I have a set of steam and air gages with defaced or missing faces to repair for the Gainesville Park Hulk Project. The 3 stoker gages are Berkeley duplexes, about 5" in diameter, one steam gage about 8" in diameter. and a NYAB boxed set for the air brakes.

If anybody has a gage with a good face and is willing to have a good color copy made of the face which we could then apply to a bit of sheet metal to fill the holes it would be most appreciated. Detailed measurements if you ask me for what you want to know.

I also need a used but not broken reflex glass - will get length tomorrow. A lot of us replace them after so many operating days before they break on us.

Official unofficial project historian Doug van Veelen dropped by today with a wealth of GM material. The locomotives were all differently modified by their crews, so his help will assure we spec out the final design for 209 properly. Thanks Doug.

dave

Dave,

I hope you are documenting this project well. Done up as an article it could be a good inspiration for others to get going on their local park engine. There is little reason why any of them should be an embarrassment to their owning communities.

Yeah, I'm writin' a book. Its a love story, called KISS MY #@&!.......(overheard comment from a transplant from NY to NHVRR).

Seriously folks, some projects get books of documentation and some get just enough to get by. This one is falling into the skimpy category, primarily due to time and money constraints. The City of Gainesville budgeted 75K for all the work including asbestos abatement and painting the baggage car and caboose as well as the work on 209. My work on 209 includes neither asbestos or paint, but disassembly before abatement, repair of some metal and wood, and reassembly after abatement. The goal is a not museum quality cosmetic fixup, and the amount of "fine work" we can do is entirely based on the funding available after the big stuff - like the rot in the tender tank - is cured. If all goes exceptionally well, the work should be done by the first of the year. Planning outdoor painting jobs on big sweaty hunks of cold metal in humid territory in winter is at best an iffy proposition.

Of course, an article showing how this sort of funding can make a large amount of difference might be what some communities need to get off dead center, so with good fortune I might be able to provide one somewhere down the line. I seem to have made a career of doing low budget jobs for starving organizations and startups under challenging conditions, so I can't imagine what would be too embarrassing to share from this one. Local support and interest is gratifying.

BTW - the water glass we need goes behind an 8" tall window in a Nathan body.

The curent job related crisis is finding affordable insurance coverage - if anybody on this list is an independent agent licensed to write in GA please contact me offline.

dave

It seems to me what you'll be doing under the limited budget are the important things that don't necessarily make the engine look better, but contribute significantly to its long term longevity. I think these are the things novices need to know, thus why I suggested the article. Just preparing it properly for an abatement contractor to come in and remove the asbestos is a big deal. Left to his own devices, whatever gets in his way will be dealt with with oxyacetylene and the scrap dumpster...