Hi everyone,
Sorry for the long wait on an update, but here we are! To start, for a look at some of the progress that has recently been made, check out ASR's most recent update.
As was mentioned in the update, we have all of the staybolt lengths measured, and are ready to begin cutting the material for all of the new staybolts that need to be made.
For today's update, we'll start off with Midwest's open house on December 8. This included train rides with Santa, the Grinch, and a number of other special Christmas characters. And of course, tours were given of the historic roundhouse and equipment, including 2100. Thanks to our great communications director Brian Smith, we were able to doll up the engine for these open houses!
The rest of the roundhouse and equipment were also dressed up for the occasion, and to top it off, we had the sounds of the season playing as well! If you stepped up into the cab on that day, that would've most likely been me giving tours and answering questions. As a side note, attendance for this open house was very, very good, and we were certainly kept busy giving tours and answering questions the entire time!
Now, we'll move on to the December 14 work session, which was the last for 2019 and quite productive. The project that took up most of my time was preparing to open the smokebox door to install netting inside. We did end up opening the small door, and made some progress toward opening the big door.
After our lunch break, I had the great pleasure of being able to climb inside the smokebox to help out Greg and Gordon in attempting to open the big door. Unlike the small door, we cannot open this door by hand.
In the background, the welding of the stoker auger continued. This allowed me to get an interesting photo while inside the smokebox.
And, that's a wrap for 2019! No more work sessions were scheduled for the 21st an 28th, as the crew instead chose to spend the holidays with their loved ones. Thanks for all of your support in 2019, and we look forward to what 2020 has to offer, both for us and a certain other T1!
Happy Holidays.
