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Thanks for posting that picture Steve. I like the looks of that unit for sure.
Charlie
I agree. Great pictures, Steve, and a nice write-up, too. Thumbsup Thumbsup

Wayne
Hello gents, More pics to post from today.

The big thing from today was to finish up all the battery connections and put the batteries on charge. As with all things railroad, even the battery charger is oversized.
[attachment=31523]

[attachment=31522] This shot is of the battery switch. We had to attach the charger here with alligator clips because we have not reinstalled the charging receptacle yet. The light mounted on the board was lit for the first time in 40 years. Sorry about the small pic, but at almost 50mb I had to shrink it a lot to get it to fit 250 kb size needed to post.

I don't know if I have posted this before,, But this is a shot of our parts car. She is an X-Lehigh valley 50 footer. It provides all our on site storage, and is completely road worthy. We will eventually repaint her back to her original LV colors . [attachment=31521]

I did do a bunch of house keeping around the "B" inside and out today, it needed it badly. I didn't take any pictures of this as it is not very exciting or interesting, just lots of vacuuming, sweeping up, and tossing out garbage.
So I'll post a couple of pics of todays trains running around the museum.
Here is 664 pulling the Scranton limited. [attachment=31520]

And 26 on the caboose hop.[attachment=31519]

I would like to have everyone look here. >>>>> <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9363">viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9363</a><!-- l --> <<<<<<
And invite all of you to join in. Thanks for reading along with me for all these years.
Man that's GREAT!!!!!
We have got to get to Steamtown sometime this year Smile
I spent last Sunday reinstalling the battery charging receptacle on the "B'.

The plugs innards are shown here, the old wire was dry rotted and mostly bare of insulation. It's silver soldered to the back of the charging receptacle, and all attempts to unsolder it failed miserably. So on to plan B... I went to Power rail to pick up a few butt splices , the counter person informed me that they do not carry them in the correct size for the #4 wire used in the charging circuit. They suggested using some ring terminals and nut and bolting them together. It's how they do it during the rebuilds they do in shop. So here is now plan C.[attachment=31526]
The splice gets staggered and insulated with rubber and plastic tape.

The section of conduit that holds the Charging wire had a bad fitting attached to it called an L-B. It was replaced with a new one, and remounted between the front truck and the electrical cabinet.[attachment=31525] This was no easy task as I was working by myself. In the background of the last pic you can see the chain that actuates the hand brake.

[attachment=31524]

It's one more step towards getting her going. While I was there we got a delivery of the brushes that we need for the main generator, so maybe I will be putting them in next week.
Battery cells were toped off today with some fresh distilled water and placed back on charge, now using the charging receptacle shown in this pic.
[attachment=31531]

A brand new set of brushes were installed in the generator. The ones on the sides are as easy as can be. The ones on the very top and bottom of the generator are nearly imposable to get at. They require that you have an extra joint in your arm between your elbow and shoulder. [attachment=31530]

The brushes are held in place by a set of spring clips and have a set of wire leads that attach to the housing. Some still need to be attached in this shot.
[attachment=31529]

At the very bottom of the generator, on the fireman's side is a terminal for the starting circuit. When the start button is pressed the starting contactor sends positive power from the batteries back to the generator on this wire to make it turn like a motor, thus rotating the prime mover to get it started. This connection was also completed today with a little machining of a brass plate to bolt the lug to the terminal.
[attachment=31528]

At the starting contactor the same thing was done.
[attachment=31527]
We are now just a few weeks away from our first start up of the "B". She will not be able to move under her own power yet but getting the prime mover to start and run will be a HUGE hurtle that we have over come.
Nice work, Steve. It may be late to tell you this and you may all ready know it, but sometimes you will get a spring that is too strong and it will wear a brush prematurely. I had one on the Alco. Once I replaced the spring I never had to replace that brush, or any other for that matter.
You folks do wonderful work, keep it up.
Charlie
Thanks gents, I do like Alco's idea on how they mount the generator a bit better then the EMD way. Alco mounts the generator directly to the prime mover so there is no " lining up " like on an EMD that bolts to the floor. The EMD generator also has an AC winding that the Alco doesn't have, so the Alco genn is much smaller. There are lots of cool differences between the builders. When you start getting into them you can see the different ways they solved the same problem. I haven't had the chance to get my hands into a Baldwin or FM,,,, that would be fun.

Today we moved some stuff from our Lehigh Gap building up to Scranton. It's nice that our Boxcar has a custom crane built into it for loading and unloading. If this keeps up we will need a bigger box car.
[attachment=31534]

We started to button up the compressor by hanging the after cooler and putting the mesh screen back on the generator blower. The other plumbing parts for the compressor should be delivered soon.
[attachment=31533]

I also drilled out the holes and mounted the pressure switch and gauge for the main reservoir. Some cooper piping and power will be added later. I removed the warning bell from it's clapper,( that thing next to the shinny box that's the pressure switch.) and repainted it . It will get reinstalled next weekend after it's dry.

[attachment=31532]

We also uncovered a wiring issue in the main cabinet. We tried to bump the fuel pump to see if we had any leaks in the lines, we were trying to save a little work and reuse some of the control wiring that pulls in the fuel pump contactor,,,,it went badly. The NS wire caused a dead short , and went up in smoke. Now that will now come out and get redone .
I still have an open invite for anyone who would like to come up and spent the day with us, just send me a pm if your interested.
Thanks for running this thread Steve, while I don't always reply, I always read and enjoy it. Maybe because I am not the one doing it anymore. Now that the BP has repainted the OC 71 the only example of my work left is the KJR 7135. Well, time marches on....
Keep up the good work, and yes, we will see you sometime.
Charlie
Charlie B Wrote:....Keep up the good work, and yes, we will see you sometime.

Charlie

You betcha, even if I hafta carry Charlie on my back, and my weak-eyed buddy Ed, too! Misngth Misngth

Wayne
Well we can put it off till the fall when everyone is at 100%.
Lots going on in Scranton including a big announcement that we finally have an excursion season ... An agreement must have been reached between the DL and the park service. We hit the main for the first time this year tomorrow morning. 664 and an undisclosed DL loco will run together on two trips Saturday and Sunday while 663 will pull the yard shuttle ( the Scranton Limited ). After we know all the bugs have been worked out of 663 She will be MUed to 664 for the rest of the summer excursions. By October we will have the A-B-A set on running on the fall foliage excursions. The "B" will be dead in toe or just idling in isolation ( not providing tractive power ) for these trips. Here is a copy of this years planned trips.


2017 SUMMER - FALL EXCURSION SCHEDULE›


DESTINATION 2017 SUMMER - FALL EXCURSIONS FARES
Tobyhanna, Pa. July 22
August 26
Departs 11:00 am, returns to park at approx. 3:00 pm
powered by historic diesel locomotives Adults (ages 16-61) $34
Seniors (ages 62 and older) $29
Children (ages 6 – 15) $22
Children (to age 5) Free – Ticket required



Cresco, Pa. July 23
August 20
October 22
Departs 11:30 am returns to park at approx. 4:00 pm
powered by historic diesel locomotive Adults (ages 16-61) $34
Seniors (ages 62 and older) $29
Children (ages 6 – 15) $22
Children (to age 5) Free – Ticket required


Moscow, Pa. July 30
August 12, 27
September 2, 3
October 14, 21
Departs 12:30 pm returns to park at approx. 3:00 pm
powered by historic diesel locomotive
SPECIAL! MOSCOW COUNTRY FAIR
August 5, 6
Departs 12:30 pm returns to park at approx. 4:00 pm
powered by historic diesel locomotive Adults (ages 16 – 61) $24
Seniors (ages 62 and older) $22
Children (ages 6 to 15) $17
Children (to age 5) Free! (Ticket required)


Gouldsboro, Pa. August 13
October 29
Departs 11:00 am, returns to park at approx. 3:00 pm
powered by historic diesel locomotive Adults (ages 16-61) $34
Seniors (ages 62 and older) $29
Children (ages 6 – 15) $22
Children (to age 5) Free – Ticket required


East Stroudsburg, Pa.
October 7
Departs 9:30 am, returns to park at approx. 4:30 pm
powered by historic diesel locomotive
Adults (ages 16-61) $54
Seniors (ages 62 and older) $49
Children (ages 6 – 15) $32
Children (to age 5) Free – Ticket required


Carbondale, Pa. October 9
(Columbus Day)
Departs 10:00 am, returns to park at approx. 4:00 pm
tentatively powered by steam locomotive Adults (ages 16 – 61) $24
Seniors (ages 62 and older) $22
Children (ages 6 to 15) $17
Children (to age 5) Free! (Ticket required)

Delaware Water Gap Twp., Pa.
October 15
Departs 9:00 am, returns to park at approx.5:00 pm
powered by historic diesel locomotive Adults (ages 16-61) $54
Seniors (ages 62 and older) $49
Children (ages 6 – 15) $32
Children (to age 5) Free – Ticket required

And a pic of the repainted bell that I was talking about earlier.
[attachment=31535]
This Sunday the only unaltered set of F-3 in the world will return to the Pocono main on an excursion from Scranton to Moscow PA. It's been almost three years since DL&W 663 & 664 were paired up for a trip. Two of our members ( Toptrain and Tomustang ) were a big part of making this happen and deserve a big thanks for all the help in the restoration work of these units. I will not be riding this train but will be camping out on top of Nay Aug tunnel in hopes to grab a nice pic or two. The mechanical end of this train will be in the very capable hands of Mr. Rich Jahn.


I did link to a video of one of our trips to East Stroudsburg with the two ladies on the point to give you a taste of what to expect.
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The two girls are on the road again.. We did a few shakedown runs and worked out some bugs, so it looks like all is good to pull some trains. 663 had a few sticking contactors that needed cleaning and a few valves that needed to be exercised to get her back into working order from her three year nap. That was taken care of yesterday, along with some house cleaning . Both units were MU'd and load tested from each cab , brakes were checked, and each unit received a nice bath.

[attachment=31539]

[attachment=31538]

One other thing that got attention was the "environmental tanks", as we call them, were drained. This is waste oil that seeps into the sump and normally drips onto the tracks . We capture it in PVC tanks located between the fuel tank and battery box, collect it, and send it out to be recycled.

[attachment=31537]

All cleaned and ready to go.
[attachment=31536]
Nice work by the staff and volunteers, Steve. Worship That's a pretty snazzy lookin' duo. Thumbsup Thumbsup

Wayne
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