With just 3 weekends left until opening weekend, our members have been busy again this week trying to get things done.? Wednesday 4 members were out working on electrical, installing more fixtures for the new LED floods, and finishing painting walls and railings. The office area is really looking great, very bright with a fresh coat of paint.
Our 3.5″ gauge live steam pacific poses for a pic on the GHLS track in Hamilton.
The Trolley is now complete with its new LED headlight.
On Friday, Ken and Ken took the NRM’s live steam pacific up to the Golden Horseshoe Live Steamers track in Hamilton to have the boiler tested. Unfortunately the test couldn’t be performed due to an improper fitting (a new one is being made for the next test). However, we did put the engine on the track and rolled it back and forth a bit to see how it looked, and of course take a few pictures. Looking forward to being able to fire it up (after passing the boiler test) and running it on the GHLS track. Information on their operation can be found at http://www.ghls.ca/ghls-home.
Saturday was?another busy day?with 7 members?(Wayne G, Wayne M, Ken, Ken, Aaron, Jim, Peter)?out working on different projects. The trolley from Niagara Central Hobbies finally got its new headlight, and it looks great.? It started out as a ditch light from an ex-Ontario Northland F unit. It was cleaned and repainted, and has had a frosted lense and low watt LED bulb installed. It’s a nice bright light and now makes the trolley look more complete. The switch stand, which used to sit out at the back stairs with the store address on the target is now up with the rest of the Hobby Shop items.? It’s coming together well, and we hope to have that display completed in time for opening weekend.
Wayne adding a second coat of primer to the stair railing.
The railings on the ramp glow with fresh yellow paint.
Wayne M. continued painting the railings, first applying 2 coats of primer, and a top coat of yellow.? Every bit of paint Wayne has done has really improved the look of the shop, and has amounted to hundreds of hours of cleaning the old paint and rough spots off to get a nice smooth finish. All the fresh yellow (and much of the grey & silver) that is seen around the shop has been done by Wayne.
The second display car is coming along very well.? Some major changes were made to the first car as all of the Great Gorge Route items were moved into the new display car to keep everything in one spot. The GGR display will also be expanded a bit with a few more artifacts, pictures, and some history. ?Taking the place of the GGR items in the first display car? will be an expanded Niagara St. Catharines & Toronto electric railway display. This new display will feature more photos of the NS&T from across the system, as well as a few more of our artifacts.
Jim and Aaron working on a stand for part of the Great Gorge Route display.
The GGR display at the end of the day. Still some work to do, but really pleased with it right now.
We are always trying to improve our displays for our visitors and we feel what we have planned for 2016 will really show how hard we’ve been working to get things done. Our work days are generally Wednesday and Saturday, and we’re always looking for new members to get involved.
Be sure to stop by the Museum on opening weekend, May 14th & 15th, 10am to 4pm rain or shine.