September 2014 work planning

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of Sept 6:

* Loco 9
* Grading
* Roundhouse track spiking

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Work done Saturday, Sept 6th -

* #9 - Bill F. worked on the firebox door shield

* ToM - Mike finished the grade work for the siding and mainline.

* Percival house - Zack moved the oil tank in the cellar and installed wood paneling in the corner where the tank had been.

* Work Weekend prep - Wayne inventoried switch material to be ready for the work weekend.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Work done Sunday, Sept 7th -

* Upper Yard - Wayne blocked and spiked the southern most part of the spur by the coal pocket.

* Percival House - Treds were installed on the cellar steps in the hatch.

* Shop - Bob and Jason worked on #10.

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of Sept 13:

* Friday we are hosting bike riders from the BikeMaine tour, from 10 - 12.  250 riders plus all sorts of support vehicles and the press.  Your help needed for train crews and tour guides.
* Board meeting Friday evening
* Loco 9
* Ties - cutting down to size and prepping to move to end of track.

[Bill Baskerville]

Jason & Dwight, 

Today I ordered two 1” x 7/8” Trak-Star Annular Cutters to replace the one that I broke up the line in August.  They should ship today or tomorrow.  That will give us two spares for the Fall Work Weekend.

On a separate subject, I have one of the old window frames from coach 8 and think I can make a few this winter when things calm down a little.  there are three different fabrication styles and Marcel gave me a recommendation on which would hold up the best to weather.  Perhaps I can bring some up in the Spring.  From what I learned from Marcel and looking at a few windows in coach 8 they will have to be cut down slightly to fit the frame.  It seems that Edaville didn't make a standard window, but each frame is slightly different, so when fitted, they are no longer interchangeable.

See ya all next month.

Bowler Bill

[Dave Crow]

Bill,

Streetcar builders used to stamp window frames, car body posts, and doors so that the men in the paint shop would know which car body - and which opening - within that car body a specific item belonged.  Several of the streetcars for which I have refinished window frames had numbers starting with 1 at the #1 end, right corner.  All of my photos are in photos are in storage and need to be scanned...  Maybe Dave Wilson from BSM can chime in with a photo.

Dave Crow

[Bill Sample]

Dave I have also seen steam railroad passenger car windows with the car number stamped into it.  I believe Pullman cars had their names stamped into frames as well.  This could lead to confusion if the car was renumbered or renamed - but that confusion helped with tracking the history of the car as well.
I can't remember if the window location was stamped into any of the window frames I saw (at the Valley Railroad and RMNE) but maybe it should on coach 8 for future reference! 

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Work done Friday, Sept. 12th -

* BikeMaine charter - There were 150 - 175 cyclists at Sheepscot with 11 museum volunteers helping.  Some took train rides while others toured the yard and shop.  The handcar ride was popular with Steve Z. hosting.  RC4 operated on the upper yard spur and was enjoyed by about 40 visitors.   

* #9 - Gordon worked on the steam manifold seats

* Percival house - Zack installed wall sheathing where the oil tank will go.  He also cleaned and painted the oil tank.

* Upper Yard spur - more ties were set out at EoT.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Work done Saturday, Sept. 13th -

* #9 - Gordon worked on the steam header Y pipe and Marcel worked on the cab.

* R-O-W - Mike brought the excavator back to Sheepscot and used it on a number of projects including grade work for the woods track.

* Percival house - Zack built new inside doors for the hatch to the cellar.

* Projects - Mike and Brendan loaded logs onto the museums' trailer.  Brendan will take them to Deans' sawmill in the next couple weeks.

* Alna Center - Fred and Steve Z. cut a dead tree next to the station and burned some wood debris in the lot across from the station.  Clearing the lot makes room for stone (for the work weekend) which may be delivered next week.

* Garage - The first bay was cleaned out to allow the excavator to be stored inside.  

[Bill Reidy]

Work done Saturday, Sept. 13th - ...

* Alna Center - Fred and Steve Z. cut a dead tree next to the station and burned some wood debris in the lot across from the station.  Clearing the lot makes room for stone (for the work weekend) which may be delivered next week.

Highlighting this as I didn't know we might be doing ballast (implying tamping) work this fall.  If that is the case, there's at least one tamper air hose on Big Joe that needs to be replaced.  It's the one for the tamper on the east side, further north.  Would be good to have a new hose ready before the next time Big Joe is used.  We noticed it was bad back in early August when we worked a section south of Humason.

[Brendan Barry]

Some more of the new ties were cut to length today.

[James Patten]

This morning's WCSH6 news cast had a short (1 minute or less) segment on the Bike Maine riders showing up at the WW&F.  They showed scenes of the steam engine, the steam train pulling out, and Steve Zuppa giving hand car rides.  I was not able to find anything on their website about Bike Maine and us.

I don't know if any other local TV news stations had anything about us.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Has there been any newspaper coverage of Bike Maine?


Looking forward to the fall work weekend. A heads up for everyone - I may be bringing Moe.

Jeff S.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Work done Sunday, Sept. 14th -

* #9 Marcel worked on the cabs' (front) top plate and two of the side panels.

* Work Weekend prep - Brendan cut more ties to 5' and a good number were loaded onto flatcar 118.

[Brendan Barry]

We cut and loaded 122 ties onto flat 118 this weekend.