February 2020 Work Reports

[Jeff Schumaker]

Great photos, Mike. Looks like a beautiful day, in spite of the cold.

Jeff S.

[Bob Holmes]

Actually, Jeff, it's the cold and snow that makes it so special!  Mainers relish these conditions.

[Gordon Cook]

Just the sloshing of the water in the tender keeps it from freezing during the day..the tank is not heated.

What Mike said and we can also run steam back into the tank if necessary with the water injectors. We would probably not risk the tank freezing as it is refilled often enough during the day, but if it had to sit still for a few hours in windy, really cold weather, or over night, like they did in the good old days, it could get interesting.

[Gordon Cook]

And here's a picture of NOT Bill and Bob, I think. Both hitches on Sunday were very similar to my untrained eye and I am going by the difference in the harnesses.  But it is definitely #9. 
Anyway, Lots of happy faces and another very successful event.

[Bill Reidy]

Some late-day photos from Steam & Sleighs yesterday (Sunday). all taken at Top of the Mountain.

First three show the conveyances between our train and SeaLyon Farm.  First up is Don Lyons with his tractor and wagon.


Second is a horse-drawn wagon.


And third is a horse-drawn sleigh.


Our train consisted of locomotive No. 9 and three cars (north-to-south) Franklin & Megantic No. 2, Wiscasset & Quebec No. 3, and WW&F No. 8.  Here we see a very full F&M No. 2 awaiting the end of day trip back to Sheepscot, as Don tends his equipment.


In total we had over 250 passengers each way between Sheepscot and Top of the Mountain.  Our last return trip at 3.30 p.m. had 105 passengers.  Everyone I spoke with had a great time.  Temperature was in the 30s, and after being on crew for the Grand Reunion a week ago when the day started at -10, it felt like summer.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Actually, Jeff, it's the cold and snow that makes it so special!  Mainers relish these conditions.

I can understand why they would. No black flies. 

Jeff S.

[Graham Buxton]

I was wondering what activities were going on at the SeaLyon Farm 'end' of the event.  I found this, posted by a WW&F / SeaLyon customer on the SeaLyon Facebook page:

Alison Shanck Elder is with Joe Elder at Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum.18 hrs · Alna, ME ·

WOW!! Big fun up here in Maine today taking an old steam engine through the woods to a horse drawn sleigh ride to SeaLyon Farm, LLC for hot chocolate, bonfires and tasty treats. So cool!!!

https://www.facebook.com/sealyonfarm/

Note: I don't have a Facebook account, but I had no problem viewing the multiple photos (and a short video) posted there by Alison. Two of the photos are interior shots of the W&Q car she rode in.

[Ed Lecuyer]

We had many good reviews and similar comments posted throughout Facebook and other social media sites. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

We did get dinged by a visitor who apparently did not read (or receive) the hand out regarding where to go for the sleigh rides. We also got dinged for overcrowding on the last train back from the farm - lessons learned for next time and future events at the farm.

[Mike Fox]

Yes, last train back Saturday was also full with a few people looking for seats. Not real sure how to remedy that, without having an extra car added for the final trip, which may be the easiest solution..

[Ed Lecuyer]

The GOOD news is that this means that folks wanted to lay over at Top of the Mountain (SeaLyon Farm) for more than 90 minutes.

I was thinking that we may want to sell a few less seats for the "last" train of the day, if we want to keep using a 2-coach + 1-combine consist.
Or, we could always plan on taking the caboose back to Sheepscot for the last train (and conversely, delivering it in the morning.)

[John McNamara]

Having an overly crowded train at the end of the day is indeed a good thing because, as Ed points out, it indicates that people had fun. Thinking back at previous events at AC and TOM, it is also typical. Adding a caboose, either 320 or 554, would be a good choice.

[Bill Reidy]

Perhaps the best solution is to have the fourth ("end-of-day") car positioned in in the Sheepscot shop yard for quick pick-up for the last train of the day.  Much safer to handle there than at a crowded Top of the Mountain.  I would want to limit our switching moves at ToM to as little as possible (i.e., the run-around move).

I agree that having a full train at the end of the day means we had a very successful event.  Folks had a great time at the farm and ToM and wanted to linger longer there. 

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for Saturday Feb 22:

* Car barn extension
* Machine shop work
* Coach 9
* Pavilion construction

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday Feb 22:

* Pavilion: Mike and Fred (and I) put up 6 interior larger braces.
* Car barn extension: Steward, Leon and Zack (and I) put up exterior boards on the bottom edge of the roof.
* Machine shop: Carlos and Jerry continued working on Carlos's school project to fix the riveter.
* Tip car refurbishing: James N, Bryce and Nick brought over one of the spare tip car bodies (the one that tips onto the track) and removed it from the frame.
* Inventory: Linda was doing some recounting of inventory, and we went upstairs and rearranged some of the Tidewater boxes.
* Coach 9: Marcel was busy with making holes in wood.

[Jeff Schumaker]

James,

Sounds like you were a busy person yesterday.

Jeff S.