Despite the lack of updates, there has still been a lot of work going on at the shop, sometimes 2 or 3 days a week. Our 2023 Annual General Meeting will be on February 25th at the shop.
The GE is currently out of service for the off season and is dead and drained for some much needed maintenance. There has been a coolant leak for quite some time, and a crack was found in the thermostat housing. That issue has since been fixed and the unit reinstalled. The cab heater has been removed and is getting a new fan motor before being reinstalled. The rotted floor under the heater has been replaced. The front headlight was removed and has had new wiring run to it, replacing the deteriorated and much spliced old wire.
Flanger 56323 is sitting for now, as we plan for the new roof, which was originally planned for the fall, but will be moved up to earlier in the year. The car has been set up for our meeting space to be ready for our AGM.
The Plymouth is waiting for brake cylinder seals, and work will resume when the GE is back in service shortly. Patrick has rebuilt one of the brake cylinders and will rebuild the second one when the first is complete.
CN F7a 9173 has seen Rob doing a lot of great work being done to it. With Allan straightening the badly bent grab irons, Rob has now managed to get the nose dents out and it’s really starting to come together. When finished, this will definitely be a centrepiece for visitors.
HEPC 46 is still be worked on, slowly. Young Nolan has been working on scrapping it down to be ready for painting. The cab is still in poor shape, and a new plan is being made to have it replaced. Rob is working on that as he deals with 9173.
Our 2 TH&B cars are idle for now. 2676 is outside with the other flanger as there’s just no room inside. The boarding car will have some TH&B displays in place for this season, but work will likely not start on this car until 2024.
There are other projects ongoing, including a new build handcar. This is an off season project and so far has seen the parts from the Robbins hand car cleaned and freed up. We hope to be able to have one of the motorcars operating this season as well, something that has been lacking for a couple of years. Outside in the yard, we are hoping to have James and Nick back to work on one of the turnouts, and change some ties. If we’re able to get some 100lb rail, we will also be changing some of the old 85lb to 100lb. There are also a couple of other items that are, at this point, not ready for discussion, but soon, soon, they will be announced, and we are looking forward to sharing the news with everyone.