Author Topic: April 2015 Work Planning  (Read 24953 times)

James Patten

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April 2015 Work Planning
« on: April 01, 2015, 06:07:36 AM »
Anticipated work for Saturday April 4:

* Easter Eggspress: Steam trains running in the afternoon to Alna Center and back.  We need help corralling all the little ones and not-so-little ones in their egg hunts and back at Sheepscot, putting out the eggs, running trains, giving tours, etc.

Jason M Lamontagne

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2015, 05:30:59 PM »
This has been a busy week at the RR.

Monday's crew was Jonathan, Randy, Eric and myself, focused mostly on no 9 cross head and valve work, Eric on the new whistle.

Tuesday I went to Pittsfield where Leverett Fernald, CMO of Downeast Scenic RR, New England Steam (restoring 470), and Cianbro's only on-staff machinist, surface ground our valves for us.  Meanwhile, Steve Z spent time digging out the snow banks left against the doors from plowing last week.

Today's crew was Jonathan, JB Smith, Eric, Randy, a new fellow (I'll get his name), myself and I saw Stewart signed in also- though he was over in the garage.
It was a VERY productive day- no 10's rear truck reassembled and reinstalled, snow bank removal completed, cars taken out, inspected and spotted for Saturday's event, no 9's whistle brought near completion, right cross head finish assembled, left valve seat lapped (more to go), valve chests and caps cleaned, first valve stem set up in lathe and re-turning begun.  Not sure what Stewart was up to...  It's fun to be this busy mid-week, and we made great acriss-the-board progress.

Note- this is all true, regardless of the date!

See ya
Jason

Paul Uhland

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2015, 12:17:31 PM »
Great news!
And, as always, love seeing any pics of your activities.
Good luck this weekend.
Oh, and Happy Easter.  :D
Paul Uhland

James Patten

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2015, 05:09:24 PM »
Work done on Saturday, April 4:

* Easter Eggspress: We had over 400 people for Easter Eggspress - pretty good for a day that was cold, windy, with periods of rain and/or snow.  About half of the parking lot was available for parking (the rest covered in snow), so most people parked along the side.  Lots of kids, lots of happy families afterward.  We ran three 3-car trains, and one two-car train.

Mike Fox

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2015, 05:48:02 PM »
Sounds great. Wish I was there. My paint project is taking longer than expected and putting me behind. I am thinking about next Sunday morning, to get something done on the Kubota. Digging season is coming, and I want the mower working before then.
Mike
Doing way too much to list...

Jason M Lamontagne

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2015, 08:12:10 PM »
For the record when we're wondering next year what our exact number was this year:  415 store count, 425 train count.

A little wet, but fun to host that many people and see them have a good time.

See ya
Jason

Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2015, 06:40:03 AM »
The weather was a bit of a challenge for the AC crew.  First we shoveled a wide path to the 4 and under field through snow that was a foot deep.  We checked the regular field north of Averill Road but the snow was too deep (2+ feet) so we made the area behind the station the older kids field. This is under the pines and had less snow.  We set out wooden planks for a board walk for the egg hunters to get behind the station and it worked pretty well. 

The egg crew did a nice job of setting up each field about 15 minutes before each train arrived.  The rain, snain and snow showers soaked everyone but they came back to the depot to warm up by the wood stove.  We had about 10 people working the fields plus station agent Ed who was in constant contact with dispatcher James regarding train departures and capacity.  A good many parents thanked us for doing the event and we thanked them for turning out for it.  Special thanks to Josh B. who had two totes of eggs for each train.  With 360 eggs in each tote, (one for each field) it was easy to track egg use.  Thanks also to Nancy Weeks who made a wonderful lunch that kept us going.

Around 2:30 it snowed so hard that we coundn't see the south switch from the depot window.  It was a long but satisfying day. 

Wayne Laepple

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #7 on: April 05, 2015, 08:07:12 AM »
Cheers for the folks who made the day such a success. I'd been watching the forecasts all week long, and they were pretty grim, but it sure sounds like you folks persevered and made it work! Well done!

Stephen Piwowarski

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #8 on: April 05, 2015, 08:22:44 AM »
Sounds like a great job was done and a good time was had by all! I had every intention of being there, but some unexpected things came up over this weekend that had to be dealt with.

I'm curious. How does attendance this year compare with previous Easter Eggspresses?

Steve

Jason M Lamontagne

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #9 on: April 05, 2015, 09:33:21 AM »
The peak was two years ago at 575.  That was a beautiful day.  Last year, with inclement weather we had 370.  Our Facebook event page showed 101 people coming- which is really at least 202 people (adult and child); all in all the Facebook event page appears to be doing well by us.

See ya
Jason

Joe Fox

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2015, 02:49:17 AM »
On a side note of the Easter Trains, there were a few that were disappointed by the way be four and under group was but I understood that it had to be in an easy bare spot that was relatively small.

Also met many new families to the railroad, many of which were local. I gave a few tours, one to a family from Wiscasset, the other from New Gloucester. I talked to a family from Jefferson that had a great time and look forward to returning this summer. There was also a family I spoke to from Colorado who was visiting family in Wiscasset. His family had been here before, but he was a first timer. He was very interested in the history of the railroad, how we build track, how we run and control the trains, etc. Very nice to talk to different families and hear that many have made the Eggspress a family tradition. One family said this was their fourth year in a row.

James Patten

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #11 on: April 08, 2015, 06:03:44 AM »
Anticipated work for Saturday, April 11:

* Salvage - A few of us will be revisiting the location of the "salvage" operation that we visited middle of March.  If there's anybody in Southern Maine/NH/Mass that would like to join us, please back channel me for directions.  We won't be removing anything really big, but we could use the help in sorting the trash from the treasure.
* Loco 9
* Regular train operations - Regular train operations begin today - 11, 12:30 and 2:30.

At the end of the day, the Alna Volunteer Fire Department is putting on one of their scrumptious ham and bean dinners.  Fund raiser for them, of course.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2015, 06:08:18 AM by James Patten »

Jason M Lamontagne

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #12 on: April 08, 2015, 06:35:22 AM »
Shop work this week...

Eric has the whistle nearly complete- a bit of touch up work.  We'll also need to rework the connection to the boiler; the repro whistle has a vertical valve spool which pushes down into whatever the whistle threads into.  Presently, that's a code shut off valve which, due to an internal passage, would prevent the whistle from making much more than a peep.  So even though it's done, it won't be mounted quite yet.

Randy is nearly finished lapping valve seats.

Jonathan and I are nearly finished valve box, stem and bearing refurbishment.  Today will see reassembly in those parts, and measurements for reworking the chest caps.

JB was in yesterday and got a start assembling vacuum brake cylinders, for which Eric has finished making diaphragms.

Phil was in and finished the two new rod wedge keepers we needed; he's moved on to drain holes in the gibs (thanks for the reminder, Keith) and now valve rods.

Per routine we saw Stewart on trash rounds yesterday, Zack and Steve Z on a check-in (Zack may have been busy in the basement- not sure).

Planning on valve timing next week...

Busy weeks are fun- as is the ever-closer end of this project!

See ya
Jason

S

James Patten

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #13 on: April 11, 2015, 05:19:34 PM »
Work done on Saturday, April 11:

* Salvage: A crew of 8 or 9 showed up at the shingle mill site and brought home lots of chains, nails, bridge washers, several grindstones (so several noses can be put to them at once), an old water pump, and lots more tools.  They showed up back at the Museum in time for lunch and we unloaded after lunch.
* Inspection trip: JB and I ran the diesel up the line to the end without any issues, other than the track structure being still frozen and therefore pretty rough riding.  This past winter the surveyor marked the pins of the Clark property purchase boundaries, so we spent about 2 minutes looking for the southeast corner marker, without success.  Still 2-3 feet of snow in the woods.
* #9: Wes spent time working on templates for the jacketing in the cab area.  JB worked on the vacuum pots.
* Woodshed: I spent time cleaning up and organizing the wood shed contents.  Kindling is now stacked on one end of it, the firewood on the rest of it.  Not many sticks left from last year.

Philip Marshall

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Re: April 2015 Work Planning
« Reply #14 on: April 11, 2015, 08:38:00 PM »
I look forward to hearing more details about the shingle mill in due time. What an interesting collection of items!

-Philip Marshall