October 2023 Work Reports

[Dave Buczkowski]

Not all the work done is sexy, but every effort is necessary and very appreciated. Stewart does this job week in and week out without seeking any glory. Many thanks Stewart!
Dave

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for Saturday, Oct 14:

* Grounds work building pathways
* Engine house
* Boxcar 56 (?)
* Pumpkin trains
* Board meeting 4 PM

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday Oct 14:

* Pathways: Mike constructed a small chunk of path and put some drainage under it.
* Boxcar 56: Marcel was building the end roofwalk platforms.
* Pumpkin trains: super popular, most trains were sold out or nearly so.
* Board meeting: got delayed until about 5:00 because of lack of quorum.

[Mike Fox]

[Stephen Piwowarski]

Hi All,

I went into today knowing we were going to have a busy day thanks to our Fareharbor booking reports. At the end of the day, I totaled up our Fareharbor ticket sales for the day- 453 ticket sales spread over 7 trains. This does include some caboose charters, which means the actual passenger count is likely slightly higher. Aside from the 3PM train, all were sold out. To help put this number into perspective, according to the October Treasurer's Report we have carried 4,575 riders during January-September. Today we carried 10% of our YTD ridership in a single day- safely and, by nearly all passenger accounts, happily. This also represents an increase of more than 100 passengers in comparison to the same Saturday last year.

I am beyond thankful and grateful every person who has contributed on the railroad to help make this possible- in every department and area of work. The special contributions and talents that each volunteer brings to the table make the WW&F a special and memorable place for our visitors and for all of us.

With gratitude,
Steve Piwowarski

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Anticipated Work
Week of October 16, 2023

Monday:
Track work planning.

Tuesday:
Track lift at “location 9” on the Mountain.  S. Lennox
J&S truck: preparation for coach 3 install.  Jerry and Jason.
Coach 9 work likely.  Eric and Co.
Machining work for no 11 likely: Harold.

Wednesday.
Two back to back school charters, steam.  HELP NEEDED for handcar rides, tours, etc.  please let us know if you can help.  JB is the man for this one. 
Coach 3 truck swap: Jerry, Carlos, Jason  POSTPONED due to limited crew availability for school charters.
Coach 9 work likely.
Machine shop work likely.

Enginehouse door work is possible anytime depending on that crew’s availability.

Note we need more crew for next Saturday’s Pumpkin Trains.  In addition to open slots for the class 2 train, we also need either a gatekeeper or a dispatcher as we’ve recently decided we need to separate those tasks. 

Thanks
Jason

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for Saturday Oct 21:

* Engine house
* Grounds/path construction
* Boxcar 56 (if there's anything left to do)
* Machine shop/Loco 11
* Public trains to AC

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Accomplishments Week of Oct 16, 2023

Steve Lennox and crew successfully lifted a surface concern on the Mountain- much better!

Eric and crew continued with priming and sanding.  They bid farewell to Lou for the winter season (he promised to come back if we get more cookies)

Jerry and Jason made final preparations to install the J&S trucks.

Wednesday saw an all out effort to host two large school groups, offering tours, hand car rides and two steam trips to Trout Brook Station.

Roger, Bob L and Jason performed maintenance on Loco 9.

Brendan worked on enginehouse door hinges.

Harold machined No 11 components.

While routinely held- I’ll point out that Build11 regularly holds planning meetings by Zoom.  This weeks session welcomed Quentin and Noah to the planning session for next week’s work session.

I apologize if I missed anyone.

Thanks
Jason

[Benjamin Richards]

Paul Baresel and myself finished repairing RC4 with a new intake manifold and gasket set. It is now back in service.

I put a new set of red flags in service and conducted a general flag roundup - flag disappearances have reduced to a minimum, so there should be enough to get us through the remainder of October ops, after which I can launder some of the dirtier flag panels.

I put out the volunteer sign-in kiosk for folks to try. Please give it a go, and send me any feedback. I've already received some helpful feedback on this latest attempt. 2023 will be the final year for the paper logbook.

[Tom Casper]

I just want to reach out and say thanks for the posts on what was done.  i enjoy reading them with my morning coffee.

Tom C.

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday Oct 21:

* Walkway: Mike, Cody and I worked on constructing the remainder of the path from the middle of the Percival lawn to the parking lot.  Looks really nice!
* Boxcar 56: Marcel was doing some paintwork as well as grab iron work.
* Percival house: Zack installed a toilet in the "master" bath (the one facing the road).
* Public trains: the rain generally held off for pumpkin trains to Alna Center, where SeaLyon and two other venders were positioned.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Anticipated Work
Week of October 23, 2023

(Monday: Brendan worked on hinges and prepared for door mounting; Bob, Josh and I unloaded the first part of an antique jib crane; Bob and Jason met re: No 10; Roger worked on No 9 hot standby and I worked on design for a replacement No 9 nozzle.)

Tuesday:
Dan: switching.
Eric and co: coach 9
Jerry, Carlos, Jason: swap coach 3 trucks
General: Loco 7 will be prepared for transport.  Enginehouse door work to continue.

Wednesday:
Loco 7 departs.
Coach 9 work expected to continue.
Enginehouse work expected to continue.
Build11 begins a new session, focusing on cylinder attachment, frame cross ties, and rear truck.

Thursday:
Build11
Enginehouse
No 9 nozzle design

Friday:
Build11
Enginehouse possible

Feel free to post anything I forgot

Thanks
Jason

[Benjamin Richards]

Tues:

The railcar was winterized (drained water; re-filled with 50/50 green antifreeze).
The flangeways of Jayne's Way crossing were widened slightly. This was most noticeable in the railcar due to its lower mass, but it was evident that all the equipment has been beating the edges of the planks.

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for Sat-Sun Oct 28-29:

* Saturday there's a charter photo train.
* Sunday is the last pumpkin trains of the year.
* Engine house doors and other work
* Boxcar 56
* Grounds work

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday October 28:

* Engine house: Brendan attached the hinge brackets to the east door, then hung the door, and put up trim.  Stewart put up some outside trim, added some shingles to the northeast wall, and did some touch up paint.
* Boxcar 56: Marcel was working on it.
* Charter train: There was a low key photo charter today.