December 2016 Work Planning

[Ed Lecuyer]

IIRC, the south Alna switch can be a bit tight even on a beautiful day.

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for Saturday December 24:

* Boxcar 67
* Tree cutting at TOM
* Inventorying store merchandise

[Mike Fox]

Half day for me. Thought about getting the seats off of 126.

[Fred Morse]

I think most people will only want to work half a day. We could clear all the switches and road crossings as it's supposed to be warmer all week. We have to keep the track clear for the special trains in Jan.

[Dwight Winkley]

also one charter in Feb.

[Ken Fleming]

It's time to order a bundle switch brooms and station them at mainline switches.  Also stick a couple onboard train.  Easy to find do a internet search for them.

[Bill Baskerville]

Best I found was $24.95 each, $249.95 for a dozen (saves ~ $50).  http://firesafetyusa.com/item.aspx/track-switch-broom-with-chisel/

Figure one each at Alna, the section house, the track house, Sheepscot, Coach 8 or 3, each caboose, 10 and 52 and TOM and you have positioned 10 with two spares.

A piece of PVC Pipe secured to a structure or loco provides a convenient storage location.

Bill

[Wayne Laepple]

Buy a box, put it in the tool house. Put a couple of brooms on each engine, maybe a couple in the caboose. They surely aren't going out on the track with an engine. If you have a situation like last Saturday, issue a couple of brooms to extra guys to keep the switches clear. If you place brooms at the switches, someone will forget where they belong and they will be buried in the snow until spring!

[Keith Taylor]

And you can use a switch broom to carry a knuckle.
Put the broom through the hole in the knuckle and then two people can easily carry one back to where a broken one has parted a train.
I have carried a few that way, but many years ago.

Keith

[Joe Fox]

Luckily knuckles don't break on our railroad. And if they ever do, someone did something seriously wrong. With our railroad it makes the most sense to keep a broom or two on each train, Alna Center, tool house, and maybe one in the shop.

Even the freight railroads here keep switch brooms limited. No one has the money to supply each car, switch, or engine with a broom. That doesn't make financial sense. But what does make sense is if plowing or snowing, make sure to get the tools needed.

[Benjamin Campbell]

Maine Central RR used to keep them at many switches on a simple stand. A tall stake driven in the ground with two small boards nailed opposite each other and sloping slightly toward the stake. The broom hung bristles up - always at the ready - no need to lug them around. You'd think they would have 'walked away' by the hundreds but whatever losses were incurred were deemed worth the convenience by management.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Someone (Dwight?) bought us a box years ago.  We still have more than a half dozen from that.  They usually stay with 52 as it's usually on all snow duty efforts. 

Remember if we decide to station them, any permenant fixtures need to look in keeping with the era we represent, so pvc stands may not fit too well. 

See ya
Jason

[Carl G. Soderstrom]

Use Black ABS cut in narrow strip to resemble leather.

Better yet get a green maple sapling and bend in a hoop
Grape vine would even better this time of year.
Fastened to post

[Brendan Barry]

Jason and crew have been working on adding a flanger to 52's snow plow.

[Bill Baskerville]

Do I remember correctly reading in an earlier post that the bottom of the flanger was at rail head height? 

Perhaps our RowMow crew could find a used tractor rear scraper blade lift assembly to mount behind 52 to provide a real flanger that could be lifted for the switches.

Of course what we don't need is another project.