July 2021 Work Reports

[Bill Reidy]

I was told Saturday we might only have two yellow flags.  I believe two were in use around Mike's work zone by Albee's field.

[Mike the Choochoo Nix]

Wouldn't blue flags be the most appropriate anyway? The car should not be moved until the ice cream serving is done and the power cord is disconnected right?
M.Nix

[Stephen Lennox]

My thought in regards to the Caboose is: A notice is put on the notice board, the Blue Flags are put out when employees/volunteers are working around, on and under a piece of equipment and or place the Alna Center runaround track out of service.

[Stephen Lennox]

Anticipated work for Tuesday and Wednesday 6-7 July 2021.

*  Crib installation begins at location #8.
*  Coach #3, wheel set to be changed out.
*  Coach #9 assembly continues  (pending)
*  Engine house work continues.
*  Trout Brook Station Turn Table (former B&SR TT), center pivot base concrete forms to be built.
*  Clean up Sheepscot Campus and Alna Center following operations.

Note:  Any volunteers working with Crib construction, bring a lunch with you as the lunch
           break will be taken on site. Expected train departure 0930.


                                      Rules and Standards of Operations

XXI.   Basic Operating Procedures (Rules 160-172)

165.  Procedure for Initiating Movement

         a.  Preparation for Movement.
              Prior to initiating a movement, the Employee responsible for initiating
              Movement shall:

i.   Check the rail is clear of trigs, skates, hanging equipment or anything else that
     may impede movement.
ii.  Ensure personal safety by checking the sides and rear of the train or equipment for any
     person(s) within an unsafe proximity.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Many railroads have a camp car signal which provides equivalent protection as a blue flag.  At present we do not have such a signal.

Our service connection signal is intended to alert a crew to unplug an extension cord and/or look for any other tethers which an be readily identified if one knows to look.  Our blue signal prevents any railroad equipment from encroaching within 3 car lengths of a blue signal in order to protect life and limb.  Therefore, all in all, a blue signal was probably a better choice for the ice cream caboose than the service connection signal while people were present.  Because a blue signal is under the control of the person placing it, a service connection signal should have been displayed when the freezer in the car was plugged in and subsequently left unattended. 

Strictly speaking a blue signal is for workers on or around equipment.  The ice cream event was not that- it was much more in line with the camp car signal.  A camp car signal is less restrictive on who can remove it.  Since we don't have that- we're left with a blue signal. 

We do have a shortage yellow flags- our Ops Clerk Ben Richards knows it and is on it.

Thanks all,
Jason

[Benjamin Richards]

I had to go back and reread the rulebook about the service connection a few times. I had originally thought it indicated a connection from one car to another car, like maybe something the conductor needed to know when uncoupling.  But then I remembered the most common usage for us, which is 52's engine block heater.

I agree the blue flag was probably the safest choice when ice cream was actually being served.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Only for the record. Outhere generally speaking  in such a situation a red flag or marker is displayed at each end of the standing car meaning don't couple or move, people at work on or around it. Plus the switches of the siding are padlocked to avoid being thrown in reverse.

[Mike Fox]

Done at Albees for now..



Seeded with what seed I had left.







I got 1015 out today..

[Bob Holmes]

Mike, I hope Tom is happy with this as well.  Great job!

[Bob Holmes]

If someone can donate a whole bunch of sturdy yellow fabric, we can make more flags pretty easily...

Same for other flag colors, they wear out pretty quickly in use...

[Bill Reidy]

Thanks Mike.

[Benjamin Richards]

So I actually have a little flag experiment going on... I made two pairs of new red flags over the winter. They went in service at the same time, in April. One set is the traditional duck canvas. The other is made from an outdoor synthetic, polypropylene I think it is. I'm interested to see about fade resistance, ease of laundering, and general durability. The synthetic material was significantly more expensive, but if it performs better, then I would consider using it for the decreased maintenance burden.

Half a yard of fabric will make two or three 18x20 flags depending on the width of the bolt. But what we really need are flag poles. If anyone knows who made those real nice split ones that are varnished and laser engraved, I would like their number 

[Brendan Barry]

Ballast crib being installed at location 8 today.

[Bob Holmes]

A good simple project would be to make several dozen flag poles...is there a template on how best to do that?

[Graham Buxton]

It looks to me as though the anchors for the tieback cable for the ballast crib at Location 8 are pieces of rail pounded!!! into the ground.   I have pounded in quite a few Tee-posts (fence posts), but  I imagine the effort to pound in a rail section is considerably more work than a Tee post.     I suspect somebody got a workout doing that.