Boston & Maine 1732, GP9: Now has been removed from indoors where it sat since March. The pit spot has been needed for other equipment. It has been sealed up and placed on track 1 for now. Prime mover work needs to advance further along before more actual loco work takes place.
Canadian Pacific 1246, 4-6-2: Stewart has gotten back to work on sanding and repainting the steam engine. It's appearance has been greatly improved for this years Northern Lights display, and similar to what Jason has been doing to 557 helps slow down deterioration for when the day comes that the engine will get a proper restoration.
Builder's photo of sister unit MEC 556
Maine Central 557, RS3: This loco now has been standardized along with several other locos this year in pre-lube pump fittings. The horn has been fully rebuilt by Matt Lawson and is back at the shop. The air line running up to the roof on the long hood has been removed and capped off back under the running board by the bells original location. Scraping, wire brushing and primering of the heavily surface rusted radiator shutters and fireman's side door has begun. Jason has begun spending more time down there after work week nights trying to get as much done before winter sets in and puts a halt to 557 work.
Metro-North 2033 (ex-NH 2059), FL9: New polycarb panels were cut and installed in the open number board locations on the nose. Luckily the gaskets were still in place so it made installation easy and everything needed to do this was on hand in the shop. A polycarb disc was also cut out and mounted over the rear location for a horn/whistle, sealing up another spot. Save for the carbody filter locations this FL-9 has been significantly sealed up this past year on weather inlet. Loose molding on the fireman's side of the raised cab floor was reattached with screws, no more getting snagged on your boots once you climbed through the door.
NAUG 2203, U23B is down due to failed lube oil cooler. On October 1 Jason loaded a rebuildable core into Walter's F150 to be sent out for rebuilding, via Bob Eberheim’s shop.
New Haven 0401, FA1: Sadly, even with the best of intentions, this engine saw no progress this month as was hoped with it's turn in the stored loco queue. Between the never ending pressing projects (loco/vehicle/shop) and doing the punch list of projects with the other stored engines there was no time left to devote to this engine the past few weeks.
RMNE (ex-CDOT) 2002, FL9: The replacement "vent" windows for the cab have begun getting cleaned up, they were removed and plated over sometime during CDOT's ownership. 2002 is the only FL-9 we have that had this done. At this time it seems unlikely they will get installed this year, due to colder weather on the horizon and the fact 2002 isn't serviceable so it's not a pressing project, and will remain a fill in project for now.
RMNE (ex-CDOT) 2019, FL9 is covering all assignments at this time until U23B 2203 is repaired.
RMNE 42, GE 45-ton: An attempt to get the unit started has failed so far. Battery water and antifreeze were topped off. Oil was checked in both engines and the batteries were charged. Fresh diesel fuel was put in the filters. The lights and radio came to life and even the contactors in the electrical compartment clicked away but neither engine would attempt to turn over. Digging into things more closely a terminal on one of the battery cables and the post that that cable was attached to was badly corroded and eaten away. This needs to be fixed before anything else is tried as all the low amperage draw stuff works but the heavy draw starters don't.
—Bill Sample, Editor
