NOVEMBER 2021 WORK SESSION – Finally Caught up on my Posts!!!
After our return from a successful trip to Alaska where we were able to retrieve some more of the missing locomotive parts and receive the original Builder Plate donated by the Andersen Family along with working on research, photos and video for our Documentary…. and then the move of the engines to Bill’s Machine Shop for evaluation and assembly, we were able to plan around everyone’s schedules and a case of Covid for one last end-of-the-year Work Session in November.
Thanks to a Mini-Grant from the Corry Community Foundation (Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!) we were able to add some much needed electrical expansion in our restoration building. This included an exterior light at the front door as well as one inside the front door, a run for an expansion Sub-Panel, several more breakers in the Main Panel and a run of conduit following the shelving on the west wall with several 4-way electrical outlets… YEA!!!! Progress is happening! We have been able to save some through additional material donations for beginning the expansion of electrical on the east side of the building next.
We had about 18 volunteers show up for the Saturday Session, including some new faces… welcome guys!!! They came not only from here in Corry, but from Clymer, Jamestown, Meadville, Columbus and Marietta, Ohio, Morgantown, WV and Virginia as well…. our fans and volunteers are not just local Corryites but truly National and International in scope… over the next couple of years we will see folks from all over showing up to be a part of this Build.
Some donated lumber was crafted into several stout saw-horses for use in our work on the frame… more will be built in the same manner in the future… it will take a bunch of them to support about 28 pieces of the frame floating a couple of feet off the floor (working height) during the cutting, drilling, mortise and tennoning, and multiple fittings of the new frame pieces in the near future.
Bill Simonton was up from Virginia to continue the work he is doing on the construction drawings for fabrication of the frame and the 3-D renditions of the locomotive… thanks Bill for all you do my friend.
Several worked on assembling of a newly donated sand-blast cabinet and a donated new portable engine hoist. Others, lead by Grady Smith, began the disassembly of the second geared truck. A handful came back on Sunday morning to finish up a few details… and then everyone headed home as reports were coming in of winds picking up and snow beginning to drop in mid-Ohio and central-PA.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the testing of our three steam whistles under air pressure… each had their own characteristics…. one was very deep in tone…. the 3-chime was the sweetest sound… and the original Climax Shop Whistle certainly got your attention… Walt Casler had said that in it’s day it could be heard in Spartansburg when it was blown… WOW!…. loud is the only word I have!!! and of course, ear protection was provided, since this was inside the building….lol!!!! Brad Minor from Clymer, NY did his magic on the whistles and came prepared to build a manifold off of our air tank…. thanks Brad!
Sandy and Connie put together a great and warming lunch for us all… ummmm, good!!! and much appreciated by all.
Weather is the single factor that will predict our next work session… Winter is here, albeit so far it has been rather mild as far as the snow amount (about 40″ so far), but it can still get bitterly cold in the building… and the building is uninsulated… next up is continuing the electrical, building more saw-horses and sorting out and understanding the wood from the cab, deck, walls and roof… and making drawings of that portion of the Build. Finishing the disassembly to the Trucks… and then cleaning and inspection… will follow.
Background work is ongoing for determining the next steps for the Boiler and Frame. Patterns are nearly ready to go to the foundry for making a couple of replacement parts.
With 2022 here…it is now a new year – Four and a half years since we started on this journey…. Happy New Year everybody!!!! Finally I am caught up on all of my posts from 2021…. stay tuned for what will be coming next at Corry RAILS (check out our new items in our store at our website corryrails.com …MAKE sure you “LIKE” our Facebook page… at the TOP OF THE PAGE and left side under the banner… that will send you notices of when we have a new posting…. also “Like” the post… gives us better numbers to gauge our progress in Social Networking… Thanks!)