The work session held on April 18th was nothing short of incredible as far as projects and members went.  7 members came out for the day and got working on many different things.

The first great surprise of the day was seeing a new set of stairs built to access the cab of CN F7a #9173. Wayne M has been working on the inside of the cab, and had some contractor friends come down during the week to make the access steps. This will allow visitors to get into the cab during any open days to check it out. Wayne spent the day painting primer on the inside of the cab after spending a few days cleaning all the old flaking paint off.  A finish coat of paint will be applied when we can get a proper paint match to CN #13 grey.

Our new ex-CN Baggage cart arrived at the shop as well on Saturday.  A big thanks to Paul Finlayson of Finlayson Tire in Fort Erie for donating this item to the NRM. They had previously used it for a tire display, rolling it in and out of the shop daily.  After a wheel issue, they left it out back for about 2yrs.  We were told of it by Clayton at Attar Metals, and Paul agreed to donate it to us.  Jim is shown unbolting the tire frame from the cart, which took the better part of the day, and the final product, back to its original look.  The cart needs restoration, but is a great item, with local history, having been used at the Ridgeway Station before going to the tire shop.

Wayne Gibson?s wife Susan managed to get the art teacher at St. Catharines Collegiate to donate this 8ft long CN mural created by the art students at the school.  This was immediately  mounted to the wall above the scale beam, and it looks great. After putting it on the wall, Wayne and Peter got to work inside the cab of HEPC E-7, working on cleaning and paint removal in preparation to repaint the cab and open it up for visitors.  Ken and Aaron reinstalled the brake rigging on the 3 boxcars, once again giving them brakes. Ken Sr started sizing up the new workbench inside the storage car.  Because we are a bit cramped for space in the one room, we will create the work car to allow us to have a proper working space.

So much more going on this year at the Museum.  Work sessions are every Saturday at the shop, and various days through the week. Our first open house is May 30/31 from 10am- 4pm both days rain or shine. More information will be released about that event in the coming weeks.