May 2013 Work Planning

[Fred L. Kuhns]

Stewart,  As Alan said your new sign is something special. Thanks again for all your hard work.  Hold on to those Texas guys for a few more days and they will have 103 looking real good.  Alan and Harold thanks for your work on 103 have a safe trip home.   Fred L. Kuhns
   

[Steve Smith]

1.Thank you for the new sign, Stewart. It sure looks great.

2. Here's a motion to recommend the Downeys for Sainthood! As Mike posted........WOW!

3. "Give 'em an inch an' they ask for a mile" Department: It'd be great if somebody would add to the great work the Downeys have done and seal that part of the FLOOR of 102 that's directly over the northwest journal box of the south truck. Say a few feet in all directions from a spot directly over that box. Reason: Water is getting into that box and so instead of straight oil in there, it's a water-oil emulsion. In April, when I stuck a screwdriver into the emulsion and withdrew the screwdriver, it was nicely coated with oil, so I don't think that the presence of water has harmed the roller bearings SO FAR. But over the long term, the proportion of water is likely to increase, so it's not a good situation. Of course, fixing the roof should help reduce the amount of water getting onto the floor, but with the open sides, the roof fix obviously won't keep ALL the water off the floor. There's no problem of water getting into any other box, so the sealing job doesn't have to cover a lot of floor area.

[Wayne Laepple]

That is just outstanding work on the part of Alan and Harold Downey. They concentrated on the job at hand and look what they accomplished in a week! That's the kind of focus the WW&F volunteers are famous for. More power to them.

On the subject of No. 103, I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to consider some sort of clear plastic curtains that could be rolled up to the top of the window openings on fine days and dropped down to cover the openings on damp or misty days? Actually, I'm also wondering if it would make sense to buy the car from Maine Narrow Gauge so we can upgrade it to our usual high standards without worry that it will go back to them, taking all our hard work with it.

[Steve Smith]

Shame on me for the "digital downgrade" of Excursion Car 103. After the fine work of the Downeys, if any numerical change were to be made it probably should be to 206!

Those suggestions sound good to me, Wayne. Because Maine Narrow Gauge may make the big move to Grey, I would think getting rid of 103 in exchange for some cash would be appealing to them, assuming of course a price agreeable to both parties.   

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday May 18:

* Restrooms: Zack kept working away at it, at one point working on getting in the handicap handbars in.
* ROW tree clearing: Fred wanted to do some chainsawing at the northern end of the line to clear blowdowns away from the track and from the mowing area.  The area between Albee's Crossing and the north end was cleaned up.
* #9: Jason and Wes did some work.
* Car 103: Alan and Harold finished up the drip edges, then the rolled roofing was installed with the help of Steve Z, Marcel, and Stewart.  The car got some more paint on it too.
* Railcar 4 made its public debut for the season today, running as second section for the 12:30 train.
* Coal pocket: The coal pocket was rebuilt a bit, with a heavy timber across the back, the side timbers moved a bit, and plywood put down as the floor.  Coal delivery should be this week.
* Mike was touching up the paint on the crane car.

[Alan Downey]

Hansel was also quite involved with getting things cleaned up, and getting the roof on car 103. Thanks for everyone's help with that today. It was really awesome to see the roofing and paint start to go on.

After an evening talking about the history of the museum- among many other things. Stewart showed us how the new sign looks underneath the goose neck lamp, and we had some fun with the lighting in the station house.

[John McNamara]

Great shots, Alan!

-John

[Fred Morse]

I hope it rains enough so that we can get a burning permit for Sat, so that we can burn the leftover Christmas wood left at Alna Center.

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

I see from the depot desk photos that poor Prince Albert still is in "the can".

[Jonathan B. Smith]

Excellent photos, Alan!
The lighting is spot on--very nostalgic, but in the usual WW&F way, it's now and it's real.

[Alan Downey]

Thanks for the compliments everyone, both for the photos, and the work on 103. It's looking better by the day- as the weather allows Stewart to work his magic.

Steve, today provided a real test of the new roofing material. Stewart and I both looked at the spot which you indicated had been problematic. Of course, it's an open car- so the inside is still wet from when the wind blows the rain in. But the area above the west side of the south truck was just damp. No standing water. We suspect the improvements to the roof runoff might just have taken care of that problem. Of course, only time will tell and it's good to know that it's been a problem spot.

[Mike Fox]

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for weekend of May 25.  This is the beginning of the summer season, so we're now open both Saturday and Sunday and running more trains.

* #9
* Train operations out our ears

Monday there's no trains running, but people will be working.

[James Patten]

Right - back on track then.

Work done on Saturday May 25:

* Coal did not arrive this week.  Nevertheless, thanks to some creative firing and the purchase of some coal from Ames Hardware, we ran today on steam.  Despite the crappy weather, we had a number of visitors.  We skipped the 11 AM train, but ran all the others, only running one car.
* Jason, Rick, and Wes were all working on #9
* Zack was working on the restroom.  He even had a test flush on one of the urinals!  Only to make sure his wiring of the electric eyes were working.  And the water went into the ditch outside.  Looks like he's preparing for the installation of the counters.
* The ladies made a great hot goulash for lunch.

[Steve Smith]

Alan and Stewart, thanks for checking on the 103 problem spot and the report. It ought to be less of a problem now, thanks to your work on the roof. And thanks, Mike, for the picture.