319 Inspection

Frank and I did the first annual inspection on CA&E 319 today, and we also installed the trolley poles so it can run under its own power, as seen below. This project was made somewhat harder by the lack of power due to the recent lightning strike.

To get the three wood cars out of the barn, we used a stinger, as shown here. It's a heavy wooden pole with a cable running to a hook, which I placed over the trolley harp in the shadows. After some work, we were able to run the train over to the Barn 4 inspection pit.

No real problems were found, and the brakes work much better now than they did before adjustment. We then lifted the trolley poles to the roof and adjusted them. I was too busy to take many pictures, but Frank snapped the one on the left of trolley pole installation. Then my favorite activity, lubrication. Yuck. Anyhow, everything is nearly ready for revenue service on the Fourth. You won't want to miss it!

For variety, Frank Sirinek and I took a trip over to 7 to help Gerry Dettloff figure out why the pump on the TM dump motor D13 wouldn't run. I was stumped, but Frank was later able to reconnect the correct wires, so the D13 too can appear in the World's Greatest Trolley Pageant.

Finally, here is the 319 operating as a single car for the first time at IRM. I must say that as time goes on it seems to get harder and harder to keep these things running. Either I'm getting older, or the equipment is getting older, or probably both!