W.W.&F. Discussion Forum
WW&F Railway Museum Discussion => Volunteers => Topic started by: James Patten on April 30, 2025, 05:45:13 AM
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Anticipated work for Saturday May 3:
* Tie & Dine - replacing ties along the mainline, followed by a dinner train in the evening.
* Annual Meeting - at the historic Alna Meetinghouse at 2 PM. Bring an extra layer.
* Engine house work
* Archives - new computer that needs to be set up.
* Alna Center work
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Shingle Mill Shuffle. In order to clear up space for the conversion of 53, we will be removing the shingle mill items from the green container and placing them in the appropriate box car. I did not notice anything too heavy, but a few long items are in there.
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Partial report for Saturday May 3:
* Tie & Dine - a bunch of people were busy on track, I don't know how well they did.
* Container organizing - Mike and crew were going through the green container looking to organize.
* Computer consultant - I got 3 personal computers to be able to print to the printer, then started working on the new archival computer.
* Annual Meeting - As the meetinghouse was locked and the keyholder no where to be found, the venue was moved to the Alna Fire Station.
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Most of the shingle mill items are now in 67.
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I remember seeing a camera person for the May 3rd weekend. Will those pictures be released and if so when?
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That camera person was with Trains Magazine, I believe, for an article for the magazine. Thus any pictures from that day will likely be in the article or on Trains' website.
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Also, Stewart was taking photos which he posted on our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/WWFRailway/posts/pfbid033LksuvzWGimRNcjpSbLjvBxYTFQZUuCytobGdyVgrsbu4ySZbvKRD9LTbN9fCB3Jl
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This is what I get a few seconds after the WW&F Facebook page loads. Once that come up, there is nothing more I can do.
(https://i.postimg.cc/PX0bWxHK/wwf-Screenshot-from-2025-05-05-23-33-33.png)
I'm disappointed in the change in policy that shortchanges the forum while posting photos to Facebook.
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There is no change in policy.
Stewart has always provided content for Facebook (and rarely posts photos on the forum) while others (like Mike, Brendon, and Bill) tend to post their photos on the forum and not on Facebook. Occasionally coordinated cross-posting occurs, but not always.
The reality is I spend several hours every week trying to keep an eye on all of our various social media platforms (of which the Forum is one, and Facebook is by far the most complex and popular.) Unless someone would like to assist in this effort, keeping every platform updated with all the various posts, photos, and videos is not possible.
And of course, the official document of record of the museum remains the Newsletter, which draws from the best of all sources. And, then it is posted on our website and emailed to all members as soon as it is completed (which is another task that falls on my shoulders and occupies a couple of hours of time with each publication.)
I guess that is a long-winded plea for help if anyone wants to tackle cross-posting across social media platforms.
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I would also add that this forum is a discussion forum, not a media outlet. While the line sometimes blurs and we see shades of gray, reporting on the forum tends to be of a more informal nature or directing someone to one of the 'official' news sources.
Think of the forum as more of a 'boots on the ground' approach rather than the more curated news you see in social media or in the newsletter.
Best,
Steve
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Anticipated work for Saturday May 10:
* Mother's Day Tea - at Alna Center
* Train Movie day
* Engine house work
* Machine shop
* Garage/vehicle/grounds work
* Board meeting at 4
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Work done on a very wet Saturday May 10:
* Coach 9: Tom the gold leafer was working on the car today.
* Public trains: Mother's Day Tea at Alna Center.
* "I built a train" presentation/interview in the car barn, followed by a train trip.
* Archives: I finished setting up the new archives computer, and did some wire management.
* Board meeting at 4, ended 4:23.
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Anticipated work for Saturday (and Sunday) May 17-18
* World War I reenactment weekend - re-enactors encampment at Alna Center.
* Engine house work
* Machine shop
* Vehicle repair/garage organizing/grounds work
Another wet(ish) Saturday.
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Work done 5/17/25
* WWI Trains - reasonable attendance considering the weather.
* Model Planes - Jay Wiley set up a nice display of his WWI era flying models.
* Vacuum Brakes - Jonathan and Nick A were working on them.
* Grounds - Mike filled in some holes and extended some culverts.
* Hobos - Dom did a great job hosting our hobo experience passengers.
* Books - a large donation of books (with more to come) was processed for keeping in our archives, resource library, or for sale.
* Food - Nancy made lunch (with sandwiches for tomorrow's crew too!)
* XCart - Chris was working on the XCart. Jason was working on the Tie Changer.
* Engineering - Jason was working on sourcing parts for the Chandliers for Coaches 3 and 9.
* Signage - Bill updated the welcome signboard with the next phase of 2025 events.
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Anticipated for work Saturday May 24:
* Public trains
* Engine house work
* Grounds work
* Archives
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Work done on Saturday May 24:
* Grounds work: Mike filled in some potholes in the walkways, driveways and parking lots. He them moved some equipment into the back lot and dug up where a future dead storage track will go, and filled it in with stone.
* Deliveries: Both Dave and Bill R delivered cars-full of books and model railroad equipment donated by someone in Haverhill, Mass. Marcel was beside himself in categorizing it all, assisted by Dan.
* Tin-type: A tin-type photographer was set up in the car barn to take people's pictures using this old-time photographic style. Naturally he took some of #9 and crew.
* IT Assistance: I helped Bob H get set up in our Sharepoint.
* Public trains: Three trips to TOM, the Mountain track was temporarily out of service because of a low soft spot.
* Coach 9: Tom the gold leafer was trying to finish up the leafing.
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* Public trains: Three trips to TOM, the Mountain track was temporarily out of service because of a low soft spot.
With this, I send out an urgent call for crew. With some polls taken on Saturday the majority of available help I can get will be Friday. So that is my plan, with a good crew on Friday I plan to go up and fix this location before next Saturdays trains. Friday is the plan unless there is a better day that im not seeing where more people can be available.
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Anticipated work for Saturday May 31:
* Public trains: Ride the rails to hike the trails, plus the regular service.
* Albion: A team is headed north to retrieve the flanger and bring it back.
* Machine shop work
* Archives
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Work Report - Saturday, May 31st:
* Public Trains - Diesel 52 did the honors for the 11am trip to Trout Brook and return. Jason and crew made an emergency repair to locomotive 9 to allow it to resume duties for the 1pm and 3pm departures. The morning rain made for light patronage all day.
* Albion - The "Flanger" that had been in the process of being reconstructed at Albion is now at Sheepscot. Note that this is really just a collection of parts that were once part of a WW&F Flanger. There is no carbody or flanger mechanism. The trucks are not from a WW&F car, and at least one coupler is not from the WW&F. The beams/sills that make up the reconstructed frame are very rotted and are likely not salvagable. We will save what we can and reuse it in some fashion to be determined.
* Machine shop work - Besides the aforementioned repairs to #9, Chris was working on the X-Cart and Nick A was tinkering with vaccum brakes.
* Vaccum Brakes - an impromptu test of the vaccum brakes on a two-car train was attempted. A new point of failure was identified.
* Archives - Linda was busy with a guest from Trains magazine. Marcel has been cataloging a large model train collection that was donated for sale.
* Food - Nancy cooked ham, mashed potatoes, carrots and desert.