The response to our expansion into commissioned restoration and repair services was much larger than expected! The good news is that we prepared for this and the sudden influx of work has absolutely zero impact on current lead times (about three weeks for most jobs). Johnny insists on a minimum five day paint cure time, otherwise he could probably bang out half a dozen locomotives a day!
We got in a large load of non-commission locomotives to restore this morning and more parts arrive today and tomorrow. The first of the commissioned locomotives you folks sent in last week should be ready to ship the second Saturday of February.
The bad news is we decided to delay the first wave of completed locomotives a few more days. Johnny was unhappy with certain details on each and vehemently refuses to make them available until “I’d run the damn things myself and not have to see every flaw for the rest of eternity.” He’s a bit of an obsessive perfectionist…and perhaps a little melodramatic…but he is right, we won’t sell stuff if it doesn’t meet his standards.
It is also brutally cold here in Nebraska right now. Frigid temperatures so far below freezing the trees are frost cracking (look it up, it is pretty neat) with our ubiquitous wind driving the chill down to negative double digits! This delays painting boiler shells a few days as our unheated garage has mammoths and Neanderthals living in it right now.
And, since someone asked, no we do not use “AI” to write edit our posts. We are a family of over-educated bookworms. We really talk and write like this. We work as educators for our day jobs. We don’t do the NYT crossword or play scrabble any more because they are too easy…
Big Jack's Trains 