Restoration Notes: A Day in the Life of a Railway Museum.

Saturday, March 20, 1999

"Our Gang", an update from Daniel Price

This Saturday morning began as a cold rainy day, and as a result I predicted that there would be little or no track work done. However in the late morning the rain stopped and the sun came out allowing us to begin work on the Pensy diner switch. We began by hand spiking the West end of the switch, as both the blue air compressor and red air compressor (CS&CV #1) were out of service. We continued to hand spike, but were forced to stop by the start of the "Women in Railroading" play in the exhibit hall.

After the play, work continued and Greg Ramsey informed us that the blue air compressor was working, allowing us to start using the power spiker. Three cheers for Greg for getting the compressor running!  Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Spiking with the power spiker continued into the afternoon when we were stopped by the second play. During our down time it was suggested we install the Omni crossing on the other side of the crossing we were working at last weekend. By the time the play was done we had the old wood crossing material removed, the ballast dug up and the Omni crossing installed and packed into place with ballast. Just like the one last week it will be some time before this is permanently installed.

After the play ended we resumed spiking and by days end we had lined, gauged, and spiked about 40' feet of track. An impressive accomplishment considering the late start due to the rain. Many thanks to everyone who helped including (in no particular order) Andy Evans, Nancy Gneier, Chris Rippy, Darlene Sexton, and any others who I may have forgotten (Sorry, I'm writing this a week and a half late).

Daniel Price

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