels have been applied
and given the first of two coats of green paint. This same paneling will
be applied under the cab window. The wooden strips that the paneling
attach to under the window are in place. Once some welding is completed
the panel will be installed.
Just outside the engineer’s door there’s a steel gusset that’s more
decorative than structural. Over the years it’s been bent in several
directions, not sure how that could happen. It was decided to cut it off
rather than try to straighten it. Of course that led to more work where
it attaches to the cab due to years of rust. That area has been cleaned
and prepped and we can begin welding new steel in place.
Next week will focus on welding and fabrication. Three window openings
have areas where the cab body has been perforated by rust. Those will
be cut out and replaced.
Tom, Dave, John, Rich and Carl
