Topics

1

Volunteers / LAST CALL for 2024 volunteer hours!

« on: January 03, 2025, 02:34:10 PM »

This is a LAST CALL for volunteer hours for 2024. If you have any outstanding hours to record, please do so by 1/7.

I would like to submit a volunteer report for the January BoD meeting on 1/11.

I plan to have thank-you letters in the mail by the end of the month. If you have volunteered with us in prior years but haven't received a thank-you, chances are we don't have you address. You can send it to me on the forum via private message or you can email it to me at ben.richards [at] wwfry [dot] org

2

Volunteers / LAST CALL: 2023 Off-site volunteer hours

« on: February 15, 2024, 08:14:11 PM »

This is an "all-aboard" for anyone with offsite hours: We need to get this into the database as soon as possible. I have two different deadlines I am trying to meet with this data.

Many of you have already sent your 2023 hours; thank you for that. If you haven't yet, you can email me your information as per usual : benjayman227 -at- gmail.com

2023 will be the last year for emailing hours. Going forward please use our new online form to track your own hours. See the sticky post in this forum for details.

3

Volunteers / Electronic Logging of Volunteer Hours

« on: January 02, 2024, 02:57:12 PM »

TL;DR

Offsite at logbook.wwfry.org/offsite
Forgotten sign-out at logbook.wwfry.org/kiosk

------------------------------------------

"The logbook is dead! Long live the logbook!"

The advent of 2024 brings a new method of tracking volunteer hours: An electronic logbook has replaced the traditional paper logbook at the General Order Board. Please use the electronic logbook going forward. This is another step in achieving compliance with FRA regulations, and we need everyone's buy-in to make this a success.

A secondary motivation is that my wife and I together spent over FIFTY hours doing logbook data entry last year. Automating this process lets me spend those 50 hours on something more valuable and productive for the museum. With total volunteer hours regularly exceeding 20,000 per year, the manual process had become unsustainable.

I am aware that electronic things may fail occasionally, for various reasons. In case this happens, a temporary paper record is certainly one workaround. However, before doing that, I would encourage you to try to access the logbook on your own device (if you have one) at logbook.wwfry.org/kiosk
If all else fails, I have put my cell phone number at the General Order Board. Please feel free to call me if there is a problem, and I will try to resolve the issue, or pay an in-person visit if necessary.

For those who occasionally (or habitually!) forget to sign out, you can now sign out from the comfort of your favorite armchair, using the above link.

Finally, for those who complete volunteer activities off-site, we have a dedicated form for capturing those hours: logbook.wwfry.org/offsite
We encourage you to log your offsite hours as you complete them. It only takes a second, and you can get rid of that pesky Excel sheet!

/Ben Richards

4

General Discussion / Looking for a machine shop

« on: September 22, 2023, 09:01:43 AM »

I've got a Kohler block that needs bored over. I'm wondering if anyone has a favorite machine shop they have used, or would recommend for engine work.

Thanks!

5

Volunteers / Not enough parking

« on: April 03, 2023, 10:34:25 AM »

I am concerned that we will not have enough parking for the 4/8 trains. Most of the usual "mitigation" measures (if they could be called that) are not viable during mud season. Volunteer parking in the corner lot near 218 is not available. Visitor parking along Cross Rd is also inadvisable due to soft shoulders.

I understand that we have ongoing projects. But we owe it to our visitors to provide a basic level of facilities, which includes parking. Easter is the event with perhaps the highest percentage of children, out of all our events. And as the parent of 3 such children, I can tell you that convenient parking is just about the top of the pile.

If someone can sign me off on the loader or the forklift, I'd be happy to come up and move stuff out of the way, and then move it all back next week. I would also be willing to put up the parking pylons with ribbon to make the most efficient use of the space.

I just hate to see our museum dinged time and again for this kind of stuff, which is totally preventable.

6

General Discussion / Lower Road bridge abutments demolished

« on: September 05, 2022, 12:38:21 PM »

I noticed the past two weeks or so driving through Richmond (ME) that the MEC Lower Road bridge abutments at the north end of town were being demolished and the embankments cut back. I couldn't find any more info about that, whether it was possibly part of a road construction project, or just unfinished business from removing the bridge itself back in 2017.

That line would have made a nice place for 470 to stretch her legs (pipe dream, I know...)

7

Museum Discussion / Binding error in 3rd ed. of Robert C. Jones' "Tidewater"?

« on: February 24, 2021, 10:12:55 AM »

I am requesting community input from others who have purchased the latest edition of Robert C. Jones' Two Feet to Tidewater.

In my copy there is a problem in the Powell section. One particular signature has duplicate pages, and consequently, omitted pages.

The previous signature ends with 318. The signature in question contains 323-324-325-326-323-324-325-326-327-328-329-330-327-328-329-330.
The next signature picks up correctly with 335.

So it looks like the outer four sheets (shown in red above) got mixed up or otherwise bound incorrectly. Does someone out there have duplicate 319-322 and 331-334?  Maybe we can trade

Or perhaps other copies have the same problem as mine?

8

General Discussion / Understanding locomotive/rolling stock ownership nomenclature

« on: May 08, 2020, 08:59:47 AM »

I wonder if someone could explain to me the difference between "former" and "ex-" as used when describing locomotive/rolling stock ownership.

For an example from our own newsletters, see July/August 1994:

The highlight for June was the visit of the former SR&RL, and ex-Edaville Model T Railcar Number 2...

I have also seen such things as :

ex-PC 18402, exx-LV 95112 (description of a CR caboose)
ex-ABC 10, exx-PDQ 43, exxx-HAL 315, former XYZ 7 (example made up, but I've definitely seen this many levels)

Thanks.

9

General Discussion / Age of Steam acquires B&LE 643

« on: August 06, 2019, 09:34:16 AM »

On August 5, Age of Steam Roundhouse announced the acquisition of B&LE 643, the lone survivor of the road's fleet of beefy 2-10-4s.

This marks the commencement of a (hopefully) less dramatic chapter in the engine's life. As a native of Pittsburgh, this announcement was particularly exciting for me.

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/08/05-age-of-steam-acquires-ble-2-10-4