We had a successful and safe volunteer session on the D&R #9 this last weekend, along with very cooperative weather. Only a light rain on Saturday morning. On both Saturday and Sunday, we had anywhere between 3 and 8 volunteers at any one time, and I want to give a huge thank you to those volunteers.

With their help, we tackled “low hanging fruit,” and removed the rear light on the tender, the class lamps on the boiler, and most of the remaining loose parts and pieces that were in the locomotive. All those items are now stored and ready for individual restoration. We also removed the old rotting running boards from the flanks of the boiler, as they were only being held up by termites, so an obvious safety issue. We attempted to replace them with temporary running boards, but the old rusty original bolts prevented us from doing that for now. The only thing we were unsuccessful at was removing the #9’s bell. With the weight, and the height that it would have to be lowered using only manpower, we decided to play it safe and wait. We hope to get the #9 moved to a nearby location in the near future in hopes we can make access for equipment to be able to help us remove the bell and cradle.

As of now, we do not have a volunteer session planned for June but will send out that info when dates are determined. Again, thanks for everyone’s help this last weekend.

Update provided by Jason Reiman