It's Been a BUSY Winter

During the winter, when the weather prevents us from working outside, we still have plenty to do inside. We have been removing many of the front covers off of various indicator panels and other pieces of equipment and restoring them to their original condition.

This work includes carefully removing label plates, lights and other items, then stripping off the existing paint (sometimes as many as 20 layers). Once cleaned, the cover is then re-painted with a historically accurate paint.

While this is going on, the lights are checked for damage and broken lenses or bulbs are replaced. The label plates (often themselves covered with multiple layers of paint) are cleaned and the lettering restored (using paint applied with a needle).

The all the parts are re-assembled, and the restored cover plate is replaced.

All this work is done in a matter of days, because the restored cover plates have to be back in place to allow tours to be safely conducted.

All told, nearly 50 pieces of equipment has been restored this winter alone.

Photograph courtesy of Joe Mathis. More photographs of the work we are doing can be seen on the 2011 Restoration Page.

Photographs of all of the restoration work done over the last 6+ years can be found here.