Messages

1

Volunteers / Re: HELP NEEDED!! Line Clearing 1/30

« on: January 30, 2026, 11:48:19 AM »

Hello Folks,

Line clearing is now RESCHEDULED to Saturday 1/31/2026.  Equipment difficulties due to cold, as well as lack of crew availabillty due to sickness and work have led us to reschedule the clearing of the railroad from SS to ToM to tomorrow.  There were all of 3 of us here today.  PLEASE help us tomorrow if you can. 

We are also firing loco 9 tomorrow to move it to a different stall in the enginehouse.  It will be available to double head plow tomorrow- would there be interest in that?  A test swipe today shows the snow moves easily with 52, so the double heading likely isn’t necessary.

Please let us know here or directly if you plan to help tomorrow.  We'd like to have a feel of what crew we can expect.

Thanks
Jason

2

Volunteers / Re: September 2025 Work Reports

« on: September 25, 2025, 03:38:31 PM »

Hi folks,

For a number of reasons the planned practice session this Saturday is cancelled.  Tentatively we may try again on Friday Oct 3.

Furthermore- Pete Stevens remains ill and cannot administer a rules session this Saturday either.  Once he is better we will figure out a new schedule for that.

Thanks
Jason

3

Volunteers / Re: September 2025 Work Reports

« on: September 24, 2025, 06:33:53 AM »

Hi Folks,

I am hoping to get some indication of crew availability this Saturday for a potential Pumpkin train practice session.  I failed to get this on the crew calendar so there’s no specific sign ups.  Depending on response, we could do a full practice this Saturday (fire up both locos, one or two full cycles of the op plan), or we could do an abridged version (a meeting, basically), along with a possible practice session on Friday Oct 3.

This week is quite busy with locomotive prep so I haven’t had a lot of free cycles to work through this yet.

I would appreciate feedback.  I will also send this as a crew caller email.

Thanks
Jason

4

Volunteers / Re: September 2025 Work Reports

« on: September 17, 2025, 03:56:54 PM »

Sept 20 Rules Class Postponed

Hi Folks,

Our Training Officer, Pete Stevens, has taken ill and is unable to administer this Saturday's rules class.  At present he plans to offer an equivalent program the following Saturday, Sept 27, in conjunction with our planned Pumpkin Train practice day. 

Thanks
Jason

5

Volunteers / Re: September 2025 Work Reports

« on: September 17, 2025, 03:56:31 PM »

Sept 20 Rules Class Postponed

Hi Folks,

Our Training Officer, Pete Stevens, has taken ill and is unable to administer this Saturday's rules class.  At present he plans to offer an equivalent program the following Saturday, Sept 27, in conjunction with our planned Pumpkin Train practice day. 

Thanks
Jason

6

Volunteers / Re: Steam Maintenance Days

« on: March 04, 2025, 10:58:42 AM »

Please join us Daniel, you're most welcome!  Thanks also to Nick and Dante- jump right in!  We hope to see more folks.

Roger is doing an excellent job preparing for Saturday- remember he is a retired career educator!  He has developed a written curriculum, for lack of a better term.  Thanks to Dante's question he has included work that can be done in the day or so before a fireup as routine work.

Thanks all,
Jason

7

Volunteers / Steam Maintenance Days

« on: March 02, 2025, 09:21:08 AM »

Hello Folks,

Roger and I have discussed establishing a regular (perhaps monthly) series of steam maintenance days where we openly encourage involvement.  We would like to teach the basics of maintaining operating steam locomotives- the 'nuts and bolts.' 

This is meant to contrast from the big- exciting projects like No 11.  Instead- this is the day to day of what it takes to run steam locomotives.  Plus- our small team of maintenance volunteers need help!

Please note that some of this work is quite specialized and needs to be done correctly.  All work needs to be approved, and possibly supervised and/or taught by Roger or another regular steam maintenance person.  While we'll do our best to engage anyone interested- some tasks won't be appropriate for small children or folks with physical limitations so be patient as we match task with volunteer, especially as this program is just getting started.

Our first planned day is next Saturday, March 8, 2025.  (This could be kicked to March 15 if there's a strong sentiment here).  There's a variety of work planned- Roger is maintaining a running work list as part of his upcoming role as Enginehouse Foreman.

We don't yet have a brand for this program- though we feel it needs one.  "Steam Backshop Apprenticeship" or something.  We're open to ideas here- but we should put this idea in a branding box so it's easier to spread the word.

Please respond here if you can make it next Saturday.  Future month's sessions may have to be a weekday due to operations but we'll schedule month by month for now.

Also please feel free to share your thoughts on this program.

Thanks
Jason

8

Volunteers / Re: February 2025 work reports

« on: February 17, 2025, 10:04:50 AM »

Dan and Bryce really have carried the torch for most line clearing, thanks guys.

We’ve had many other under-sung heroes keeping the railroad functional- especially for public ops.  Ben Richards, Brendan Barry, the two Nicks, Steve Piwowarski, Ed Lecuyer, Stewart Rhine, and others who all deserve our thanks.  So: Thank You all for keeping us going this winter! 

Jason

9

Volunteers / Re: February 2025 work reports

« on: February 05, 2025, 08:57:32 AM »

February 2025 Railroad Snow Removal and Inspection Plan

Thanks to Dan M and Brian Whitney for clearing the railroad this past Monday.

Upcoming weather events and our planned response:

Thursday 2/6/25 afternoon- overnight: Snow 3-5”.

Friday 2/7/25: X52 snow clearing and inspection (Help Wanted!)

Saturday 2/8/25: X9 Public operations

Sunday 2/9/25: Snow 4-6”.

Monday 2/10/25: X52 snow clearing and inspection (Help Wanted!)

Tuesday through Thursday 2/11/25 to 2/13/25: Snow 2-4”.

Friday 2/14/25: X52 snow clearing and inspection (Help Wanted!)

Saturday 2/15/25: X9 Public operations.

Each snow clearing and inspection operation also includes clearing and salting crossing flangeways and blowing/ sweeping all switches required for public operations.

Thanks,
Jason

10

Volunteers / Re: January 2025 work reports

« on: January 28, 2025, 03:12:21 PM »

Railroad Clearing and Inspection
Monday February 3, 2025

Folks there’s a relatively minor weather event forecast for Sunday evening into Monday that they’re saying will bring 2-3” snow to Alna.  However a few contributing factors are causing us to schedule a line clearing and inspection operation next Monday, February 3, 2025.

Unfortunately I will be out of town and cannot help, but I am grateful that Dan has agreed to come in on that unusual weekday to lead the effort.  We would GREATLY appreciate getting Dan some help- he can’t do this alone.  Please let us know here or directly.

2-3” isn’t much however it’s on top an existing 2-3”, meaning the railroad will need to be flanged.  Monday’s forecast temperatures are in the 40s, making this fairly trivial, however following that temps drop into single digits for the rest of the week- which would make a deferred clearing operation somewhere between miserable and impossible.

As an additional heads up Dan will also need to run an clearing and inspection operation prior to Saturday’s public trains- he says either Friday or Saturday AM.  When you see Dan please smile and thank him for taking care of the railroad.

Thanks- let us know if you can help!

Jason

11

Volunteers / Re: January 2025 work reports

« on: January 21, 2025, 07:57:19 PM »

Thank you to Dan and Bryce for singlehandedly clearing the railroad today.  Dan blew out all the switches in the AM; after lunch he and Bryce went north to clear the railhead, flange, clear crossings and blow out the ToM switches.  Now the sun can attempt to work some magic in the sub-zero temps this week.

Thanks guys,
Jason

12

Volunteers / Re: January 2025 work reports

« on: January 20, 2025, 11:11:39 AM »

Line clearing and Inspection
Tuesday January 21, 2025

Hi folks,

Asking for any and all help to clear the line tomorrow.  We’ll clear the yard in the morning mostly with the blower, take lunch then head north around noon.  Please let us know here or privately if you can make it to help.

Thanks
Jason

13

Volunteers / Re: January 2025 work reports

« on: January 17, 2025, 10:29:22 AM »

Saturday January 18, 2025
Plow preparation and line inspection

Hi folks,

Tomorrow I plan to install and test 52’s plow, then perform a riding inspection from SS to ToM (and hopefully return), presalting crossings.  I probably won’t get started until 10 or 10:30- to let the day heat up a little first.

I will gladly accept any and all help!

Dan is under the weather so I’m covering these activities for him prior to the predicted snow and cold weather next week.

If you know you cam help and can let me know here, please do so.

Thanks
Jason

14

Work and Events / Re: WW&F No. 10 - Official Work Thread

« on: January 05, 2025, 09:12:52 AM »

Hi John,

These rivet flanges will be butt welded to the edges of the flanged throat sheet knuckles and radiographed in compliance with Section I.  This has made fit up significantly easier.

Thanks
Jason

15

Work and Events / Re: Coach 9 - Official Work Thread

« on: December 16, 2024, 10:55:45 AM »

John, in studying the Miller system we’ve come to understand the Miller “hook” was part of a much broader system called the “Miller Safety Platform,” which combined a series of platform trusses, body-in-line buffer and captured draft hook which significantly stiffened and strengthened coach platforms over predecessors.  We also realized that when converted to Janney, the Maine 2 foot cars had their Miller trusses hacked off.  W&Q 1,2 and 3 were built with Miller Safety Platforms and lost them.

We want to reconstruct the Miller system for a number of reasons- to achieve the proper safety platform, to construct coach 9 as coach 2 was built, and to use our unique circumstance as a captured railroad to demonstrate a working Miller system on a train set, as was common on Maine two-footers in the 1890s. 

The Janney adapters for the Miller heads are a concurrent development to ensure continued interchangeability.  However to at least some of us- the no-brainer is to not waste this opportunity to do right by the coach 9 historical reconstruction and coach 3 restoration by, in part, equipping them with proper Miller Safety Platforms.

Thanks
Jason