John Craft Charter on Friday October 3

[James Patten]

Stewart, we need a flag holder for AC Station.  Might you have something in your collection (or know of something in our collection)?

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

James, I've never seen a flag holder in the collection at Sheepscot and don't think I have one at home but I'll check today.  I'll bring it up next week if I find one.  I do have the old cast coat hooks for AC like the ones I put in Sheepscot station.  They go next to the door to hold lanterns and jackets.  I'll install them next week.

Steve,  I have the paint for the interior woodwork so I can do that job next week.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

James,  I don't have a flag holder but I have a green over clear flag stop lantern.  If John Craft wants a flag stop scene at AC we can hang the lantern on a hook by the front door.  A flag stop lantern gives the same signal to the engine crew even in daylight.  If John wants to use a flag we can set something up next week but we need a green over white flag.  There may be one up in Alice's room.   

[John A. Craft]

Hey, you should carve your initials in the new section since you built it...  That way it'll match the old part!

That sounds like a moment we need to capture on fil--, err, memory card.

JAC

[Ed Lecuyer]

Hi all,

Looks like Emily and I can't join the crew/photo props for this Friday. Sorry.  :'(

-Ed

[James Patten]

The morning shift crew for the charter started out with clear weather, with a gorgeous low morning sun at Albee's Field.  We did numerous run-bys at Alna Center, Albee's field, the trestle, Sutter's, and the pond below Brook Crossing.  Clouds were present for the rest of the morning but spotty enough for peeks of sun.

After the afternoon shift took over I had to leave to run some errands.  While I was doing them the sky opened up and poured buckets where I was, a few miles away from Sheepscot.  Hopefully nobody got too wet.

Someone did mention that Railroad & Railfan was setting aside two pages in the current print run (going to press NOW) for photos from this charter.  It's not the next one out but maybe the one after.

[Ira Schreiber]

It poured, as James stated. When I got to Brunswick the sky had cleared and it was sunny all the way to Portland.
Steve Barry, who is the Managing Editor, was the person who mentioned to me about R&R holding two pages.
I thought the day went very well from the comments I heard.

[Justin Franz]

Does anyone have shots from the charter? I'd love to see how it went.

Justin Franz

[John A. Craft]

Does anyone have shots from the charter? I'd love to see how it went.

Justin Franz

Three quickies here:

http://steamspecials.com/previous-events/2008-octobe/

More next week.  Great day, and the WW&F crew were outstanding.

[Mike Fox]

WOW! Wish I could have been there. Looks like all went well.

[Gordon Cook]

Whoo Hooo, a lot of fun!
A long day for many folks, but I thought that it was very enjoyable, rewarding, and interesting to recreate the moments in time that we see in our minds when we are laboring away at the museum. 
Oh, yeah, it did rain a little, but not for long:

-

and the photo line at Sutter's Crossing in the early afternoon:

[James Patten]

For someone like me, who's never done it before it was pretty interesting.

Back up, do it again
More speed
Less speed
Lots of whistle
More smoke

I was conductor for the morning.  One of the photographers mentioned that I was working harder than any other conductor he's seen, as I was jumping up to help with brakes and signaling.

Most everybody had digital cameras but one fellow had a 50s Graphics camera, about twice the size of anything else there.

[Mike Fox]

Glad to see the turnout that was there. Rain or shine, the railroads run. So I'm glad to see the photo special was treated in the same way.

[Justin Franz]

From the shots I've seen it looked like an impressive show. I wish I was back home for this one, would have been well worth the price I'm sure. Hopefully Craft and crew can do another one soon. I'm sure they'll be back when the 9 and 10 are running.

With this photo charter behind us, what is the likelyhood of doing more? Not as complex as what happened Friday, but maybe a winter night photo session? Just a couple of hours one evening with the 10 at Sheepscott Yard.

-Justin Franz

[John A. Craft]