Caboose Work Party Makes Progress

Moving the workday to Tuesday was a good call. No rain all day, but we did get some wind in the afternoon. We got a lot done! The crew was John, Gene, Jay, Matt and me.

A beam was placed under the north end of the caboose and jacks were used to lift it up to where it should be. The door now opens freely. 

The rotten beams under the north platform were cut back to make room to work. The stairs were move to proved temporary access to the door. The The stairs were about a foot lower than they would have been when they were mounted to the platform. Removing the stairs revealed the Safety First sign painted on one of the beams that served as the last step up onto the platform. This can be seen in the picture of the 760 on the JWA website. 

Thanks to John and Gene for the photos; I once again totally forgot to take any pictures. The two remaining top plates were set with only minor adjustments. All of the rafters have been placed. Working from north to south they were screwed in place and the tie rods installed and tensioned. On the south end we left the rafters and tie rods loose until we jack up and level that end. 

Boards were laid across the rafters to support the tarp without making big puddles. Matt provided a new tarp to have a second layer over the now holey blue tarp. Matt also put plywood over the windows to help keep the rain otherwise. We are making good progress!