I went up to the museum the second week of May. I charged the battery on the Fairmount A6. It did not start right away. I put a little device on the spark plugs to check for spark. I was getting spark. I took the air cleaner off the carb and put some gas in the carb. the engine started up and ran well.

More pictures of the museum's 1939 GE Box Cab locomotive.

Night at the museum photos.

I went up to the museum last week. I charged the batteries on the Plymouth, the Whitcomb and the Fairmount. The weather was supposed to be nice but it was rainy windy, and cold. Here are a couple pictures of the Fairmount A6 speeder taken last week.

GE Boxcab waiting for help

The president of the Railway Museum applied for several grants for money to restore the 1939 GE Boxcab locomotive. One grant was turned down but the museum did receive a grant for about nine thousand dollars. That will be a help but the Boxcab is a big job. Many of the controls inside the loco are rusted solid. The whole inside was painted a light green color. all the paint is blistering. There is a lot of copper in the generator and the contactors. All of these electrical surfaces are corroded and need cleaned. There are many sub systems air compressor, air brakes, diesel fuel pump, lines, filters, cooling, electrical generator, motor and wiring that need overhauled.

Ray painted the GE 23 ton boxcab blue. This locomotive was first used by Lehigh Cement in New York. Jerry has made some new window frames for the cab and replaced some of the glass. Ray has obtained some grant money to repair and restore the boxcab. We are looking for some companies to donate some resources to repair the components and sub assemblies.

This is a video of the Museum's 1939 Boxcab locomotive. It is very original inside and hasn't been run in many years. It was parked outside for 8 years and the windows were broken by vandals. First priority is to make wooden window frames and get the broken glass replaced.

The Museum received a 1939 GE Boxcab 23 ton locomotive in April . The GE was first owned by The Lehigh Portland Cement company. The GE has not run in a while. The first order of business is to get it closed up with windows and doors.

This is a video flashback to Novemeber 2012. Since then it has been painted (see older posts), The wood ends were rebuilt, and plywood floor which supports the shock absorbers has been replaced.

The Fairmount A6 speeder is owned by the Railway Museum. The ¾ plywood floor under the cab rotted away at the corners of the cab. The problem was to replace the floor under the cab without removing the cab.

I looked at it for a while and saw that the floor was made of several pieces of plywood. On either side of the motor box was a piece of plywood 6 foot long and 16 inches wide. On the motor box side was a piece of angle iron connecting the motor box to the plywood. The motor box could be jacked up and the angle iron removed. On the cab side there was a 2x4 on top of the plywood and bolted to the side of the cab. With the cab jacked up and the 2x4 out, the plywood should drop in place. I did the right side first and sawed out the old plywood. I was able to slide the new piece of treated ¾ plywood under the 2x4. On the left side the 2x4 was rotted out and the railroad welded pieces of steel in here and there to take the place of the original wood. I removed some of the steel and all the bolts from the old 2x4. I was able to get the new plywood down. I replaced the 2x4 and bolted it to the cab.

In August the LSRHS had a steam weekend. I was there and signed up to operate the Viscose company number 6 steam engine. It took some effort to move the johnson bar and coordinate the brake, throttle and whistle but it was awesome fun. Here is video of Chris who ran the engine after I did.

The plywood floor rotted out at the corners of the cab. Because the cab sits on top of the floor, it looked like nothing was holding the cab on. Replacing this plywood was a job that I didn't want to do, but after looking at it and measuring everything twice, I started in on it. I bought the wood and cut out the cross members and the plywood.

I finished putting the boards around the rear platform. I put a key ignition switch in the dash instead of a toggle switch. A battery from the museum was put in the battery box.

Monday April 29, Steve drove me over to Add lumber in his pick up truck and I bought a 4x8 sheet of ¾ treated plywood. I painted both sides of the plywood and cut it to fit the rear platform of the speeder. I put the left over piece in the front platform.

I went up to the museum April 4,5 I removed the old brake shoes and blocks. I mounted the new brakes shoes. I need to work on the adjustment so that the two sides come in contact at the same time. I drilled holes and bolted the new cross members in place. I put a manual choke on the carburetor.