Quite possibly the single most productive day on 470 since she was moved in 2016 was held on Saturday, July 27, 2019! Two people warrant special recognition, Bob Moore and Kerri Davis. Bob operated the big crane, while Kerri prepared another amazing lunch of American Chop Suey, Garlic bread, toll house cookies, and strawberry cream pie.
Bob DeWachter was able to install lighting in the office container, while Bob Moore and CMO Leverett Fernald rigged up the frames of the first tender truck for separation. Dick torched off some remaining nuts and bolts, then gave Kerri a quick class in using a cutting torch. Kerri is a quick study and torched off two of the remaining problem fasteners. Jim Armstrong helped Leverett and Bob with collecting truck parts and getting them onto pallets for storage. After lunch, we turned our attention to the fireman's side valve gear. It took Bob DeWachter, Jim, Dick, and Kerri to set up the tripod and chain fall, then press the valve out with a Porta-Power. Two surprises initially; the valve slid out with little resistance, and quarts of what appeared to be clean water came our into the lower cylinder. The valve itself looks very clean and undamaged. The valve cylinder looks fairly smooth and clean, but was filled with a sludge mixture of coagulated oil and water. We did not get a chance to clean that mixture out, but the disassembly on the left is done. All in all, we checked off several major items on our summer list. It was a huge day of labor, but the results were absolutely worth the aches and pains.