March 2020 Work Reports

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for Saturday March 7:

* Pavilion
* Car barn extension
* Coach 9
* Machine shop/squeeze riveter

I do not anticipate being there Saturday, so somebody else will need to report.

[Dave Buczkowski]

Is there anyone planning on being at Sheepscot on Saturday that knows how to use a floor sander? Asking for a friend.
Dave

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Work done - Saturday, March 7th:

* Gift shop - Most smaller items were removed from the freight shed and stored in boxcars.  The counters and display cases were moved to the north end so the south end of the floor can be cleaned up to prepare for painting. The gift shop will get updated merchandise areas after the remodeling.

* Shop - Carlos continued working on the bull riveter restoration assisted by Alan and Gerry. Later, the unit was removed from the shop and placed over near the garage.

* #9 - Jason led a crew that included Wayne, Bryce, Dan & Gordon to jack the tender up and remove the truck for wheel replacement.

* Water tank - Zack removed the main valve assembly and started to rebuild the rusted seat and braces in bay 4.

* Event pavilion - Mike and Fred made good progress on more bracing and installing the trimwork.  Mike plans to begin setting roof tin next Saturday if the weather co-operates.  He would like any available help on the 14th.

* Kitchen - The lunch crew did a nice job with meat loaf, mashed potatoes, cold cut sandwiches and, wait for it ….cocktail weenies. Also, ask anyone who dined at Sheepscot about the special cheesecake.

[Mike Fox]

The cocktail weenies are my favorite. We call them little smokies..

[Dave Buczkowski]

We also removed the south truck from Brian’s boxcar (51?) and then removed it’s north wheel set for switching with a wheel set from #9’s tender (with Brian’s gracious permission). We includes Bryce, Dan, Wayne, HWMNBN, Jason, Gawdon along with my encouragement and cheering. Brendan also provided tractor support for moving the wheel set out of the way which I rigged (meaning I slipped the lifting belt around the axle).
Dan and Bryce also had fun heating recalcitrant nuts until they were red hot. Fun with a torch! We all then rabidly watched the hot nuts burrow through remaining ground ice. We’re easily amused in Sheepscot these days....

[Bill Reidy]

Some photos from yesterday (Saturday, March 7th) -- a sunny but cold, windy day.

First thing in the morning, the display cases and other furniture in the gift shop were all moved to the north end, so the well-worn floor can be cleaned and painted.




After Bryce Weeks and Dan Malkowski were done helping with the furniture move in the gift shop, Bryce took out No. 52 to move B&SR boxcar No. 51 from the Sheepscot platform over to the Shop bay No. 3 track.


Dave Buczkowski and Bryce had a short conversation before Dave handled the water tank switch.




The reason boxcar No. 51 was brought over to the shop yard was to swap a wheel/axle with WW&F No. 9.  One of No. 9's tank truck wheels has a flat spot.  Brian Fanslau (owner of No. 51) has kindly allowed us to swap No. 9's wheel with one from No. 51.  Here bottle jacks are being set to lift the south end of No. 51.


Once the car was jacked high enough, Dave helped pull out the truck as Gordon Cook looked on.


No. 51 jacked, with the flat wheel and axle from No. 9 sitting nearby.




Taking the lower brace off the boxcar truck on both sides was a lot of fun, since the bolts were largely frozen.  Wayne Laepple started the work, which was largely finished by Bryce and Dan.


Meanwhile, in the shop, Carlos and Jerry Steinke continued work on the Hanna riveter.

[John Kokas]

Please don't paint that beautiful pine floor in the station.  Sand it, seal it, and clear urethane or similar so that beautiful wood grain shows through.

[Carl G. Soderstrom]

John

I have to disagree - pine looks nice but  if  it is urethaned it will have to be stripped & sanded every couple of
years - Painted only has to be repainted - without moving all the furniture. There is too much gritty traffic for
clear finish, as nice as that might be. 

[Paul Uhland]

Would love to see a closeup of the riveter, know its history, why its needed for loco 10.

[Benjamin Richards]

At the risk of starting a "bike shed" argument...

To be sure, a painted floor is right at home in New England with its penchant for such things, but paint is a stern taskmaster. A worn and chipped paint job is aesthetically jarring, or at least more obvious than a clear finish which is more forgiving of imperfections. Exhibit A: the current floor.

 Admittedly neither finish is very durable; one needs to look outside the "paint" family of finishes for a truly maintenance-free experience in such an abusive environment.

[John Kokas]

I would much rather see a clear finish and commercial carpet runners put down in the most high traffic areas.  That will extend the refinish cycle several years

[Gordon Cook]

A little background on #9's rear tender truck wheels: 
A flat spot developed, I think in 2018 or early '19, and has been getting progressively worse. It was becoming unacceptable during February's events.
Wayne was visiting last week for a few days, and I conferred with Jason to see if this issue could be addressed while no events were scheduled for a few weeks and help was available. The plan was to jack up 9,  remove the tank truck, turn the wheels, and reassemble.  With some luck this could be done in the time that Wayne and I could be there and not impact other activities.
What we discovered on Thursday, when the truck was finally out after carefully jacking up 9, was that only one of the rear wheels had a bad flat spot, and the other wheel did not, but was starting to 'shell' in one spot.
However, there was a problem.
As Jason explained, these wheels are 'chilled cast iron' which basically means that the running surface of the wheel is chilled in the casting process and results in a surface layer that is nearly as hard as ceramic. This makes them pretty difficult to turn, and our attempts to turn them were fruitless. Jason and Brian later recalled that this was their experience a number of years ago, after we relearned that lesson.
Hence the hunt for a substitute wheelset which wasn't very successful. All the serviceable wheelsets we have had already been used for other rolling stock. Jason had some other thoughts but on closer inspection none of them would have worked or would have meant days of extra work. We were kind of stuck until Brian generously offered the wheelset off his box 51.
After consideration of alternatives, it was decided to go with the substitution, which if all went well would result in 9 being back together sooner rather than later.
So the pictures above were the result of that sequence of events, work, and discoveries. The flat spot was smoothed out as much as possible and should be OK under a boxcar which doesn't see that much use.
Wayne reported that the tender truck was successfully assembled and replaced under 9 on Sunday, with some work to be finished on the boxcar truck.
Thanks to everybody who pitched in to help, and especially to Brian for his generous offer, again.

[Mike the Choochoo Nix]

Chilled wheels could be turned with a tool post grinder, however if the wheel needs to be turned too deeply than the hard chill is ground off and you have a soft wheel that will wear quickly. Sooner or later we'll have to bite the bullet and buy some new wheels to keep everything rolling smoothly.
M. Nix

[John Kokas]

I think we'd better bite the bullet, as sooner has come much sooner than expected.  The price will only go up with time.

[Graham Buxton]

Even if Brian is OK with his freight car having a less than optimal wheelset, we should still fix that, if for no other reason than that provides us a resource the next time we have a problem with a wheelset on the tender.