January 2025 work reports

[Stephen Piwowarski]

Storage of the vast number of things we’ve accumulated over the years to support activities at Alna Center- patio heaters, games, Christmas decorations, extra seating, etc.

Currently these are temporarily stored in Alna Center - which is nearly full!

Best,
Steve

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Line clearing and Inspection
Tuesday January 21, 2025

Hi folks,

Asking for any and all help to clear the line tomorrow.  We’ll clear the yard in the morning mostly with the blower, take lunch then head north around noon.  Please let us know here or privately if you can make it to help.

Thanks
Jason

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Thank you to Dan and Bryce for singlehandedly clearing the railroad today.  Dan blew out all the switches in the AM; after lunch he and Bryce went north to clear the railhead, flange, clear crossings and blow out the ToM switches.  Now the sun can attempt to work some magic in the sub-zero temps this week.

Thanks guys,
Jason

[Gordon Cook]

Another Thank You to Dan and Bryce !!

[James Patten]

Anticipated work for the weekend of Jan 25-26:

* There's a tiny little train show that's on in West Springfield, MA this weekend.  Most of the WW&F will be there.
* Meanwhile back at the ranch, those of us that are left will be working on the engine house, archives, and grounds.

[Mike Fox]

This is the last Saturday before trains start running for Steam and Sleighs, so I would like to attempt to finish trimming between ML&M and the trestle.

[James Patten]

Work done on Saturday Jan 25 at the WW&F:

* Limbing - Mike and I continued trimming limbs off trees between Humason Trestle and Sheepscot Mills.
* Loco 9 - Roger and Bob were going to punch tubes
* Organizing - Joe L continues to organize the annex.
* Archives - Linda was working on them.
* Lunch - Nancy made lunch.

[Mike Fox]

Lunch time..we had removed several protruding limbs from the West side and were working our way south on the East side..



West side from Phantom Crossing



And when we stopped for the day, we had made it just south of where the brook is alongside the tracks.

[Bill Reidy]

Some photos from the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show this weekend held in West Springfield, MA -- The largest railroad hobby show in the country.

Like last year, our space filled section 76 in the Young building, just inside the main entrance.  Steve Piwowarski again organized our six table space.  The front table by the entrance featured the locomotive 10 restoration work, as seen in this Friday afternoon photo with Dan Malkowski, Nick Simoneau and Bryce Weeks.


Going clockwise, the corner closest to the entrance provided membership information.


The table to the left featured coach No. 9.


The rear three tables featured sales items for our gift shop and to benefit our archives.  I think president Dave Buczkowski is pleased.


The sixth table was the Build 11 exhibit.


And in the corner between the sixth and first tables, Dom Nesta set up a working exhibit that demonstrated our Eames vacuum brake system under development.


Saturday was too busy to take many photos, but here's one at the end of the day with a portion of the show crew.  Standing:  Philip Marshall; Cindy Rhine; Bryce Weeks; Steve Piwowarski and Nick Anderson.  Kneeling: Marcel Levesque; Susan Hackett; Dan Malkowski and Dom Nesta.


A few Sunday (today) photos.  Daniel Moreau (right) answers questions about coach 9.


Rick Sisson and Gordon Cook share progress on locomotive No. 11.


Dom presents details on the Eames vacuum brake system work.


And a couple of crew photos during cleanup at the end day after the show closed at 4 p.m.




I understand this year's show attendance was north of 27,000 -- a new show record.  Thank you, Amherst Railway Society!

[Dave Buczkowski]

Thanks to all who helped at the show and preparing for it. It was a really impressive display. It seems fun was had by all.
Dave

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

A bit more on the ARS show -

We had sixteen members helping with the project display tables as well as the sales tables, (many worked for weeks prior to the show).  Volunteers included: Bryce, Dan, Daniel, Dom, Nick A, Nick S, Cindy, Susan, Bill, Stewart, Marcel, Collin, Dave, Steve, Philip and Gordon.  Store sales were operated by Cindy and Susan, with new engine 10 shirts and locomotive 11 mugs being good sellers. Unique this year was the sale of donated brass model locomotives (and a few cars) along with antique railroad lanterns, both to benefit the Archives.  The model sales were conducted by Marcel and the lanterns handled by Stewart.  New merch along with the models and lanterns helped our team set a new record of $6,650.     

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Railroad Clearing and Inspection
Monday February 3, 2025

Folks there’s a relatively minor weather event forecast for Sunday evening into Monday that they’re saying will bring 2-3” snow to Alna.  However a few contributing factors are causing us to schedule a line clearing and inspection operation next Monday, February 3, 2025.

Unfortunately I will be out of town and cannot help, but I am grateful that Dan has agreed to come in on that unusual weekday to lead the effort.  We would GREATLY appreciate getting Dan some help- he can’t do this alone.  Please let us know here or directly.

2-3” isn’t much however it’s on top an existing 2-3”, meaning the railroad will need to be flanged.  Monday’s forecast temperatures are in the 40s, making this fairly trivial, however following that temps drop into single digits for the rest of the week- which would make a deferred clearing operation somewhere between miserable and impossible.

As an additional heads up Dan will also need to run an clearing and inspection operation prior to Saturday’s public trains- he says either Friday or Saturday AM.  When you see Dan please smile and thank him for taking care of the railroad.

Thanks- let us know if you can help!

Jason