August 2012 Work Planning

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of Aug 4:

* ROW mowing, on Friday and Saturday
* Restrooms: Finish up prep for concrete pouring Prepare to build a structure.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

This week -

Fred and Leon cut more weeds along the r-o-w.

Leon applied special top dressing to the railcar's leatherette roof.

Stewart changed the oil in the railcar.

The concrete foundation pad was poured for the restroom bldg.

Stewart

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday Aug 4:

Today was pretty warm and humid.
* Restrooms: The concrete was watered
* Percival Basement: There had been a stone delivery for the basement stone, so the remaining needed stone was hauled downstairs and dumped.  Fred dug a hole and Zack moved the sump pump.  Work was also started on emptying the basement of stuff (boards mostly).

[Fred Morse]

Yesterday the cellar was cleaned up some. Everyone pitched in. Leon w. and Hansel helped dig the new sump pump hole then they carried in quite a few buckets of crushed rock to level the rest of the floor.It still needs a little more. Today John M. and I cut grass. I've been thinking it might be time to hire some younger people to cut the grass. I've found that, at the speed I cut grass, it would take me 45 hours to do one side a mile. At 10:00 dollars an hour that would only be $450.00 for one side or $900.00 per mile. Somethink to think about. That's the speed of a person 76 years old, perhaps a younger person could do it faster.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Sunday, August 5th

Steady visitors all day, even had some international guests.  A Russian fellow brought his two small children to ride the train and a father and daughter from Holland rode this afternoon.  Gordon and Joe gave them a cab ride on the return trip.  Both said they had a great time. 

The front of bay 2 was cleaned up in preparation for the picnic.  More nails were taken from the house cellar and moved to the round bins in bay 2.  A bit of cleaning was started in bays 1 and 3, more will be done after Jason works this week.  A load of odd-sized boards was loaded into the back of the AA truck.  Some will be used for starting #10 while the rest will be taken to AC for the Christmas bon fire.

Stewart

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of Aug 11:

* Friday is a board meeting @ 4:30 PM
* Friday is also a prep day for the picnic
* Saturday and Sunday is the picnic.  No real work planned other than running trains and cooking up food.

Unfortunately it appears that Saturday will have rain, and Sunday may have rain.

[Fred Morse]

Leon Weeks worked Three days this week cutting grass, he has by far done the most trimming this year. Dwight Winkley and I have worked Two day this week. There are Three spots still to be done between Sheepscot and Alna Center From the sawmill road North, both sides, about 1000 feet. From Trask road North, the West Side about 100 hundred feet and about 300 feet on the east side. And from the water tank North to the next road 500 plus feet on both sides. John M. did some at Trask crossing on Sunday. This week the average age of the people cutting grass was, being nice, 70 years old. Our 1000 plus members have got to come up with a plan to keep the ROW cleaned up when these members retire. Should we hire people to cut the grass?

[James Patten]

Work done on weekend of Aug 11:

* Friday Fred and crew did some weed whacking.
* Saturday some lumber arrived for the restroom.  Fred, Zack and others started on the pad by removing the framing timbers, then putting down the base timbers.
* More cleaning out of the Percival basement.
* Steve Z was in charge of cooking, with the ladies taking people's orders.
* The Reids and others spent time in the coal pile, at the end of the day the pile was getting the dust separated from the larger pieces.

[Mike Fox]

Today Zack and a few others worked on the Bathroom between the (rain) showers.

Gift shop was steady.

I removed a part from the Derrick crane, and made a new pin.

Steve Z. ran the grill, with the girls taking and filling orders.

Some railcar trips were run.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Friday night's rain created a large pool in front of the shop so a few of us had to move the tent and grills to dig a new ditch over to the drain pipe by the coal dock.  While doing that we also rebuilt the stone approach to bay 3.  The stone fill ramps the grade up to the door so the AA truck can be driven in easier.  It also helps with rolling delivery items and bringing wheelchairs into the shop extension.  (We had at least one wheelchair visitor enter bay 3 for the lunch given for the MVRS charter).

The problem in front (and on the side) of the shop is that the snow plow pushes the stone away from in front of the door and piles it up.  This creates a mound of stone where it is not needed or in the way.   Not sure what can be done (other than paver bricks, etc.) to keep the bay 3 approach in place.  Gravel will freeze and snow can be removed without the plow digging in but it doesn't drain well.   Crushed rock drains well but it won't freeze so it moves with the snow.  Eventually we will have rain a leader system around the building but that is in the future.

If anyone has ideas for an inexpensive fix, please let us know.

Thanks,  Stewart

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

Compacted stone dust sets up like concrete once it gets wet. The local rail-trail groups here on the North Shore have used it very successfully on the old Newburyport Branch right of way through Topsfield, Wenham and into Danvers.  They put it down, then roll it, and as soon as it gets wet once, it's super hard.  Might be worth a shot.

[Mike Fox]

We need a cross pipe under the main to lower ground for improved draining. A small catch basin could be built with a grate top about the center of the low area. 4 bags of cement, a little wire mesh, and the grate. Oh, and some drain pipe. Whole project could be done for about $150. The pipe would empty under the giftshop and drain towards the brook.

Not much can be done about the front accept a little grading. Build it up a little in front of bay 2 so the water goes both ways.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Mike,

The description of the drain box for the east side sounds good.  It's along the lines of what Zack mentioned last year.  It would be a good project for a Work Weekend, the tricky part would be digging under the main and run around track.  For now, we can do some re-grading and fix the area between the building and tracks.  This week the area will be cleaned up a bit with the high spot removed and larger stones taken out.

Stewart

[Mike Fox]

I was thinking the low spot was in front of the side door of bay 1. Correct? We can just dig a trench between the ties to insert the pipe. Straight down. Steve Z. did a similar dig one weekend just above the new House switch.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The center of the low spot is near the side door, a bit closer to the road. A drain box in the center would take care of the problem. Running pipe between the ties would work but there's a wooden retaining wall under the platform that we would have to go under or cut.  It keeps the ballast from going under the platform.  Not sure how deep it goes but the ballast is up to the top of it.   The pipe would have to go through to the east side of the freight shed so it doesn't erode under the building.

That east side area is one that won't change with all the improvements (except for a better walkway). The drain box could be centered between the shop and track so it wouldn't be in the way. 

Stewart