THE OLD MACHINIST AT WORK

THE 33″ BACK BREAKER LATHE

A 2′ X 2′ BASE PLATE FOR ONE OF OUR OLD M.O.W. MACHINES NEEDS A LITTLE HELP.

NO COMPUTER REQUIRED HERE! ALL THAT’S NEEDED ARE A PAIR OF WILLING HANDS.

The Orange Empire Railway Museum has, and uses, an extensive network of track which requires a lot of maintenance. Also, since the Museum is growing, new tracks are being laid. All this by volunteer workers, also known as Museum members.The M.O.W. machines used are donations from railroad companies and have seen their better days. The Museum M.O.W. workers are very pleased at the very supportive donations of the machines, but, these machines need lots of repairs before they can be used. The base plate shown is a part off of a M.O.W. machine used in replacing ties and the age and condition of it are readily apparent. The base plate needs to have repairs made to the connection point for a hydraulic piston of the machine. This piston is needy also and is presently in the 16″ lathe for work.. All this work is being done by an old machinist, using old skills, and an old machine to repair an old M.O.W. machine. However, all are still young at heart so it works for us. I believe it was Mae West who said: ” Why don’t- cha’ come up and see me sometime?”. Why not? We throw in a free bag of chips when you visit the Machine Shop.