05/24/2004

I finally gave up and put the cover plates over the holes for the missing class lights.  I am sure we will turn up some one of these days but I just cannot wait any longer.  The scaffold came down and was moved to the front end and then I tackled the rear headlight.  Here, I discovered a serious problem with the metal of the locomotive.  The metal sheet that forms the rear end of the locomotive is also the rear wall of the sand box.  Apparently, wet sand was present in the sand box and it rotted out many spots in the sand box, particularly in the thin metal of the rear end sheet.  I had planned to remove the paint and repaint the entire end before applying the replacement rear headlight but, the discovery of the rotten metal has put a stop to that.  I am afraid that at some time, the entire end sheet of the locomotive will have to be replaced.  Anyhow, the rear end now has a rebuilt Mars headlight housing and looks very nice.  Except of course for the holes in the metal.

And then, I got completely carried away.  I spent several hours after work (on several days) removing the NWP emblem on the engineer's side.  No, I did not sand it.  I just scraped the metal with a gasket scraper and the paint pops right off.  There are coats of primer/sealer followed by some sort of pink material and then Imron.  The pink material did not stick to the primer/sealer so removing does not take any particular effort, only time.  I am only removing the paint where the emblem was and will paint it black as soon as I get the paint.  On the fireman's side, some of the emblem has already fallen off to reveal rusty metal underneath.  I think rock dings crack the paint allowing water to get between the paint and the body metal.  This in turn raises the paint, eventually causing it to fall off.  I believe that at some point in the near future, we should remove all of the old paint. 

Phil Orth and I spent the better part of 4 hours Saturday morning sanding down the primer sealer on the area where the NWP emblem used to be.  Thank goodness for Phil or I would probably still be there, sanding.  Once done, we masked the area and primered it after lunch.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get the Imron 333 black that we need but will do so asap and finish the paint job.

Earlier in the week, I removed the front headlight housing which needs to be replaced and will be after I finish with the front number boards.  Dan Furtado was kind enough to clean up the area under the old light housing.

In addition, I started work on the front number board boxes.  All they need is the replacement of the vertical number separators, painting, a little wiring and installation of new rubber and glass.
-- 
Howard

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