If you're less than six years old, I want you to step away from the computer. Right now. Go to your parents, and if they haven't already bought tickets for Day Out With Thomas, you need to beg, beg, beg until they submit. You'll be glad you did!
Yes, friends, Thomas is near! And really, even if you're well over six years old, and have never been to IRM on a Thomas day, it's pretty amazing and well worthwhile to see the Museum packed with people. And we can use all kinds of help. Today there were crews in several places getting things ready for the big event. Come one, come all!
Today I installed four more repainted windows in the 36. And then finished stripping paint from the upper part of the #1 end (the lower part can be done from the ground at any time). After sanding it all down, I painted these parts with white primer; the finish color will be red.This is a bizarre paint scheme, I must admit.
On Sunday, the 308's feed valve had stuck open, so that needed to be fixed. I must have explained this before, but when a feed valve sticks open, you get unwanted brake applications. It's not a serious safety problem, since the brakes will still apply whenever you need them to, but it can be annoying. The classic symptom is that when you blow the whistle, the brakes set up. So on the second trip, as we were approaching Seeman Road, I started to blow for the crossing, and the brakes came on. The train came to a stop blocking the road, but at least nobody was waiting to get across. I managed to get the brakes released, and pulled off the road. Once the defective feed valve was identified, we could run the rest of the day using the other car's feed valve.
This happens because the valve gets blocked with dirt and crud. Rod helped me clean it up and put it back together. I then reinstalled it and it seemed to work fine, so we should be ready for service again.
Also, the 309's buzzer had stopped working, so we were using hand signals. After fixing the 308, I went into the 309, pulled the cord, and the buzzer buzzed just fine. So now what does one do? That was easy!
We had some visitors from far, far away. I met Steve Rudolf from Branford, who was visiting with his wife. We talked about various museum-type news, and I showed him the interior of the 36. Later, while I was in the 309, Ken Spengler came around with a man from the Sydney Tram Museum in Australia. He was quite impressed with the interior of the car, which is always gratifying. We talked about restoration matters of various sorts, but I didn't think to ask him whether Australians would consider the 309 a "tram". I don't believe there was ever any real interurban line down under, was there?
