W.W.&F. Discussion Forum
WW&F Railway Museum Discussion => Volunteers => Topic started by: James Patten on September 02, 2010, 06:19:03 AM
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Anticipated work for weekend of September 4-6, 2010
* Hurricane Earl is expected to brush by the area Friday night into Saturday. Therefore Saturday we may need help clearing the line of downed trees and/or branches. We either will be in dire need of help (because of the hurricane's effects on the home/neighborhoods of our help) or "swimming" in it.
* Fred needs continued help brush cutting. There's about 3/4 of a mile left - not a huge amount but the more people that assist the faster it goes.
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Weekday update - Our contractor has been working on the new parking lot site most of the week. He pulled the stumps, graded the lot and spread straw on the whole area, it looks great. Fred and Steve Z. have been cutting more weeds. Everything north of Humason Brook trestle is done and more of the R-O-W north of Brook Crossing has been cut. As James noted Hurricane Earl will bring wind and rain tonight so we did some switching this morning. Coach 3 was moved further south in her stall so the handcar could go on the north end. Caboose 320 was tucked into bay 2 with the Model T railcar at the north end. No sooner had we put the T away when two visitors from NY showed up so we ran it back outside. After they got some photos we gave them a ride up to Rosewood crossing and back. We picked up Fred at AC and he rode to up to Rosewood with us. We dropped him off at AC on the way back. The visitors had a great time and they did quite a bit of shopping in the gift shop.
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Work done on Saturday Sept 4.
* Hurricane Earl didn't impress. It was too far out to sea to affect us much, all we had was rain. But it was enough to scare the tourists away, apparently, because our ridership was low.
* I think Fred, Steve, Dave, and Bill may have done some brush cutting, but I'm not certain.
* Dana organized a crew to go get 50-lb rail from the north end of the line, and drop it off on the south end where we will be replacing rail this fall work weekend. It dodged passenger trains.
* The railcar took a few trips out to the end and back. I finally got my inaugural trip at the end of the day.
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Steve, Bill, Bob G, Dave Rossi and Dave spent the day bringing 50 lb rail south from the rail piles not cutting brush much to
Fred's dismay.
Dave
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Anticipated work for weekend of Sept 11.
* Fred's always eager for additional workers to brush cut.
* Jason wants to get back in #9 work.
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I should be around on Sunday; are there any plans for then?
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Fred will be happy to have you brush cut then too.
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Work done on September 11
* Board meeting on Friday (the 10th). The biggest decision we made was to number the railcar #4 (to keep the insurance company happy).
* Fred, Leon, and Dwight did some brush cutting near the trestle.
* Jason made a valiant effort at getting something started on #9
* Ed G ran the shaper for a #9 part
* I spent much of the day cleaning up the closet in the office, and some of the office itself.
* Railcar operated for several trips. The magneto coil on the car was theorized to be too close to the hot engine, and was moved onto a bracket away from the engine.
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Yup, on Sunday, I cut brush on the west side of the right of way, just north of Sheepscot Mill crossing.
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Anticipated work for weekend of September 18:
* Brush cutting! Sounds like with a concentrated effort the last bit of it can be cut for this year. BTW Fred says that putting this notice up every week seems to have helped a lot.
* Track work. I'm going to be jacking and tamping the main line again in the yard, south of the water tower.
* #9 work. I know Jason wants to get going on 9 again.
* We're running trains Saturday and Sunday, although not steam. Your help is needed, if you are train crew.
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Hello all,
I do intend on getting going on No 9 again this Saturday. I'll be working on the frame. If there is enough No 9 help- I hope to get the smokebox project going again, with the drilling of holes for the cinder pocket and cleanout casting. After that- if there's time- mounting the smokebox on the boiler. If there isn't enough help for that I'll stick with the frame.
Last week saw the shop cleaned (so we could get to No 9 after a summer's worth of clutter collected all around). With a respectable work space we can get going again.
Stephen H and I are hoping the smokebox efforts culminate in one final riveting weekend- in October or November- with the smokebox getting riveted to the boiler. The fall weather should be appropriate for this hot work- while winter in Bay 1 won't be too pleasant. To do this- we'll need probably 2 work days on hole drilling; hopefully this Saturday will be the first.
Hope to see you there!
Jason
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If you get a couple of forges from Boothbay going in Bay 1 I imagine it'd get pretty cozy right quick! ;)
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We actually use Dana Deering's forges-- he got quite proficient on managing two of them when we did this in May. They were just outside the door to keep the fire risk down.
It is lots of fun!
Jason
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I'll ask the Friends Of The Valley RR trustees for time off to go up there and learn from The Greats. ;)
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Work done on weekend of September 18,
* Fred, Dwight, and possibly others continued working on brush cutting, working on Cock-eye Curve.
* John M did some phone line repair
* Mike, myself, and Bill F. jacked and tamped about 45 feet on the mainline south of the water tank. Thank goodness Mike was around because we had some air hose issues. Now it needs stone but the ties are solid (and the track is level!). Later Mike got some supplies and did some work on Big Joe's air hoses.
* Got my first operational trip on the railcar, along with a few others.
* Jason started some work on 9's frame, mainly filing to receive the casting. The casting was moved from Cincinnati milling machine to the shaper next to it.
* Zack brought in the floor plan for the restroom, and a location was staked out.
* Sunday was a birthday party in the caboose. Earlier in the week, Steve Z built a fence for the caboose doors.
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I did battle with the weeds at the far north end by RT-218 and the yellowjackets. :o
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And Mike has gathered more supplies. Those peskey air leaks will be history shortly.
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The ROW is now mowed from Rt-218, south to the northern end of the Kelly's property. (Aprox 2500 feet)
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Anticipated work for weekend of September 25.
* Saturday is our Lincoln County Fall Festival. Pony rides (from Rosewood Stables), rides on the model A truck, the model T railcar, handcars, and of course the steam train will be available. Face painting, pumpkin hunting, light refreshments. Most everything is taking place at Alna Center. Anybody that can come and help with crowd control is welcome.
* Still got a little bit of brush cutting left to do!
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This is the first I've heard about this event. It sounds like a great idea. How much was it promoted in the area?
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There's supposed to be press releases going out to all the local papers this week.
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Think I heard that Sept. 25th, Lincoln County Fall Festival replaces the Halloween trains Oct. 22-23. WW&F is out of the Halloween business
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Hi everyone. I understand that Leon Weeks and Steve Zuppa Finished the grass cutting on the main line this week. As a final parting Leon got 4 stings this morning remowing the ditch East of the house this morning. Steve Zack and I poured the cement slab this morning for thye cellar entry way.
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the row from the end of track to the end of the museum property needs to be brush cut as well as the row on the orther side of the top of the mountain to the end of our land before the landslide.
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All mowing is finished along the trackage, however, there is still plenty of mowing in other places weve cleared to keep the growth from regrowing. I plan on chipping away at the growth on the fill at Head Tide as some day I'd like to see a small historical sign telling what was there and the location of our museum.
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This week the Model T's coil mounting arm received the correct 3/8" bolts and a gather bolt for the bracket to keep the coil tight and give it a good ground to the engine block. The new mounting arm was painted to prevent rust from getting on the engine block and starter housing.
The Model A truck received a new battery and got cleaned to be ready for the Fall Festival hay rides. Earlier, Steve Z. put hay bales in the back and built raised side boards for riders to lean on while seated on the bales. A new set of portable wooden steps will allow riders to climb into the back.
Both the Model T and Model A were filled with donated gasoline. The museum has never paid for gasoline for the truck over the last 2 years. So far the railcar has used about 50 gallons which has all been donated.
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What will be happening next (Sept. 30- Oct.3) weekend? I'll be up with Ed G. for the weekend. I just want to be prepared tool wise before steaming my way up to Maine. I'm bringing some parts for the lathe and my walk behind brush mower....so far.
Bruce
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What will be happening next (Sept. 30- Oct.3) weekend?
Mainly prep for the work weekend, I'd imagine. Otherwise I don't really know.
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Work done on Saturday Sept 25.
* Today was our first ever Fall Festival. It was a great success. Around 150 people. However the railcar had a breakdown with its turntable; fortunately it was at Alna Center and it was pointing in the right direction (south) so that it could motor its way home.
* Mike spent some time putting in steel piping for Big Joe, and hose clamped all the ends of the rubber pipe. Leaking is cut way down.
* Rick did some surveying and surveyed the location of the beginning of the new "north yard". Some additional hemming and hawing was done about the car storage shop.
Steam will be run on Sunday.
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31 volunteers signed in today to help with the festivities and other items. Very nice turnout. Weather was hot for the end of September but we know what is coming. All the kids had a great time.
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Just a quick thank you to Bob G. who organized the Fall Festival. He did a great job! Things went very well at AC with the pumpkin patch, face painting, pumpkin carving, apple bobbing and kids games. Pony rides were provided by our neighbors, Rosewood Stables. The Model A hay ride and Model T railcar rides were very popular with people waiting for rides. Both the Model T and Model A were started numerous times and ran well all day.
More on the railcar - Towards the end of the day, one of the T's lifting jacks failed as the car was being lowered. It was facing north so we raised it again and turned it south. We then lifted the car with track jacks and remove the turntable foot. The broken jack shaft was retracted (by hand) by Mike Fox and wired up so the car could be run back to Sheepscot without fouling a switch or crossing. The lift assembly will be removed and re-engineered to make it more reliable.
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A number of things have been done at Sheepscot this week.
Steve S. inspected and serviced the rolling stock's journals and brake rigging.
Jonathan St Mary repaired and tested the fuel system on the Brookville. It seems to be running fine now.
Ed G. and Bruce M. installed new riser blocks on the big lathe and lined everything up. Bruce made the blocks in PA and brought them up Thursday.
W W & F Ry lettering was applied to the new side boards of the Model A truck.
Our contractor, Barry Concrete, built forms and poured the new wall for the cellar entrance to the Percival house. The forms will be removed Monday 10/4 so the wall can be water sealed and back filled. After that, the cover structure can be built.
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Wow. Busy week. That's great. Thanks Stewart.