January 2016 Work Planning

[Craig "Red" Heun]

So ... can we have a block party?

Would that be cam we have a block party...not to get cranky or piston anyone off

[James Patten]

Sheepscot Report - Jan 30, 2016

* Tree clearing: two fires again at ToM, northerly crew made more impact than the southerly crew, but then the northerly crew had 3x the people and chain saws.  We can see the crane car through the trees now.
* Car 67: We took delivery today of the timbers for the outer sills of the car.  Zack hung the remaining frame from the crane (awful handy that crane), cleaned off the flatcar, and after returning from the PM tree session we switched around to get the flatcar and Mike loaded it with the tractor.  It's now back in Bay 2.
* Kubota: Mike was trying to remove the bushing from the link spot where the arm meets the body, without much success when I left.

And last, but certainly not least, we all celebrated Fred's 80th birthday at lunch, with a delicious meal of Italian Wedding soup, Mac and cheese, and sandwiches.  After the meal we lit "80" candles on the birthday cake, sang happy birthday, and Fred blew out the candles.

We now await the foreign correspondant's reports, from Springfield.

[Mike Fox]

Careful Craig, someone might blow a gasket.

Bushings removed easily once I applied the proper amount of torque with the fire wrench.

[Mike Fox]

A little dusting to an inch Friday made things rather pretty for Saturday.

[Fred Morse]

Hi All, All three chain saws are now sharp and ready for next Sat.,which looks like another good day. I never dreamed we would get this much cutting done this winter.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Springfield Away Team -

This year's Big E Show may have been our best yet. Public attendance was near 20,000 and vendors were at 2,600. Our crew which included Steve & Annie, John M., John R., Duncan M., Cindy, Marcel and Stewart sold a good batch of merchandise.  The new Christmas video by the Great Falls group featuring #9 sold out.  Calendars and clothing did well and the usual small things for kids were popular.  There were crowds around our tables most of Saturday and mid-day on Sunday.  The big news was the Amherst Railway Society Founders Grant being awarded  to the WW&F towards the construction of the turntable.  The award is for $10,000 and will be a big help with purchasing the stringers and other heavy timbers for the bridge.  

Most members of the away team put in 30 - 40 hours with travel, set up and show time.  More numbers will be released when sales totals are final.  

Special thanks to Nancy Weeks who made sandwiches and cookies and brought grapes for us to enjoy.

[Stephen Piwowarski]

We also ran out of brochures, which is a good sign that we might bring some more people up to Alna this year! Many were surprised to learn how close to route 1 we are located. A few conversations did start out with "we don't go to inland Maine" and ended with "we will definitely stop by!" The incredible positive support for the museum of those who already knew of us was incredible and the enthusiasm of those who hadn't heard of us before was great! Looking forward to next year already, but we've got a turntable to build first (and a couple other things .