Work Session Status Week Ending 02/10/2018

February 13, 2018

Hello steamers,

We are certainly getting down to the small things as we are still installing small bore control piping, blowing out installed piping with compressed air and testing the various gauges for accuracy.

More insulation was applied to the smokebox and backhead thus protecting our fire-up personnel from the 400 plus degree heat that will be generated.

A new batch of jacketing was procured ​from our painter from A Real Body Shop. All the pieces for the backhead have arrived and installation has begun. When complete all the various pipes which were removed for insulation and jacketing will be reinstalled.

Fabrication of an air-free flowing louver began Saturday. It will cover all the 26L under cab components and hoses protecting them from the elements and the undesirable ones. After all the parts have been fabricated they will go to our painter prior to final assembly.

Initial steps have been taken to change the tool car’s current reporting mark of RPCX to our own reporting mark provided to us several years ago NMSX.

We have submitted information to the fuel oil company to set up an account with them. A face to face meeting will be required to check our oil fill fittings with theirs to make sure they are compatible, and discuss other issues.

There are surprisingly larger numbers of rail fans visiting our web site for updates. I sincerely wish each and every one of you would consider becoming a member, make a donation to the tool car or to the general operating budget. From here on in operations will be increasingly expensive. If you can, while looking at the photos or progress reports, click over to How You Can Help and give us a hand. All donations are tax deductible.

For those of you that missed the refresher, this coming Saturday at 0900 will be the make-up session. It’s not a long one, so come on down. Also Jon Spargo, CSO, has decided the next New Member class will hopefully be on March 10th, 0900, after our General Meeting at 8:30. Once that becomes a firm date it will appear on our web site. Come prepared to spend most of the day for the class.

Another reminder that if you have not paid your memberships, please get those in as soon as possible. If you are a regular you cannot work on the site unless you’re up to date on your membership and have gone through the safety refresher class.

Some rain possibly in our forecast on Thursday, so it might give us a slight help to our drought problem. We’ve got a long way to go to get out of that. No snow in town this year except in a few places close to the foothills of the Sandia mountains. We’re in dire need to moisture this year. So come on down and join in the fun, and as always . . .

Keep on Steamin’,
Rick Kirby, CMO
NMSL&RHS