Fall Work Weekend 2018

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

I do agree with you Dana , Youngsters are the future of ours railroads in Alna as in Pithiviers where  a few of them have recently joined the association, which has not happened for long. Even the AMTP leadership is young by now and I think it may be the reason of their coming. Young are keen on learning about railroad and strong and they get along very much with the eldest that are happy to know that the efforts they have made to keep the RR alive and kicking  over the past decades, wont go down the drain.

[Ed Lecuyer]

[topic drift]

I'm going to make a radical statement.

Bryce, Dan and others in the teenage crowd are NOT the future face of the WW&F museum, nor of railroad preservation.

...

They are the CURRENT face of the WW&F and of railroad preservation.  Bryce and Dan (and Carlos, and others I haven't worked along side yet) are just as much a part of today's WW&F as Fred, or Zack, or even Jason. They just get the benefit of seeing this project for the next 60-plus years, once us older folk will be long gone and largely forgotten.

While I may be stating the obvious, I think that is what makes the WW&F special. Instead of discouraging new or younger volunteers, we add them into the family and try to guide them as best we can. And that is what bodes so well for the long-term survival of the WW&F. I pray that we never lose sight of that.

[Dana Deering]

I think we're saying the same thing in different ways, Ed. 

Forgotten?  Nah, we'll be in the stories they tell to the young ones they shepherd into the railroad fold, with some embellishment, I suspect.

That said, I'm in no rush to be just a story.  I am looking forward to helping push the rails across the bridge and on to 218.  I also want to add that none of the great strides we were able to make during the FWW would not have been possible without all of the prep work.  Well done, one and all.

[Ed Lecuyer]

I think we're saying the same thing in different ways, Ed.

Yes, of course we are. However, so many other organizations (and the occasional curmudgeon) forget what our youth can offer today. Every time I hear someone bemoan the Millennial generation, and how they just don't care about preservation, I wonder that the core problem of not engaging others (regardless of age or ability) is being missed.

[Bill Reidy]

I completely agree on what's been said regarding our younger volunteers.  It's no accident that at least a couple of these young men are qualified brakemen -- they've well-earned their positions.  There's been a lot to celebrate on the WW&F this year, and our younger volunteers are among the top of the list.

I'm just jealous that I was about 40 when I discovered the WW&F.  They beat me by over 20 years!

[Joe Fox]

I like to think of all of our volunteers as legends. Especially ones who took me under their wing when I was a teenager. Guys like Fred, Dana, Dwight, Bob L, Jason, Bob C and many others will always stick out very strong in my mind. It is this kind of willingness to teach and share knowledge that makes us all have a strong bond with each other.

I am extremely pleased with how amazingly well everything went.

[John McNamara]

Forgotten?  Nah, we'll be in the stories they tell to the young ones they shepherd into the railroad fold, with some embellishment, I suspect.

The "moose calliere" perhaps?

[Mike Fox]

Forgotten?  Nah, we'll be in the stories they tell to the young ones they shepherd into the railroad fold, with some embellishment, I suspect.

The "moose calliere" perhaps?

Champien Moose Calliere

[Ted Miles]

Now that everyone has had time to catch their breath after the fall work weekend; I have a question for somebody. What is the purpose of the black material under the new track? l have not seen it on other parts of the WW&F. Railway.

I assume it stays there permanently? Or just does it rot away in a couple of years?

Ted Miles, an away narrow gauge fan

[Joe Fox]

It is road cloth, which will hopefully help minimize weeds. We have used it in a few areas in the past, and with the clay on the mountain it also helped prevent workers from getting clay stuck on their boots.

[Dwight Winkley]

I have seen Class 1 railroads using Road Cloth in their new construction. The cloth keeps clay/mud from working up into the stone ballast.

[James Patten]

In more than a few places it felt like we were walking on a soft mattress - where the ground underneath was pretty wet and muddy.

[Bob Holmes]

Just so!  It was still hard to avoid the clingling clay where there was no road cloth.