Mountain Extension - Official Work Thread

[James Patten]

For those of you who are interested in the gory minutae that it takes to build a railroad, the latest Alna Planning Board submission can be found at http://wwfry.org/?page_id=2033.  It's a few minutes of excitement wrapped up in some boring technical bureaucratese.  This PDF also includes the traffic study, if graphs and numbers really get you excited.

Note that this covers both activities at Sheepscot and for the Mountain, but since I announced the acceptance of the plan on this thread I thought I'd give you the link here.  This is what the townsfolks will be downloading if they go online.

At least it's not as large as the Lynton & Barnstable application.

[Bill Baskerville]

For those of you who are interested in the gory minutae that it takes to build a railroad, the latest Alna Planning Board submission can be found at http://wwfry.org/?page_id=2033.

I took the time to read the Alna Planning Board submission and, though it is lengthy, and sometimes repetitive, I recommend reading it as there are at least three takeaways:

The submission is a good summary blueprint of where we are now and where we are going over the next 4 to 5 years.

Even though much of the verbiage was taken from other places, those who created this submission spent a tremendous amount of time creating the necessary paperwork to get the Alna folks on our side and keep them there.  The Alna town folks support is critically necessary for our continued operation and expansion.

It represents another fine example of what goes on behind the scenes to keep our operations going on a day to day basis and moving forward toward our future goals.

[James Patten]

I started working on this May last year.  I attended the June planning board meeting to get an idea of they wanted.  I missed the July meeting because I was hiking Mt. Katahdin.  I got more input at the August meeting.  I missed the September meeting because I wasn't ready, then at the October meeting they were generally happy with it, but they wanted to wait until the Traffic Study results were in.  Those didn't come in until after the January meeting, so Jason was kind enough to go before them at the February meeting.  This brought the final wave of feedback, which made it into the application for the March meeting.  Then its getting the notification letter written and mailed out to nearby landowners.

Alongside this was the application for the shoreland zone, which allows us to build the bridge and work at the "pinch point".  And after this is done, we'll probably have to do another shoreland zone application for the Head Tide Trail work that needs to happen (tree work mainly, I think).

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

I'll second to Bill. The exhibits maps and Earth photos are very interesting and the whole submission as well. I'll read it little by little. You've done a helluva work. Bravo !

[John McNamara]

I want to join the chorus of praise for the Alna submission. It represents a tremendous amount of work and is very .very well done.

[Gordon Cook]

I, too, would like to extend my appreciation to those volunteers who put their energy and time into assuring our ability to legally and responsibly march northward.
As someone who doesn't enjoy filling out forms or similar exercises, it is all the more impressive to me. I would much rather be pounding spikes all day or standing over a lathe for hours than trying to divine what the acceptable answer to the obscure question might be.
This effort also required the savvy to anticipate and navigate the political process involved in keeping all the interested parties satisfied.
Congratulations and thank you.

[John Scott]

Yes, a most impressive and informative document. Thank you for preparing it and for pointing us all towards it.

[Bob Holmes]

James and crew:  an impressive performance!  Thanks.

Having read it through, it gave me a much better appreciation for what we want to achieve and when over the next five years, and how we are going to get there.  Knowing all this, I feel I am in a better place as a volunteer to be both supportive and realistic.

I would would urge anyone who cares deeply about the WW&F to take the hour or so to read the Alna application.  You will learn a whole lot and you will not be disappointed...

Bob

[Steve Smith]

An amazing compilation of detailed information, the result of what surely is a staggering amount of work. Congratulations!

[Wayne Laepple]

Having written a number of similar plans during my railroad career, then later on sitting through the hearings on such plans, I can attest to the quality of this one. I just wish many of those I heard were so well done! Great work, guys.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

James
At the very beginning of the site plan submission in the part called Where the WW&F is today you've written "We have a volunteer and/or paid contractual project management presence on site most days....." Please could you tell me what it is I've trouble translating it into French.

[James Patten]

Alain, what that means is that generally there's somebody working at the Museum every day of the week.  During the week, we pay some one on a contract basis, this person provides volunteer and project management during the week.  Weekends it's strictly volunteer.  During the warmer months there's usually someone, paid or not, every day.  Winter months less so.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Understood thank you James. I'd like to say how much I appreciate the way the association and its leadership keep the members posted about what is going on . Moreover this forum   allows everybody to express their takes on the future of the association in every field,which has things come on in a very positive way . I think it's  really democratic. Too bad very few RR associations have such a forum out here.

[Mike Fox]

I am very pleased to announce the we received the permit today for the work on section 3. This includes the retaining wall, 2 cross culverts, ditches and other incidental work..

[Ed Lecuyer]

Wahooo!!!