This weekend is a busy time as we gear up for RailDays on September 7 & 8. Today was all about getting the office area ready for guests and displays. The day started with a bit of rain, but Allan was out and managed to get the new door motor installed on the south door. This work was able to be done with help from Pat at Beam power & Utilities Ltd (www.beampower.ca). Pat brought the small bucket truck out for an hour, and it was very much appreciated. The motor still needs a bit of fine tuning, and wiring, but will soon be back in service.

Elsewhere, the rest of the crew was working mostly in the office area, cleaning, moving things out of the way and just generally getting the room ready. The office area will be used at RailDays for new Museum displays, a couple of model railway vendors, and some historical groups. Our small crew of 6 accomplished quite a bit today, and we even wore Nolan out. As mentioned, a lot of the work was just cleaning, but also Mike, Neil and Jim were working on fixing the shield on the signal, which was damaged when it was removed from the pole after being on display at the former Memory Junction Museum. Ken wired up a new control for the signal so it can now be used as a hands on exhibit. Needs a bit of tweaking, but it will be ready for RailDays. Last weekend, Bill Thompson also dropped off some Great gorge Route items, enlarged copies of brochures and postcards. Not sure how they will be displayed yet, but we will find a way. We also had a donation today of older maintenance and operating manuals, ranging from diesel locomotive manuals to different types of Stoker manuals for steam engines. The HO scale model of the CN Fort Erie scale has finally found a new home in the office display case.

Thanks to Ken, Neil, Mike, Jim, Nolan, Allen and Ken for looking after our visitors, and getting the work done. More finishing touches being done on Sunday, including painting the signal and setting up the tables.

It has been a very busy time for the Museum. Work has been progressing in a number of areas. All the safety railings along the work platform, drop table pit, and a newly fabricated railing along the stairs have all received a coat of yellow paint.

Work on the GE 25tonner is progressing. Allan and Rob have removed all the unused brackets and such that have been mounted to the Locomotive throughout it’s lifetime. In 2023, the motor on track ED19 (south shop track) started to fail, and by the end of the season, it was no longer working. This summer the motor was removed and sent in for service and was not able to be repaired. Thankfully we were able to secure a replacement for it. Nolan has been working on cleaning some of the grease and oil off the trucks/wheels on CN Flanger 56323 and Ken has started painting the trucks to match the rest of the car. The current plan is to finish off the roof and cupola repairs in the off season.

Our volunteers are currently working hard to get things ready for our next and final event at the shop, RailDays on September 7 & 8, 10am to 4pm both days (rain or shine). September 7th will see a special presentation as we acknowledge the OTF grant that allowed us to put a new roof on the office of the shop, and create a new display space for some of our artifacts and displays. This room will have some vendors and sales tables, and a LEGO train display in place for RailDays. The former HO layout from Niagara Central Hobbies in St. Catharines will also be on display. The NRM is always looking for new members to help out with our many projects. Please contact us to see how you can get involved.

There has been a lot happening, too much to list here, but much of this work can be found on the Niagara Railway Museum Inc. Facebook page.