W.W.&F. Discussion Forum
WW&F Railway Museum Discussion => Volunteers => Topic started by: James Patten on November 30, 2011, 07:02:56 AM
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Anticipated work for Dec 3:
The snow is gone after the warm temps from this past weekend and the rain today.
* I'd like to stack rail and move ties in the morning, maybe run a track crew in the afternoon.
* Jason may be working on #9
* Zack may be working on #65
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Jason will not be there, checked with him last night. I would like to ride to EOT before/after the rail stacking looking for obstructions for Rowmow1. I'll take a measurement but it should be around 6 feet from the outside of the rail. Just to get an idea what needs to be removed.
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Mike,
Will Rowmow 1 be joining you on Saturday?
KD
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Work done on Dec 3:
* Reefer 65: Zack threaded the remaining truss rods, then they were installed on the reefer. All queen posts were put in and all 4 truss rods are done. Later he was working on one of the draft gear set ups.
* Loco 9: Jason was continuing to work on frame connections to the cylinders.
* Clean up: We took a train out to clean up fallen branches, then brought back some ties from around Albee's field. Ties were stacked between the mainline and the spur.
* Fred has been sorting through nails, screws, bolts, etc, and spent more time on that this afternoon.
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Dave and I also kicked out some old stumps. Keep in mind these were the smaller fir trees, but still in the way none the less.
I also checked clearance for the mower. There is about a dozen stumps that will need to be cut, but in 2.5 miles, it isn't bad.
Also we have some new scenery. The pesky beavers have built a dam just North of Phantom Crossing. As long as the water keeps flowing like it was today, there will be no problem. But if they make the dam larger and it changes the water flow, things could get interesting.
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Expected work weekend of Dec 10:
* Friday evening is a board meeting.
* Reefer 65 - see Zack
* General preparation before next week's big event.
This is the weekend before Victorian Christmas, so volunteers will likely be light on the ground.
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Hey All
I managed to get the Friday (12/16) before the Victorian Christmas off from work...all day wahoo!
Is there anything that I can do the day before the event to help out?
Red
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Work done on Dec 10:
* Reefer: Zack, Stewart, Mike, Steve, and Leon worked first on the south end draft gear, then the north end draft gear, finishing both. Then the car was flipped. Mike took video.
* Clean up: Fred, JB, Steve, and I took a flatcar north to look for blowdowns after the winds of a couple of days ago (which blew down a few trees on 218). We found one branch in the middle of the track. Afterward we stopped at the north AC yard limit and loaded the flatcar with two piles of ties stored there. We brought them back and half of them went to be given away, the rest were stored off the spur.
* #9: Jason wasn't there today, but he's starting on getting bolts made for attaching the cylinders to the frame. On Friday, Jonathon was making some bolts.
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No video. Just a few stills. I'll post them shortly in the TCDA thread.
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Work anticipated for Dec 17:
* Victorian Christmas - all hands on deck! If this year will be anything like last year, the place will be mobbed (we had over 900 riders last year). We need people for crowd and parking control at Sheepscot, crowd control at Alna Center, for train crew and in-place tours of specific places on the property (such as talking to people as they come in the machine shop. There'll be people at the Museum on Friday to start setting up. It's not very likely much will happen on the projects we have going. Please come out and help!
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Dec 17: Victorian Christmas! We broke last year's passenger record with 1002 riders. Everything went very smoothly. The partially finished parking lot got its first public use and filled up fast. Near noon we started switching off to using alternate engines on every train (diesel on one train, steam on the other) along with four cars. The mood was set with a snow squall that came up early morning, dropped an inch or so, then disappeared.
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Very well executed plan. It was 11ish when the diesel took it's first trip of 156 passengers north. We had one trip with over 160. Kids in laps all over the place.
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I think that the "alternating power" plan at Sheepscot was the major ingredient that allowed us to handle more people with less difficulty than previous years. For those who were not there, let me explain: When a train had arrived, set its brakes, and discharged its passengers, its engine (the "arriving engine") uncoupled, leaving a foot or two of space. The "departing engine," which had been waiting on a siding for the arriving train to clear the main line switch, then proceeded onto the main line and came down the main to couple onto the standing string of cars. When coupling was complete and tested, the passengers boarded and the train departed. The "arriving engine" was thus left alone to be serviced if needed and to progress to the siding where it would become the "departing engine" on the next cycle. This process removed all delays associated with runarounds and engine servicing at Sheepscot, cutting the amount of time passengers waited to board at Sheepscot and the amount of time passengers waited at Alna Center for the train to return. I have not seen a comparison of the records, but I expect that this also permitted us to run at least one more trip.
Other important ingredients were a generous quantity of brakemen (one per car), a generous quantity of step boxes at Alna Center (four?), and an excellent "ground crew" at Alna Center who worked with the brakemen to quickly and safely get arriving passengers off, and departing passengers on, all the while avoiding the run-around engine. The engine, train, and ground crews also did a good job at stopping at the pre-positioned step boxes and having the departing passengers ready but clear of the arriving passengers. All of these elements made the Alna Center operation very quick but very safe.
-John
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I am so disappointed that I could not make it down as I was working our local Toys 4 Tots the last three weeks. Maybe one of the things we could consider for next year is to tie together with the local Marine Corps League and do a collection in conjunction with the Victorian Christmas. It would be a win-win situation for the museum. (souvenir sales / donations)
Please post pics.......
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Anticipated work for Sat Dec 24:
* Most people will be away or spending time with family, so I'm not expecting many people.
* Zack will be working on #65
* Jason will be working on #9
* Fred will be moving ties around (if there's enough people to do so)
Merry Christmas everyone!
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During the week, Steve Z cut the mortise and tenon holes in the outer stringer of the reefer car.
On Friday it snowed a few inches, so Maine is having a white Christmas.
On Saturday:
* Zack, Steve, Mike and I worked on cutting a timber that's sat under Coach 3 for the last 10 years down to size for use on the reefer. Until the table saw broke.
* Brian, a new volunteer, worked on cleaning a #9 piece.
* Fred made lunch and went to the dump.
Everyone left around 12:30.
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Also started working on the couplers. The broken shank on one was cut off square in preparation for welding. The other one had its long rivets removed.
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Anticipated work for the last day of the month and of the year:
* Burning - Fred got us a burning permit last week. There's some wood piles that need to be burned, so I suspect we'll be doing it Saturday.
* #9 - See Jason
* #65 - See Zack
* Inventory - Cindy and I will be inventorying in the store.
The rain last night removed our snow but more is due on Friday.
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Work done on Sat Dec 31:
* During the week Jason started mounting something on #9's frame.
* Fred started a fire near the end of the spur, and burned up some old tables and lots of tree trash. Stewart tended it most of the day. Another fire got going turning up tree trash closer to the shop.
* Cindy and I did inventory in the gift shop. Thanks Cindy! However because I was in there most of the day I didn't really see what else went on. Hopefully Stewart or someone else can fill us all in.
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Zack continued on the Reefer. Trimming the top plate to size. Then he drilled all the holes for the vertical rods.
I fit some vertical plates in that go between the cross rods and the bolster plate. This will keep the rods from eating into the wood. Then onto my coupler project. Still getting pieces ready to mend the broken coupler. Going to make a new shank.
Jasons #9 work today consisted of tightening some tapered bolts that hold the Engineers side Cylinder to the frame then starting on the firemans side with some reaming.
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A quick thanks to Jonathan St Mary who has been putting in Fridays on No 9 projects. Yesterday he finish machined the tapered pins that Mike mentioned, and modified the holding bolts for those, allowing final assembly on that side today. Jonathan and I have generally been tag-teaming on the same No 9 step so as to increase our pace-- he has helped greatly with this!
Happy 2012 everyone.
Jason
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As James mentioned, we burned a large pile of stumps and wood just West of the end of the spur. We didn't think we could get rid of so much debris since the large pile was wet with the rain all day but we burned most of it by constantly throwing wood up onto the top. The stumps came from the clearing of the parking lot. The area is now cleaner and more open - this is where the car storage building will be built. The other pile we burned was from trees we cut for (1) clearing for the spur extension to where it feeds the roundhouse and (2) getting lumber to make flooring for car 65. Speaking of the milk car as you read from Mike, more good progress with the cap sill, cross brace plates and couplers. The next step is to make the vertical rods from 1/2" stock. We'll cut and thread them next Saturday so we can start building the cars' box frame. Steve Z. will be making the roof rafters in the next week or so.
Wishing everyone the best for 2012 ... as I've heard it called "twenty dozen"
Stewart