Grinding away

Grinding away, originally uploaded by SeabeeCook.

By my account, Keith Berry, Wayne Thorley and Steve Karoly have put in about 72 man-hours into the restoration of the Diamond and Caldor Railbus No. 10 since the first of the year. We have worked each Friday and Saturday since January 3.

Since Wayne took today off, Keith and I are working on other projects this morning.

As of this morning, we have completed the frame for the railbus and have completely re-built the rear coupler pocket. The rear wall to the body was completely framed in over the past four work sessions.

Yesterday, Keith and Wayne fabricated the pocket for the backup light and installed five cross-braces under the front deck on either side of the engine housing. One brace on the engineer's side will support the battery box. The two braces on the fireman's side will support the airtank.

Although Keith, Wayne and Steve currently make up the railbus team, other volunteers have contributed toward the railbus. They include:

• Bill Rodgers and Mark Bruto repaired the MIG welder last Saturday. After mentioning about the welder 's demise on Friday, January 9, Keith and I though that we were going to have to transport it to Sacramento for repair. Bill and Mark stepped in Saturday and discovered the problem was a stuck relay switch.
• Marcus Hodge is currently fabricating the battery box in his shop at home. When he completes that project, Marcus will take another project home to work on.
• Jacob Karoly has served in a key role as Keith's helper for two Saturdays now. He will continue to work every other Saturday.
• Dale Mace did the original design work on the coupler pocket. Dale has not been able to attend recent Saturday work sessions.
• Ed Cuhna researched the make and model of the Wakasha engine. This is significant because two years ago we though it was a Stewart.
• Now that we know the origin of the engine, we will be able to locate parts, etc., when Doug Youngberg re-builds it in his home in Oregon this spring and summer.
• Keith Berry located and purchased a diesel locomotive ditch light for use as the backup light.
• Keith Berry and Alterto Weiss built the brakeman's footboards last summer.

In the top photograph, volunteer Steve levels a piece of steel tubing with the power grinder inside the engine house. Keith fits the battery box brace in the second photograph.