Hi all,
We had a fun day today on No 9- with a 10 man crew working most of the day. Work focused on the new smokebox, with side efforts on the firedoor latches and hydro-testing No 10. Good progress was made on all efforts. No 10 had no troubles with its hydro, the latches are nearly complete, and the smokebox has both front and back rings properly fit. Both smokebox cinder cleanout castings had their old rivets removed and were prepped for re-installation. Lastly a platform for mounting the flat-bottomed mag. drill on the round smokebox was made. The next step will be to drill rivet holes- I haven't counted, but I think we're in the neighborhood of 100 rivets to drive, including remounting the orignal smokebox on the old boiler. Quick summary of crew: Joe Fox and girlfriend Dawn, Hans Brandes, Jonathan St Mary, Bill Fortier, Leon Weeks, Mike Fox, Paul Crabb, Dave Fletcher, John Robertson, Zack Wyllie and myself. And- we had everyone busy pretty much all day!
Fun to have such a busy shop- thought I'd share it.
Jason