Report on last weekend’s Work Session #2: 5/7/2022
and number stamping the parts.
More progress was made on the Trucks with Steve and Grady adding some material to areas of the Arch-Bars via weld build-up and then grinding, replacing some of the metal which has eroded over the years.
Connie and Ron, along with Chelsea Oliver were hard at work most of the day building more saw-horses… we now have more than half of what we will be needing as we get into the woodworking phases… great progress.
Rob brought a small drafting table to donate which will come in handy… and then turned his attention to restoring an old Canedy-Otto Drill Press from the early 1900’s… It Started out life as a Drill Press in the Corry High School Shops… at the old Hatch Building on Wright St…. I remember seeing the equipment there in use when I was in 1st or 2nd Grade in the elementary school next door…. when the HS itself was on the other side of town, near the Corry Journal offices on W. South St. When the new High School opened in the early 50’s the drill press was donated to the Mead Park Association for their Hobby Shop where woodwork for the future Corry Museum was being created. The press is single phase 220. It was last used most likely in the mid 60’s or 70’s… and in cleaning things out of the Hobby Shop/Maintenance Building at Mead Park a couple of years ago, it was donated to Corry RAILS. Rob got it wired into the main panel, got it running and spent some time cleaning and oiling it good… a temporary new flat-belt broke when he tried it on a different pulley… it needs some cup oilers, a new belt and a little TLC …but it is really looking good… fine for doing small drilling projects… At close to 100 years old, it is getting a third life. Thanks Rob.
Pat Gorman, a volunteer from over in Bradford came to town and jumped in and helped Alex with scraper and wire-brush work on the Trucks… man-oh-man, that’s a lot of work!…. and WOW do they look better! Pat has helped us out before with model train shows and last year’s Open House.
Bob Spaeth, from Robert’s Machine Company in Emporium, PA stopped by for a couple of hours to visit and to check out the Climax A-313 project on his way to another project… It was good seeing him after chatting with him online over the last few months…. Bobbie will be back, I’m sure.
The Two cylinder Climax engine is home following rebuild and assembly by our extraordinary machinist Bill Ritts, with new Niagara Piston Rings and some new jewelry, in the form of new Oiler Caps to replace some missing ones.
The caps were produced by another of our fabulous machinists over the Winter months from a nice chunk of brass donated by yet another Friend of A-313. ….
and then we began putting together the shifter mechanism for the two-speed. We will be posting some video soon of it running on air as Bill and Norm tested it out. In the near future it will be mounted on a mock-up Engine Cradle with the driveline gears, or counter-gears, mounted along with the shifter and reverser levers so that you can see how it all functions. We will then be able to demo it on air for short spurts.
The Next Work Session is THIS COMING WEEKEND… the 14th-15th…. ALSO >>>> mark your calendar for June 11th for the Open House here at Corry RAILS… ads coming soon…
For the Summer and early Fall, here is a Tentative list of Work Session Weekends…
5/14, 6/4, 6/25, 7/9, 7/23, 8/13, 8/27, 9/17, 10/1, 10/22. Watch for updates and Double-Check dates before just showing up… these are TENTATIVE.
Toot-toot!!…. backing out of the Station for now.