BSM Track Updates . . . by John LaCosta
S
unday (2/28)
Bob Krueger was Dispatcher with David Baynes, Andy Blumberg and Dennis Falter
as crew.
Rich Obbink, Ed Amrhein and a friend of Rick's installed the railing on the
stairs nest to the pit on one track. They also extended the top landing the
length about 4 feet.
Saturday (3/6)
3550 needed to go on the pit on one track for work on the air system and one
traction motor. For anyone who has seen the cars in our car house, they know
there is little extra space available. The addition of the crane has
restricted the combinations of cars that can be placed on the same track.
Moving 3550 from two track to one track required moving 8 cars. It took the
crew assembled, Ed Amrhein, David Crow, Rick Obbink and myself over 30 minutes to decide on what turned out to be the only combination of cars that would allow 3550 to end up on one track.
Two things prevented this shuffle of cars from going smoothly. The first was
is started to rain. Not that rain is rally a problem except for Rick who was
standing at the switches to throw them as the cars moved in and out and for me when I was running 3550, it has no roof over the platform on one end.
The second problem was of a bigger concern. With six of the eight cars
outside, the PCC was coming up two track when it seemed to slow down. A quick
inspection revealed that one of the electric track brakes had dropped a piece
of metal on the track and was acting as a brake on the wheel. It took a little bit of work to clear the jam enough to be able to move the car, but it could not be run in regular service that way.
Meanwhile Rick Williams and Dan Lawrence were constructing an new set of
shelves in the Dispatcher's office.
During the afternoon the Dennis Yeager and Gary joined us at the shop and we
started to measure the truck springs that would be needed for the crane. They
also continued to work on 1164' truck.
Sunday (3/7)
I was Dispatcher with David Crow, Jim Robertson and Carl Thistel as crew.
Given the cold and windy day, we had a nice number of visitors, including two
separate visitors from Holland.
In the early afternoon there was a large enough break in the action so we
could send 7407 up to the 22nd Street shop where Rick Obbink finished removing
the damaged track brake and adjusted the track brake hanger. This allowed 7407 back in revenue service for the rest of the day.
John
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