TCDA No. 65 (Reefer) - Official Work Thread

[Ed Deere]

Hi Joe & to All

   Just got off the phone with our chief Videographer (Paul) and he is trying to put together a video crew for Saturday. Our plan is to be there by 8am. Let’s hope for good weather. 
Ed Deere

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Hi Joe,

The plan is to run two extra trains Saturday morning.  First, engine 52 will work a passenger extra North taking photographers to AC around 8 o'clock.  X52 will then run clear of the the N. AC yard limit out of view from the station.  Engine 10 will follow, taking the mixed from Sheepscot to AC.  As I understand it, Jason will be Conductor of X10 and Stephen Hussar will direct the scenes at AC.  This is the plan that was discussed last weekend - Jason may advise further details, times or changes.

Stewart  

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday is mostly sunny with highs of 74 so the special milk car train should be able to run Saturday morning.   The south end of the spur may have to be raised to facilitate loading #65 onto the trailer. The cars on the spur 320, 118, etc will have to be switched to the lower yard so 65 can be moved to the end of the spur.  Loading #65 should happen Saturday afternoon with transport to Wiscasset early Sunday morning.  Not sure when the "Wiscasset extra" will leave Sheepscot on Sunday but it will be fairly early to take advantage of less traffic on Rt 1.  Bud Davis will probably advise the crew Saturday afternoon.

Stewart

[Dave Buczkowski]

Stewart;
There are some people "from away" who are planning to get up very early Sunday morning and drive to Maine. I'm sure they would appreciate your posting the departure time Saturday evening after Bud tells the crew. As I understand it, 6:00 AM is the current scheduled departure time.
KD

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Sure thing Dave.  You are correct that the plan is to head south around 6 Sunday morning.  Of course the time hinges on everything going well with loading the car on Saturday so I will advise Saturday evening. Too bad the "away team" can't come up Saturday for the special train.

Car 65 got a final bearing repack and oiling today.  There may be a test move with the car on Friday. 

Note to Steve S. - Don't worry about the journals on car 65 ... it's still under warrenty 

Stewart 

[Dave Crow]

Stewart,

Are the brakes and cooling system still under warranty, too?

Dave

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Dave,

The brakes are not finished so no warrenty.  The ice bin cooling system is guaranteed not to leak for the first 30 minutes or first 30 track feet (not including frog), which ever comes first.   

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Hello,

Just spoke with Bud this afternoon.  He'd like to begin at "daybreak" on Sunday-- I think on Saturday we'll try to convince him that this phrase means 5:30.  Figure this is a decent compromise since Bud backed up "daybreak" with 5AM.  As planned, the car will be loaded and moved to Wiscasset Saturday afternoon- hopefully with a stop at the transfer station to weigh it.  We are specifically avoiding Rt 1 until Sunday AM- so Saturdays move will terminate at the Wiscasset police department.  This will provide a good jump for Sunday AM. 

Stewart's outline of Saturday morning's special trains are accurate- as projected. 

Bud is requesting a respectable turnout for the early AM crew-- everyone hoping to make it please let us know!

see ya
Jason

[Joe Fox]

There will be more than just the one runby tomorrow right?

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Hi Hansel and Joe,

Runbys will be determined by available time, crew, and a number of other things.  Jason will be the conductor of the mixed train that has car 65 in the consist.  Stephen Hussar will co-ordinate scenes so everyone will hear from Jason and Stephen Hussar how many runbys and scenes we'll have and where they will be staged.  The mixed will probably be out for over an hour before we have to get back to start the regular schedule.  Saturday is also Bath Iron Works Day with free train rides for BIW employees starting at 10 so it should be a busy day.

Today's news -

Fred and Steve Z. went to Wiscasset this morning to work on the pier railing that will be along side #65.  New posts were installed and the track was moved back from the edge of the pier a little bit.  Later, car 65 was taken out on the mainline for testing through turnouts and grade crossings.  The car performed well with one slightly warm bearing.  After lunch Steve and Fred did some switching and took sections of panel track over to the end of the spur to be used for loading/unloading the car.    Josh Recave worked on rewiring all the lights in the original part of bay 1.  The old wiring was removed and new feeds installed.  There wil be a switch for bay 1 by the east door (already existing) and a new switch next to the door that leads into bay 2.      

Stewart

[Brendan Barry]

A couple videos of the reefer running up the ladder http://youtu.be/_CxFbKYXOhA this was shot from the weeds http://youtu.be/WKzDQaxt0qA

[James Patten]

The question has been asked - how many hours went into the car?

I added up all the log entries where Car 65 was mentioned.  So this figure includes anything else that the worker did.

The hours are 1064.  So probably the more accurate number is about 1000 if you subtract other projects mentioned in the entries.

6/10/12 edit: I should further clarify that those hours are prior to May 29th, which is when I took home the book to enter all the hours.  So the hours from the 29th on to the 4th of July have yet to be accounted for.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Thanks for the video links Brendan.   Nice to see what the train looked like from trackside. The mixed with the milk car sure looked good.  

James, thanks much for the work numbers for #65 so far.  Not bad.  There will be more time on the project with the move, exhibits, and work done in Wiscasset to be ready for the July 4th ribbon cutting ceremony.

We were very lucky with the weather considering it has rained 13 of the last 15 days with some areas getting over 8".  Today was sunny and breezy with low humidity.  Picture perfect for the special.  BIW day brought nearly 200 passengers, not including the photographers who rode the extra to AC this morning.  There were about 20.  It was nice to see a number of folks who normally just show up for the work weekends.  

Lookin' forward to seeing more video and stills of the special!

Stewart

    

[Mike Fox]

Here is a video from the field. Shaky but you get the idea.
http://youtu.be/3f5wzbh279I

[Mike Fox]

How about a few Photos from my new favorite location.