Where does the time go? The Museum will open for visitors this Sunday, so we need to be ready. I spent nearly two hours cleaning up my vast collection of bricabrac along the wall of the barn, so it won't look like a flea market when the cars are not there to hide it. And otherwise making sure the barn will be ready for viewing.
This Saturday will be Car Cleaning day. If you're not actively engaged in restoration, come on out and help clean our service cars -- it'll be more fun than you might think. Your help will be greatly appreciated!
Today was a nice day for painting on the 36. The sun was out, so our cleverly designed passive solar heating system had the inside of the barn at a comfortable temperature, just right for finish work. It was dark blue all day. First was the side door on the south side, which had been primed last time. This side of the car is essentially complete. 
We plan to put a second finish coat on everything and then letter the car on this side in time for the Trolleypalooza.
We plan to put a second finish coat on everything and then letter the car on this side in time for the Trolleypalooza.(On the north side, the doors and windows are still red. I suppose I could slap some grey on them, but that wastes paint and makes them harder to strip. Remember that Patience is a Virtue.)
And then I finished painting the lower siding with first finish blue. It was very gratifying to be able to get this done before Opening Day.
Our buddies on the Wednesday Team have continued to make progress. You can see the two grab irons that have been stripped, and not so obvious is that checks and cracks on the inside surface of the train door have been filled. So I'm grateful for that.
Spam comments are a constant annoyance in this business. I don't know what those accursed idiots hope to gain, but every day I need to make sure none of these stupid comments are passed, then delete them, etc. It's not that hard -- usually their bad English and general appearance make them easy to spot. However, this morning I got a new one. It started out: "Thanks for sharing your thoughts on hispanics." That was so absurd I had to laugh. But after deleting it, I'll share this thought: People of any background are more than welcome to join IRM and help out in the many ways it takes to keep our Museum going. ¡Y muchas gracias, mis amigos!
