A little each day

No matter how hectic my day has been I always try to take at least a few minutes to work on the train project. Sometimes it's not much but I manage to do a little design, cut a few pieces, pull some welds or do a little grinding. Those minutes and efforts add up and we are beginning to see some great progress. The 'steam' engine cab was designed with kids in mind. I of course will do the critical job of minding the throttle and brakes and keep an eye on what's ahead on the track. But there's still plenty to do for the junior rider in the cab. Someone will have to yell 'ALL ABOARD!' The bell will of course need frequent ringing and the whistle cord will need pulling to activate the antique brass whistle. There are also four pressure gauges to watch and many taps to carefully adjust to get things running correctly. This is going to be a LOT of fun!

I had great fun making the speed controls over the last week. It looks and works well. Next up is the electric motor throttle which will look (and work) like a prototypical steam engine throttle.

All hands on deck

Today the concrete on the Viking ship had cured enough we could begin the painting and so it was all hands on deck for the task. The crew came in early to take advantage of the cooler temperatures. Even so the sun was plenty bright. They managed two coats of the base colour and one blend coat. They finished early in the day to get a jump on the long weekend. On Tuesday they will begin the glazes. We are also expecting more pieces back from the galvanizer which will allow us to finish assembling the first half of the second ship.

Its a dirty job but someone has to do it

We get many applications to work at our shop - many more that we could ever hope to employ. But I always love to talk to those who want to work here. Most who apply believe it is a fun place to work. It definitely is but most likely not in the way they imagine. The work we do involves a tremendous amount of hard physical labor. Our crew cuts dirty, heavy steel, welds, grinds, mixes concrete, trowels it on, carves it for hours. There is a lot of dirty, dusty cleanup on a daily basis. Heavy things need to be moved. All of our painting is done by hand, often bent over or reaching to the top of what they are able. Often the crew works from ladders or up on scaffolds. It's always too hot (unless it is too cold), always dusty, sometimes smelly, and very often very noisy. Sometimes it can be incredibly messy. No one wears nice clothes on our work sites for they are soon covered in concrete, spattered in paint, ripped, burned or just worn out. There is often a fun debate over who has the worst job of the day and the most feared comment from me (always made with a hearty laugh) is "I have just the fun job for you!"  Today that statement was made to Don and Jack at first coffee. The crew instantly knew something was up for I couldn't keep a straight face. The job was the dirtiest to date... cleaning out the plasma cutter. After almost a year of operation, a four inch thick layer of scrap metal bits and burnt steel sludge had built up in the bottom of the water tank. It took just under four hours to do the incredibly dirty job - all with a smile on their faces. Thanks!