The first week of March has proven to be the busiest of 2013 thus far. Saturday March 2 saw the arrival of our Whiting 2TMA Trackmobile to the shop. It was moved from storage in Thorold at Lucas Lift Truck to Attar Metals, in the old Fort Erie car shop.  Attar brought the machine down Saturday morning and placed it inside the shop.

The Trackmobile having arrived at Attar Metals, awaiting movement to the shop(left). With the door partially open, Milton uses Attar?s loader to move the Trackmobile into the shop for restoration (right).

And then on that same weekend, the NEW Niagara Model Railway Show was held at the CAW Hall in St. Catharines.  We had an almost record amount of tables booked for the show, with 35 vendors from across Ontario.  The show started out with a lineup before 10am. The crowds were steady throughout the day, with vendors reporting great sales.  Our ever popular chili was sold out before 1230, and by 145 we had gone through 3 boxes of hotdogs!!  The hall was great for the show, and despite a few minor glitches with the vendor placement, everything went very well. This was the first time in an all new venue, and we are already planning for the October show.  Somehow, throughout all this, we didn?t get a single picture!! My thanks to all the vendors who came out to this show, to our dedicated Museum volunteers who worked the door, food booth and NRM table, as well as coming in at 530am to set up tables.  And to the public who came out to support this show. In all, over 600 paid admissions came to the show, that doesn?t include the kids. We look forward to October.

And the work week finished off with more work at the shop, as we started restoration on the Trackmobile. Rick started to piece together the transmission parts, to assess damage, and see what was required for replacement.  We also removed the shroud from around the engine and pulled the rad off.  This will allow us easier access to the motor itself, which we were able to bar over, so that?s a good sign. The drive chains were tightened and the road wheels were lifted and chained off the ground.  For the first time in many years the machine was back on the rail. We were able to move it back and forth by hand, and a little lubrication on the chains will help.

Rick works on the bolts to remove the rad (left). The machine looks strange without all the engine covers (right).

The Niagara Railway Museum Inc. extends our deepest thanks to Lucas Lifttruck in Thorold for all their assistance over the years, and for moving our trackmobile from Orillia to Thorold, and then to Fort Erie.  And also to Attar for their continued help with moving and storing things for us at their shop.