October 2024 work reports

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday, Oct 26:

* Pumpkin trains: Due to fire danger, #9 ran with the Class 2 trains to Top of Mountain and back, followed by the fire train consisting of Railcar 4.  Diesel 52 ran the Class 1 trains to Trout Brook and back.  Trains were full.
* Engine house: Stewart and Bob were cleaning up inside.
* Mechanical: One of the things Brendan brought back on his first trip to Edaville was a spare diesel engine, of the kind that #52 has.  Brendan got it fired up today.  Mike was working on the brakes for the trailer.
* Linda was in the Archives
* Nancy cooked lunch

[Mike Fox]

I also continued trying to organize the southwest lot, making more of it useable again..

[John McNamara]

Work done on Saturday, Oct 26:

* Pumpkin trains: Due to fire danger, #9 ran with the Class 2 trains to Top of Mountain and back, followed by the fire train consisting of Railcar 4.  Diesel 52 ran the Class 1 trains to Trout Brook and back.  Trains were full.

Does this mean passengers could take a steam train to Top of Mountain and change there for a Diesel to Trout Brook?

[Bill Reidy]

Implied (I think) by this posted sheet by the Sheepscot platform, the answer to John's question is yes -- after a visit to the farm or a long (not defined by this sheet) wait for a northbound Diesel at ToM.


The larger, unanswered question is when was the Non-Scenic Diesel Train scheduled to arrive back at Sheepscot?

[Ed Lecuyer]

Does this mean passengers could take a steam train to Top of Mountain and change there for a Diesel to Trout Brook?

Not necessarily, but it did happen. The general operation was to bring passengers to ToM to change there for the wagons to SeaLyon Farm. The schedule that Bill posted gave the options for the return from the farm. The choices today were to take the steam train (running the "Class 2 Schedule" directly back to Sheepscot, or the diesel train (running the "Class 1 Schedule" to Trout Brook first, then returning to Sheepscot. (All SLF passengers changed on Northbound trips.)

There were a few outlying cases where passengers did not want to go to the farm, but wanted either just the train ride to Trout Brook, or the steam train for the historic experience. And one group actually ended up riding the railcar to ToM and returned on the steam train.

[Joshua Zukerman]

The star party at Alna Center on Saturday night was well attended and an enjoyable experience for us astronomers. Lots of inquisitive passengers. Weather was good, wind died down a bit right as it got dark out. I think we had 6 telescopes and one binocular station setup. I missed looking at the comet but I heard lots of oohs and aaahs most of the night.