May 26, 2017:
So, on Saturday, the following happened:
- Kyle C and George O teamed up to continue on with the ultra sounding. Can’t remember if I reported that Kyle C and Bill Hamby had previously removed the throttle bracket (VERY difficult job) and cleared the way to test areas of the back head that were previously inaccessible.
- Mark Siegel, with singular focus, continued digging out the bottom edge of the front flue sheet in the smoke box in preparation for ultra sounding.
Few of us probably realize that Mark is a budding young archeologist and botanist. He has excavated several interesting artifacts from within the smoke box, and last Saturday made a startling botanical discovery – locomotive seeds. These seeds resemble small to medium sized pieces of congealed carbon and rust and are believed to still be viable. It has been suggested that we plant a few to see if, in fact, they can still produce a steam locomotive. Expected time to sprouting is about 1000 years.
Jeff Honeyman went down to the EH on Monday (in spite of being sick) and sent me the following report of Monday work:
Jim V. got to the EH about 11 or so and spent three hours grinding tubes in the firebox. Thank you, Jim for your persistence.
[He is] not sure when Kyle and Bill got there but they were there, ready to go to town when I showed up. Bill, Kyle and I looked at the pipe that we know we are going to replace and we looked at the pipe over the back head that you told me about. We discussed some ideas about removal and what may be involved in order to save the old pipe to be used as patterns for the new. Kyle took what “magic solution” (50-50 ATF/Acetone) we had left and squirted it on studs and nuts that we will need to remove in order to get the piping off. Then we all left.
So, there you have it.
Charlie