We are at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado with Piledriver OB attached to their beautiful old 346 steam locomotive. This is to be the second time for a successful raising of the mast and smashing of a watermelon. OB is at the front of a maintenance of way train put together by the Museum, and was planned as a learning oportunity for the crew as well as a demonstration in conjunction with the Narrow Gauge Convention.
On the left, the mast is up and secure. The weight was initially lowered from the upper portion of the mast to act as a weight to help raise it. There was some binding of the weight in the track in the upper mast which will need attention, but it eventually was positioned properly. The watermelon is in place ready for the drop.
Success! (if you like creosote and gravel with your watermelon.) As you can see, a couple of ties were sacrificed in the process. The weight was raised and lowered several times, and the only glitches were the cable coming loose from the weight at one point, and some slight binding in the lower track, not completely corrected with grease.
We were able to rotate the upper portion of OB on the base 10-15 degrees without difficulty in both directions. We left in the late afternoon satisfied that everything worked fairly well, and thankful to the CRRM for supplying steam and experienced help with the event.
On the left, the mast is up and secure. The weight was initially lowered from the upper portion of the mast to act as a weight to help raise it. There was some binding of the weight in the track in the upper mast which will need attention, but it eventually was positioned properly. The watermelon is in place ready for the drop.
Success! (if you like creosote and gravel with your watermelon.) As you can see, a couple of ties were sacrificed in the process. The weight was raised and lowered several times, and the only glitches were the cable coming loose from the weight at one point, and some slight binding in the lower track, not completely corrected with grease. 
We were able to rotate the upper portion of OB on the base 10-15 degrees without difficulty in both directions. We left in the late afternoon satisfied that everything worked fairly well, and thankful to the CRRM for supplying steam and experienced help with the event.
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