Rick and Ken ventured out to the shop through the snow and cold to work on a few projects. Rick has been working on our large generator, as a replacement motor was located and installed.  The only thing remaining is a tune up on the motor, and it will be ready to go.  A new door motor has also been acquired, which we plan to install on the roll up door of the south track, which is the door we use during the open houses.

One of the other projects has been to get the privately owned ex-CP Rail Woodings CBI motorcar back in service. The Museum currently has no cars in service, as our ex-CN Fairmont M19 suffered a failure of some sort in September. Anyways, after some battery work, we finally managed to get the car started, and it moved under its own power for the first time in 4 years.  It was only a short stretch of operation, but it?s good to see the car operating again.  We also managed to get the dwarf signal working, and the Woodings is seen beside the red light of the signal.

NRM?s ex-CP Rail Woodings CBI idles beside the lit dwarf signal.(left)  And the Flanger awaits a call to duty to clear the snow out of the shop. (right)

Because the shop was so vandalized over the years, it is difficult to keep the weather out.  The ex-CN Flanger sits in the heavy repair bay under a few inches of snow. At this rate, the NRM could be the first Railway Museum to use equipment like this to plow out the inside of the shop!

And on a final note, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated members and volunteers who come out to the shop during work sessions and open houses, and help staff our 2 annual Model Railway Shows and other off site displays during the year.  We are always looking for new members to help with the many ongoing projects at the shop.  On behalf of the Niagara Railway Museum Inc. I wish everyone a very Happy New Year, and look forward to greater things in 2013.

There hasn?t been a whole lot to report recently.  Mostly just puttering around the shop, covering over equipment for the winter, and getting ready for the arrival of our ex-CP Rail boxcars, which we hope will happen in January.  In order for that to happen, we have to prep the track outside the shop to allow the float trailer to straddle the rail, which means filling everything in with stone, flush to the rail head. Some stone has been donated, and through the help from Attar Metals, has been dumped where we needed it on the track. Ken Sr. and Rick spread out the stone, while Marcel and Ken Jr. did some track work on track 2.

There is still a bit more stone needed,

but its coming along well.

The current plan calls for the display car and the storage car to be located behind HEPC 46 on the south track, while the final storage car will remain outside until it can be moved over to the middle track behind HEPC E-7.

Other work that has been done includes the movement of our ex-CNR Fairmont A4D gangcar (left) from the centre track, over to a storage track between the Flanger and E-7. It is now covered, and out of the way.  It is a difficult car to move around because of its size.  The smaller, more easily moved motorcars are still on the centre track. On Saturday December 15th, the morning sun shines through the haze inside the shop.  HEPC 46 (right) is covered over for the winter while E-7 is to her left.

The Museum has also managed to find and purchase a slide showing our actual ex-CNR Flanger in storage in Peterborough, Ont., back in 1958.  This was a very lucky find, and the above photos show it in storage, and as it looks now inside our shop.  Our goal is to restore the body of the car to the appearance at left, which will be no easy task.  We are looking for any financial contributions, or materials to be used for this project.  The body is all wood, and will need all windows and doors completely rebuilt as well.  If you would like to contribute to this project, please contact us or make a secure online donation by clicking on the link on our main page at www.nfrm.ca