W.W.&F. Discussion Forum
WW&F Railway Museum Discussion => Volunteers => Topic started by: James Patten on December 04, 2013, 07:06:14 AM
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Anticipated work for Saturday December 7:
* Train show: I think John R will be representing us at a train show at the Maine State Museum. But that could be another day?
* Garage: Put up the doors, shelving, and plywood on the ceiling.
* #9: Keep quartering.
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Trailer work also. Might be able to use a hand if someone is looking for something to do.
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Work done Saturday Dec 7:
* Garage: Zack laid 10 feet of 8-foot gauge track in the garage - on the ceiling! That is, the track to run the west-most door up and down. Also a number of large heavy plywood sheets were put up on the ceiling over the east-most bay of the garage. Late in the afternoon the west-most door was running up and down, the east-most door was installed (but not tracked), and the man-door was in. Keys have been distributed.
* Trailer: Mike got clever and lowered the angle of the rear tongue of the trailer over a longer distance (on one side), to roughly match that of the track. He then installed some of the boards. The other side of the trailer he'll do next week.
* Car 103: John M installed grab irons on the east side of car 103. These will be for Victorian Christmas. I'm guessing additional grab irons will be installed by next summer.
* Victorian Christmas planning: Jason developed and fine-tuned the operating and crew plan. Steve Z went to AC to prep Santa's throne. Jason and Steve also measured out for step boxes at AC.
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Anticipated work Saturday Dec 14:
* Christmas prep: whatever we've got to do, this is the weekend to do it.
* #52: Put on the plow (see bottom)
* Garage: Continue with door tracks
* #9
Snow is currently predicted for Saturday night/all day Sunday. Maybe as much as a foot.
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The Hauling & Rigging crew plans to get car 65 from Wiscasset on Saturday. Anyone that can help please see Brendan. Also, the H&R Dept needs two sticks of 25lb rail from the pile on Davis curve and would like to get them on Saturday.
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I will be available for the maiden trailer voyage, barring any unpredicted blizzard. Trailer modification can resume any time, but would like it done soon.
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All of a sudden have an open spot in my schedule for tomorrow. Perhaps the trailer will be closer to completion after all before it's maiden voyage.
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The dairy car was loaded up in Wiscasset after lunch and trucked back to Sheepscot.
(http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s5/bbarry74/image_zps6f8ba6ae.jpg)
(http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s5/bbarry74/image_zpsed19137e.jpg)
(http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s5/bbarry74/image_zps7c8d2be3.jpg)
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Work done on December 14:
* Trailer: As seen above, a contingent went to Wiscasset after lunch to get the creamery car. The Yeti only needed to block traffic a couple of times to get the trailer lined up right. With help from a new winch and Stewart's truck to power the battery, the car had very little trouble being moved. The Yeti and trailer with car are now at the north end of the parking lot waiting for late January, when everything will go to the Springfield train show.
* Garage: Mike and Stewart started hanging tools on the wall. Zack worked on the exterior garage doors, making them look pretty.
* #9: Eric and Greg were working on something under the cab.
* #10: Gordon watered up the locomotive for next weekend.
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Zack worked on the exterior garage doors, making them look pretty.
Did he paint the faces of #9, #10 & #52 on there?
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Pics of the return of car 65 to Sheepscot:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xojbefqXDBQ/Uq8XUvpZG6I/AAAAAAAABAo/PzQ5v5Bfims/s800/IMG_1541.JPG)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LTDelzkHyZ8/Uq8XWtWfTTI/AAAAAAAABA4/4k_GLeBf_PQ/s640/IMG_1537.JPG)
The intrepid hauling and rigging crew admiring their work:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CdKFGbW7wqw/Uq8XVdv6lgI/AAAAAAAABBE/HfO9xoz1BRI/s640/IMG_1540.JPG)
The temperature was in the single digits all day, with snow due that night. Winter has arrived in Maine!
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Anticipated work for weekend of Dec 21:
* Friday: Prep for Victorian Christmas next day. Plowing, shoveling, sanding, salting, etc.
* Saturday: Victorian Christmas! This is an all-hands-on-deck kind of day. Last year we had over 1100 people. This year the forecast doesn't look so great, but we still should plan for large numbers of people. We need parking attendants (in our large new lot!), crowd control on the platform, help in the gift shop, train crews, people to give tours of the shop buildings, etc.
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Friday work -
Jason has advised that meet time for the plow crew will be 9:30. Joe Fox will be there Friday and starting the yard work at 9:30 will give time for switches, etc. to be cleaned. In addition to the plow extra, we need to clear the walkways and platforms at Sheepscot and AC. The area from the depot to the road at AC should be cleared since this is where passengers will que up for the southbound trains.
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This week -
* Food - a crew (spread across 3 states) has been busy making cookies and other goodies for Victorian Christmas. Some shipped their goods to Sheepscot in packages.
* Parking lot - Steve Z. has plowed both lots twice. The shop and house entrances have been shoveled.
* PR - a couple of volunteers have spent time answering the railroads' phone this week. There have been quite a few calls requesting information on Victorian Christmas. It's not surprising since the Christmas trains are the museum's biggest event with 1,157 visitors last year. If the weather holds out we should surpass that number this year.
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Weather's not looking too promising for tomorrow. :( But folks in Maine are pretty tough and resilient. :) So good luck. Keep 'em on the shiny side! :D
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Wayne,
I get your drift. ;D
Ira Schreiber
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Wayne,
I get your drift. ;D
Ira Schreiber
I always use a Starrett drift when knocking out taper pins! ;D
Keith
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From the "are you sure it's not Saturday" department ...
We had about 16 people working at the museum today. Projects included:
* Snow shoveling to clear track switches and station platforms at Sheepscot and Alna Center.
* A plow extra ran to AC and back with the crew hand shoveling the crossings. The plow crew pulled the blade at AC and switched it to the south end of #52 to continue plowing southbound. The crew pulled the plow off of #52 when they finished.
* #9 - More crank pin turning was done on the fireman's side rear driver which completes the turning job.
* Model Train display - Eric set up a loop of track in the south end of bay 3 to run his Maine Two-Foot garden railway set.
* Coach 8 - chimney rings were added to the wall lamps.
* Open car 103 - snow was cleaned out and grab irons were worked on. Grabs were added to the car for safer passenger egress.
* Garage - The rats continued working on the front, finishing the B bay casing and starting in on applying battens.
* Food - Fred cooked a nice lunch and much food was prepared for Saturday by a number of people.
* Engine 10 was readied for service.
* Night Ops. - Hand lanterns, markers and coach lamps were cleaned and filled for use on the last train on Saturday.
* Alna Center - cardboard and dry wood was delivered to the station for Saturday's bon fire. The railroad telephone was tested from AC to Sheepscot.
* Parking Lot - Zack put out saw horses and ribbon to create an island to guide arriving visitors.
There were a few more (small) things that happened as well.
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Weather's not looking too promising for tomorrow. :( But folks in Maine are pretty tough and resilient. :) So good luck. Keep 'em on the shiny side! :D
Ya, but the Massachusetts boy is a whimp! To bad I'll be missing this on account of weather...
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Dylan, what's a whimp? Maybe a wimp with a wheeze? Anyway, too bad you can't make it. Better luck in 2014.
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Brendan brought his camera today and got a few action shots of the shovel crew and plow in action. 5 of us on the plow included Joe, J.B., Brendan, a new volunteer named Martin, and myself. I plowed in 3rd gear, and the powdery snow was really moving. Crossings were a breeze, no warm weather meant no ice. Did happen to see a nice deer jump across the grade near the Yard Limit sing at AC. Numerous other tracks in the snow where they had been moving. Humason Brook is still open, providing a beautiful contrast between snow covered ground and moving water.
We returned to Sheepscot by noon and found all the yard switches had been cleared, presumably by Eric and Phil. We finished snow clean up after lunch and were wore out and ready to leave about 2.
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Work done Saturday, Dec 21: Victorian Christmas!
* VC: It turned warm during the day yesterday and stayed pretty warm overnight, so the day started with the snow a little bit slippery. There was ice on the platform and other places, so Fred bought some sand and salt. We treated the walkways, and I had Jeff Verney come over and sand with his truck. Parking control started putting people in the lot, with Zack setting up tape and sawhorses for ersatz lane markers. People started showing up around quarter to 10, so by 10:30 there was enough to make a trip desirable. Before the train pulled in at 11, there seemed to be people enough to just fill two cars, but then a bunch more showed up quick with the train in station, so we did the power swap and kept that going most of the day. The swell of people was 11 to 1, pretty much. There was an estimated about 800 riders, with about $1000 in donations and $300 in the gift shop. Eric Schade ran his live steam inside Bay 3.
* #9: Jason was able to fix up #9's rear truck enough to move it to machine shop.
* Other shop: Things were shuffled around so that nearly everything is under cover: Boxcar/caboose in Bay 1; Railcar, Coach 8 and 52 in Bay 2; Big Joe, #9 tank, #51, and Coach 3 in Bay 3; and Locos 9 and 10 in Bay 4.
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A special thanks goes to the 40 volunteers who made the event go so well. Victorian Christmas is by far and away our biggest event and it takes many people to pull it off. From the members who worked all week making cookies to people who tended the parking lot, our guests were well cared for at every turn.
I worked at Alna Center and can say that after just one train, the crew had the horse drawn wagon ride well timed with folks in line for Santa. As the train left, some passengers went to see Santa first and others took the wagon trip first, still others went into the depot to see Christmas reindeer made by hand. Ali's crafts had children and parents smiling as they left the station. The bon fire went well, even with all the wet/snow covered wood. A batch of dry wood scraps were taken up early and the bon fire touched off at 10am. When the fire was hot, wood from the pile was pulled out of the snow and added to the fire. By 3pm much of the "wet" wood was gone, having kept visitors warm all day, especially those who rode up in the open car.
Linda Verney's horses were so nice and they worked hard all day. Most rides went out filled. It was a great day at the "North Pole"!
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Of all the action that went on today, these are the two shots I took. It marks the end of a fantastic day.
(http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m573/miketrainnut/WWandF%20Ry/2013-12-21163020_zps580ca0e7.jpg)
(http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m573/miketrainnut/WWandF%20Ry/2013-12-21163036_zps7328bd68.jpg)
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Mike, spectacular starburst there! If RowMow Inc. ever decides it needs a new logo, that'd be a good place for it.
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In all the excitement of Christmas and power loss, I forgot to post the anticipated work plan for this weekend, Dec 28:
* Storm cleanup - I'm sure Stewart, Fred, and crew have been working on cleanup, but if there's anything else to do it should be done.
* VC Cleanup - Anything left over from VC we should clean up
Probably not many volunteers this weekend - where last weekend was a big event, and with individual storm cleanup.
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Just gauging here: how many folks can be around to help winterize no 10 this Saturday? I'd like to tackle it and get it done- but we really need at least a 4 man crew- 5 better. Bob and I can be there.
Jason
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Weather alert -
There will be 2-4" of new snow this afternoon. Anyone coming to Sheepscot please be very careful driving and walking because the drive and walkways are solid ice and the snow covers it.
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Work done on December 28, up to 10 AM (after which I had to leave):
* Garage: Zack, Steve and crew were working on battens.
* #9: Jason took out a spring hanger, milled a slightly larger notch in it, and put it back.
* Trailer/creamery car: Mike was working on it.
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Also -
Nancy, (Leons' sister-in-law) made a wonderful lunch and then spent time cleaning the house bathroom. When that was complete, she worked in the restroom building which needed a big clean up after hundreds of people visited last Saturday.
Thank you Nancy!
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Trailer is complete, at least my portion of it. I gathered some blocking this afternoon and next time will be working on blocking the car up to take some of the weight off the trucks, and make it more stabile for any traveling it may do.
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After I had to leave for a family commitment, Bob Longo and JB Smith put in several hours punching tubes and cleaning no 10's smoke box. A tough, unpopular job at best. The locomotive is now about 1/2 through its annual clean out and inspection cycle.
Jason
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Bravo Bob and JB! A tough, important job.