May 2016 Work Planning

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for Saturday May 7:

* Annual Meeting: This Saturday marks our 27th annual meeting (the first one was in 1990).  Unlike many previous annual meetings, this one will be held at Sheepscot in the basement of the Percival House.  Meeting starts at 2. 
* We'll be running steam for the members.  Regular departure times are 11, 12:30 and 2:30; the 2:30 will be held until the meeting gets out.
* Boxcar 67
* Track: if the first bay of the car barn has not yet been jacked, leveled and tamped, I would like to do that.  Otherwise whatever stone we have left should be distributed in bay 3 of the barn.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

James-  all good but:

It's very important that we build up the east shoulder of the main north yard track (barn bay 1).  The remaining stone should go to that over barn bay 3.

There was loose talk of using large boulders to sure up the bottom of that shoulder- nothing definite though.  Don't really want a timber retaining wall that will rot. 

See ya
Jason

[Mike Fox]

Also, I may make an attempt to start stumping the TOM field location, weather depending. I would like to use the Brookville to get myself up and back, catching the scheduled trains during the day for lunch, so will need a dispatcher early..

[Alan Downey]

I'll be continuing my tradition of coming up for a visit just after the work weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing everybody on Saturday!

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday May 7:

* ToM clearing - Mike spent the day with the Kubota digging up stumps, and used the dozer to put them in big piles.
* Car barn - Several of us jacked up Bay 1 track so it was level, and hand tamped it.  It needs stone.
* Machine shop - The machine shop has gone through another spasm of organizing!  Jason, Alan, and others were working on that.
* Annual Meeting - Held at 2, in the basement of the Percival house.  Lasted about an hour.

[Mike Fox]

James forgot to mention it was a little soft at Top of the Mountain...

[Mike Fox]

These photos were taken this morning. I decided to quit working there and manuvered to the south side of the lot, where it was a lot drier. There is now a swath done about 50 feet wide to the woodline.

Oh, and the stumps were piled with the Kubota, trying to dry them out a little before I move them to the back 40

[Paul Uhland]

Looks like you need another work weekend just for clearing and grubbing the site.
That ground looks like dirty cake mix. 
Good work.

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of Saturday May 14:

* Board meeting on Friday
* ToM cleaning - with Mike and the Kubota and bulldozer
* Boxcar 67
* Vacuum brakes
* Track work - whatever that entails, whether in the barn, north yard, or some maintenance on the mainline.

[Bill Reidy]

For Saturday, add

* Cut saplings along the right-of-way

If the weather permits and there's a second person to work with me.  During the work weekend, Dwight pointed out all the saplings along the right-of-way that need to be cut, and now's the time to do it, before the seasonal brush grows too high.

[Dwight Winkley]

I will be there
dwight

[Fred Morse]

May I join YOU.?

[Mike Fox]

And then this happened...
https://youtu.be/akdBHaWtd9s

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday May 14:

* Top of Mountain: Mike spent the day removing stumps.  He broke the Kubota    Actually not the machine itself, just the bucket broke.  I haven't heard about how much progress he made.
* Brush cutting: Dwight, Fred, Dave, and Bill (I think that's everybody) spent the day near Humason trestle cutting on the sides of the right of way.  This time of year they are getting any young tree shoots before the grass gets too long.
* Boxcar 67: Zack was working on the draft gear on the south end.  I think he had the coupler shank in the by the end of the day.
* Deep Throat Rivetter: Much of the prior week has been spent in prepping the DTR for use - a way of garnering excitement for the 21 campaign.  Today we rotated it (VERY difficult in spots) and needle scaled it.  At the end of the day Alan did a dry run of use, then after I left Mike filmed them actually rivetting something.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

* Garage: The work bench and 1st bay were cleaned up.  A load of trash was hauled to the xfer station in the railroad's new (Fred's old) Dodge truck.  The Model A truck was used to remove some items from the gift shop.

* Gift shop: Winter items (space heater, etc.) were removed and the large old TV was moved out.  The model ship show case will remain, on display in the n/w corner and a new flat screen TV/DVD player will be wall mounted on the north wall.