October 2009 Work planning

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for the weekend of October 3rd, 2009.

- Dana may be cutting/drilling chair factory rail in prep for the work weekend.
- Grading at Sheepscot for leach field/road to leach field may be underway soon.  If needed more work can be done preparing for that (tree cutting, moving wood, etc).
- #9 work?  Railcar work?

[Dana Deering]

There are several factors that will determine if I work on the rail this coming Saturday 10/3:

The weather:  If it rains we can't, it's not safe.

Crew:  If I can't get a commitment from at least 6 guys I'll wait for the Friday of the work weekend to start.

Family Function:  I have a family function going on Saturday late afternoon so I would have to leave early.

If the weather is decent and I can get a crew I will make a stab at getting started.  If not, we'll begin on Friday of the work weekend.  Stay Tuned.

[Duncan Mackiewicz]

Dana,
I can't believe you'd allow a family function to pull you away from the museum before your shift was completed.
Duncan

[Dana Deering]

Guess I'd have to get to Sheepscot even earlier. 

[Dana Deering]

Looks like rain all day tomorrow so there'll be no rail cutting.  We'll do it on Friday of the work weekend.

[James Patten]

Work done on the weekend of Oct 3

- Fred and Zack turned into pyromaniacs and burned up the large piles of tree trash in the area where grading will happen for septic.  Zack also purchased the pipe which will run to the leach field.
- Ed was in the machine shop working on pieces for #9.
- Bill worked upstairs building another set of shelving against what used to be the south wall of the car shop.

[Mike Fox]

Work done on the weekend of Oct 3

- Fred and Zack turned into pyromaniacs and burned up the large piles of tree trash in the area where grading will happen for septic.  Zack also purchased the pipe which will run to the leach field.
- Ed was in the machine shop working on pieces for #9.
- Bill worked upstairs building another set of shelving against what used to be the south wall of the car shop.

Tree trash, I like that. I'll have to remember that when I get my permit to burn my pile of tree trash this winter.

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of October 10, 2009.

Let's see....something's going on this weekend, but I can't quite recall what it is.   Hmmmm.  I'm sure it will come to me.

Oh yeah - Dana's taking a track crew out on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  Hopefully we'll extend some track and fix up some existing track.

In other areas:
 - There might be people painting back at Sheepscot
 - More prep work for septic grading may be needed
 - Perhaps machine work is in order too.

Weather forecast right now calls for clear Friday morning, with showers in the evening and overnight, followed by clear and cooling down on Saturday and Sunday.  Monday will have showers in the afternoon.

[James Patten]

Events from the weekend of October 10:

- 100-something feet of track was put down, ballasted (repeatedly) and all the track from the Spring was put into service.
- Our contractor has started working on grading for the new yard track and septic field, and is probably 2/3 done on the grading (he still has to build the septic field).
- Big Joe grew hoses and pistons and gears, and worked on the new track.
- Stewart spent some time painting the south end of the car shop (and I think will be painting more during the week).
- Jason has flipped over #9's big casting and will do more work on it soon.
- The kitchen crew quintupled in size and provided great meals.
- The magneto phone line was extended.
- Leon put up a pole in the parking lot next to the house, a bunch of people shoveled out a ditch, and Josh wired it up.
- Brush cutting continued.

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of October 17:

Note that we now operate only on Saturdays.  Also the Alna VFD is celebrating their expanded facilities 1 - 6.
- Support work for our contractor's grading (chain sawing, hauling wood, etc).
- Running trains.

Considering our big weekend was last weekend I suspect not many will show up this weekend, so work will be light.

[James Patten]

Work done on the weekend of the 17th:

- During the week our contractor built a nice right of way for the roundhouse/storage shed tracks for a few years down the road when they are built, but in the meantime is for access to the leach field.  Saturday he dug some trenches, and Zack, Stewart, Steve, and others helped roll out the pipes for the leach field. They were pretty muddy at the end of it.  The trenches have been filled back in.
- Jason started milling the top side of the casting for #9.
- We ran trains.

It's my understanding that the leach field will be built next spring.

Off topic of the WW&F, I took a trip over to the newly renovated Alna VFD fire house.  Looks very nice.

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for week of Oct 24:

Sounds like a rainy and cold day on Saturday, so I expect most projects will be inside.
- Car and machine shop: maybe electrical, perhaps work upstairs.  Might be a good day for a fall cleaning up there.
- Percival house: basement floor needs some excavation on the dirt side before we can pour concrete.
- Run some trains if anyone shows up.

As next weekend is our Halloween weekend, I would expect a light crew again this weekend.

[James Patten]

Work done on Oct 24:

- Zack was doing work on #9's new boiler, specifically the inner jacket that goes over the steam dome.
- Ed G. spent time machining parts for #9
- Mike, Dwight, Fred, Steve, Zack, and myself all spent some time in the basement on dirt excavation.  The dirt in the southeast corner of the house was removed and replaced with stone.  Much of that dirt was on top of a concrete pad, so it was pretty dry and easy to remove.  However some of the clay was quite thick and heavy.
- People actually showed up to ride trains.  We actually ran trains.
- John M. replaced the hand crank phones between the freight shed and the house with a system that rings the other phone when the first one picks up.  He was also investigating wiring the office in the house for Ma Bell Fairpoint phone service when I left (the wire terminates a foot below the ceiling).
- Ken was in, presumably working upstairs in the car shop but I didn't go up to check out what he did.

All in all not a bad day for a rainy cool day.

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of Saturday Oct 31.

Friday night and Saturday are our Halloween trains, so most effort will be focused on running these.

Friday night trains run 4 - 7, but of course people will be there early to fire up, prepare, etc.  Wiscasset high school kids will be doing scenes.

Saturday we run trains 12 - 3 to AC for fun-type events, with the WHS students helping out.  In the evening 4 - 7 are trains to AC for people to judge carved pumpkins.

I would guess Sunday is tear-down, but  I don't know specifics.

We need people for train crew, line-side, crowd control, gift shop, and so forth.  If you have a warm body, transportation and time, we could use you (warm body is optional).

Off topic of the WW&F: the Alna VFD is having a hunter's breakfast on Saturday, from 4 - 9.  Yes, Saturday is the first day of hunting in Maine for deer (for citizens only).

[James Patten]

Work done on weekend of Oct 31.

A head cold kept me away on Friday night, and I was only there at the Museum on Saturday morning.  So I can give a partial report.

Friday night turnout was disappointing, only about 100 people showed up.

Saturday morning Fred and others were busy in the Percival basement, leveling out the floor on the west side and dumping stone down into the basement.  The pile of stone that was there has been greatly diminished.

During the week someone (Jonathan and Vern if I'm not mistaken) started tearing apart #51.  The top deck had been removed, the rear (south) wheelset had been removed, along with chains, bolts, and so forth.  The winter project is a heavy overhaul for the engine.

I hope someone is willing to report on Saturday's train outcome.