Also on Tuesday morning, the trucker arrived to move the tool trailer into place from where it was stored on another part of the trolley site. Needless to say, the fit was again tight, but because of flawless planning and a skilled driver, everything went into place nicely. There was some shuffling of contents as the trailer went through the lower ground adjacent to the pit, but everything appeared to survive.

The storage container arrived last Tuesday which will function as a woodshop. The driver had a challenge in negotiating around "the pit" but thanks to hydraulic axles on the trailer that moved forward and aft, good positioning was achieved. The "shop" rests on ties in front of a sleeping trolley, not as close as it looks in the photo. There are doors on both ends for ventilation in the summer.

Home from Antonito

We made it home without incident, and the trailer is empty for the first time since last fall. The new site has plenty of railroad atmosphere with the coal trains regularly passing by.

Trolley Car 48 is gone as well, having been moved into the roundhouse to the right. The front loader has done some grading, and we need to do a little more of that before moving in the equipment trailer, etc. Then comes construction of the shelter and work area. Plenty to do prior to arrival of 0252.

Antonito weekend

The first weekend in May saw some of the COS Friends heading for Antonito to perform maintenance on OB in preparation for a busy summer. Projects included cleaning and painting, freeing the weight which had a cable jammed under it, fabricating door stops for the rear doors, some mechanical work on the steam engine, and raising the mast to adjust the ladder plates. All was accomplished except the latter.

Unfortunately, we arrived to discover (very heavy) equipment parked just outside the CRF door on the track so that OB could not be moved outside for mast raising. After some very careful calculations, it was decided that this could not be accomplished inside the building either. Therefore this project was postponed until June. OB is scheduled to be part of a maintenance of way train at that time.

We brought two large I-beams to Antonito to transport the tourist sleeper to COS later this spring (or summer), and are returning with a few supplies for the new work site. Tom is insuring that we don't leave anything along the way.

New Work Site

After completing restoration of piledriver OB, the Colorado Springs (COS) Friends have been regrouping to start another project. Because of development pressure, a search for a new site was begun. As luck would have it, our president, Tim Tennant met the president of the Pikes Peak Historical Street Railway Foundation on a trip, who invited us to join them at their facility at the old Rock Island roundhouse in Colorado Springs, AKA the "Trolley Museum." We will be accessible to I-25, to an equipment rental facility, and to the resources of the Trolley Museum which is involved in the restoration of streetcars. We will be located on the south side of the old roundhouse building over an old maintanance pit, with room for the tool trailer as well as work and storage areas. (The old streetcar will go.) Considerable work remains prior to moving in and starting the next project, but we hope to be commencing early this summer. It will be a Pullman tourist sleeper originally built in the 1880's that is presently in Chama. More on that later. A diagram and photo of the site are attached.