| 03/07/2004 --- This weekend was directed primarily toward working with that broken horn air line and patching old toilet holes in the floor of the nose. That little 5/8 copper tubing sure took a bunch or work to replace. The attached photos will give some idea of the process but not of all the crud that had to be cleaned away in order to put the floor back in. The panel against the wall is still not back where it belongs because of some broken bolts but that should be resolved next week. Note the rubber patch and hose clamps on the tubing. There is no telling when this was applied but I sure can see why someone tried to repair it rather than replacing it. The 8th photo is a view of the newly patched floor in the nose. In some spots, there was barely enough metal to weld the patches to. This was the result of years of leaking toilet and leaking roof. Speaking of the roof, last Monday's rain did not manage to find its way into the nose compartment so it looks like my favorite caulk has proven itself again. Dan Furtado worked during the week to remove the patches from the Gyra light wiring holes. We got all the light parts ready last week and they were delivered to the canyon on Saturday by Phil Orth. Johnathon has most kindly offered to bead blast them and they will be primered as soon as I get them back in Oakland. Henry Luna got the Imron number for the silver paint for which I am most grateful. I plan to paint all the lights before putting them up in order to cut down on later paint preparation. I have included a photo of the horn cable routing. This is as it was when the 5472 was new except that there were 2 horn pulls for 2 different valves, one providing a more air flow than the other. Lastly, here is what a GP9/SD9 radiator looks like. This is a element that we removed from the 5623 some years ago. It consists of 2 radiator sections, each 22 inches wide. Both GP9's and SD9's have 10 such elements. GP'9s have 4 behind the cab and 6, 3 on each side, at the end of the long hood. SD9's have all 10 at the rear end, in 2 banks of 5 each. We have a leak in the end section, on the fireman's side, furthest from the front end of the locomotive. Replacing the leaking element is a project that will have to be undertaken before we can run the engine very much and I expect to start the unbolting process before the end of this month. Ah yes, cranes and people yelling and pointing. What fun!! ---
Howard Click on any thumbnail
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