September 2020 Work Reports

[Mike Fox]

It has been very busy off site in the temporary membership office, hoping to move into the new office in a week or so. There were 104 donations entered for last week, down from 141 the week before. All of last weeks Thank Yous went out by Saturday, and about half of the 104 this week have been sent Thank Yous already. That should get finished tonight. The Fund drive is doing extremely well, but will not say how well. We have some very generous donors, even in these tough times. I have logged 12 hours of membership time in the last 2 weeks processing the donations and renewing memberships, up from about 2 hours a week. That is after my 55 hour a week job, and trying to be ready to move the office and sleeping quarters of ROWMOW Mfg. to the new building..

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Backstage work the one that hardly anybody is fully aware of it just, because you can't easily picture  it, let alone take photos of it and post them on fb. Even so, without all those tedious, dull, boring unrewarding tasks you would never have completed all you had planned to do over those last thirty years and worked a few miracles at that.  I do wonder if some of you go to bed ever and again. Congrats to the WW&F underground workers on their too much unsung work.

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday Sept 26:

Not a lot of volunteers today that weren't otherwise involved with train service.  It was good to see Bill Reidy, now that Mass. residents are allowed into Maine.  Bill was busy changing the signs in the morning.  In the afternoon Jason had us put up survey stakes for extending the Woods track into the parking lot.

Trains sold out today.

[Bill Reidy]

A few photos from yesterday, Saturday, September 26th:

A string of boxcars on the Shop Bay 2 track.


Hostler James Patten prepares No. 9 for the day's services.


No. 9's tank is filled at the water tank.


The day's passenger train consist:  flatcat No. 118, open car No. 130, coach No. 8 and caboose No. 320.


The list of the day's activities for our guests.


Our bouncer.  President Dave Buczkowski greeted and checked in our visitors, verifying all were wearing masks.


Young families wait to check in before train time.


A socially-distanced full train is about ready to depart Sheepscot.


The 3 p.m. train departs Sheepscot.


A peak inside the car barn extension, with parlor car Rangeley on barn track 2 and B&H No. 7 on barn track 1.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Nice photos, Bill. Thanks.

Jeff S.

[James Patten]

Looks like next Saturday's trains are nearly sold out as well.

[Stephen Lennox]

Anticipated work Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 September 2020.

Note:  Pending on which weather broadcast you watch, it appears we
           are in for rain, heavy at times. Though needed, this may change
           work planning.

Tuesday:

*  Continuing prep for the Trout Brook switch.
*  Prep for ballast cribbing
*  Campus clean up and Trash run
*  Small engine repair (pending)
*  Electric building (pending)

Wednesday:

*  Installing cribbing between mile post #7 and ToM.
*  Coach #9 assembly
*  Ground maintenance
*  Mowing Alna Center (pending)
*  Locomotive #9 vacuum brake stand

[Stephen Lennox]

Work completed Tuesday and Wednesday 29-30, 2020.

Tuesday:

*  Switching!  Switching was completed to include moving the Brookville
    and Rail car into bay #3 of the machine shop. Jay Barta will be looking into repairs.
    This also makes the Rail car more accessible for operations ( engine pending). Coach #8 and
    Caboose 320 move into Bay #3 of the car barn. These cars to be used for regular fall ops..
*  The stationary steam engine was moved outside temporarily, new skids are needed and
    a better plan for storage is being worked on, track space for operations is needed.
*  Preparation started for the cribbing to be used on the low areas of main line just south of ToM.
    Work is expected to be done next week.
*  Archives and gift shop work continues.
*  Campus clean up and dump run.

Wednesday:

*  The recent storm hampered work but…..
*  Coach #9 assembly continued and then got slowed down to loss of power.
*  Work continued on Locomotive #9 vacuum brake stand.
*  Clean up of car barn continued, wood and debris staged for removal.
*  Flat #34 switch parts and pieces unloaded #34 re-staged.
*  Tank car moved and staged in front of water tank. The present plan is to fill and stage
    the Tank car at the ToM to support weekend steam operations.

Notes: 

*  Operations are looking for additional support, brakeman, conductors and trainmen.
    It’s one of the few places where there is no lines…. Sign up.
*  Join the Museum clean up, help by picking up used bottles, wood paper and trash.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Great report, thanks Steve.

Steve’s last line is very polite.  I’d like to reinforce the message, asking all our volunteers to be cognizant of tidiness around the campus, especially in areas of high public visibility and common volunteer work areas.  Leave your work areas tidy, tools clean and put away.  If you see trash, please pick it up.  If you need a piece of wood from a pile, don’t just knock over the entire pile, grab what you need, and leave a mess.  If we all work together on this we’ll have a campus we can remain proud to show off, and efficient work spaces.  Plainly the area west of the garage is in need of a major overhaul; we’re really getting at the areas around the shop and car barn- in other words let’s at least keep up with the neatness we’ve already achieved in some areas.

We’re all pulling in the same direction, and I know we all have activities to focus on- sometimes time dependent (like the passenger train).  So feel free to place this comment at the appropriate level of priority based on the circumstance- but it’s probably worth all of us encouraging each other to take care of ourselves, including our physical plant.

Thanks Steve, and thanks crew,
Jason

[Ed Lecuyer]

Operations are looking for additional support, brakeman, conductors and trainmen. It’s one of the few places where there is no lines…. Sign up

Please allow me to qualify this slightly.

We definitely need extra hands in operations, but training requirements still apply. For someone completely new, and interested in train operations, we can have you as support crew on the ground at Sheepscot, or on train as an extra set of eyeballs to help us safely monitor passengers. Anything beyond that (including Trainman and Car Host positions) require a meeting with the Training Officer, Bob Longo, before taking on those responsibilities. Brakemen must accumulate 150 hours of volunteer time before they can be certified, then advance through the program to Conductor, Engineer, etc.

With sold out trains every Saturday in October, now is a great time to start in the ground floor.

Please feel free to reach out to me (ed.lecuyer@wwfry.org) or Bob Longo (training.officer@wwfry.org) with questions on how to get started.

[Mike Fox]

I especially like Steves reminder. It is something I have been trying to do sine I took on Superintendant of Grounds. But a lot of work was happening while I was not there so it was out of my control. Now Alan has put a lot of effort to clean up everything I had initially showed concern with. The parking lot looks great. We need to move a couple of boilers to get them out of the way so some fill can be brought in for our long term storage area. A place to give everything we can't part with a home.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Speaking of cleaning up, our cleaning crew came back in September to tend the restroom building and house for the rest of the season.  The restrooms look nice but we were told that one stall in the ladies side had no paper and another had just a bit of one roll left.  Not sure who at Sheepscot monitors/sanitizes the restrooms on Saturdays but we need to be sure there are paper products for visitors. 

[Bill Baskerville]

When I am there (before Covid) if I was the one who unlocked the restrooms in the morning I would always check to see if the supplies were adequate for the expected day.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The restrooms are ready on Saturday morning since the trash crew replenishes all the paper products on Tuesday.  The T.P. probably ran out in the afternoon or evening.