Paint Removal

Much progress was made on Montreal Tramways car 2056, or should I say Springfield Street Railway 575 (which is what the car will be repainted as), by Roger Pierson, Matt Januska, and Larry Lunden. They spent time throughout the day yesterday scraping paint off of the car with Roger working on the car the whole day! While they were working on the side of the car, I was able to remove the dash for the lights on the end of the car on the east end. This was added on by Montreal and was not part of the car when the car was run in Springfield, MA. While doing this, I noticed that the base of the center end window was rotted and crumbling, so I removed that as well. Hopefully I can find someone who is skilled in woodworking that has time to remake the end window.

I also spent some time working on removing two of the broken windows in Springfield Terminal Railway car 10. The glass will need to be replaced in the windows and then reinstalled. Larry cleaned out the car from what was left inside it after Rails to the Darkside.

Galen Semprebon spent the afternoon working on cars 1201 and 154. Inside Cleveland car 1201, Galen repainted the floors and the conductors stand. Both were well worn. On the other side of the hall, Galen removed some of the aluminium that was covering the clerestory windows on Fair Haven & Westville car 154 and primed the exterior of the clerestory.

George Contrada, Ted Coppola, Dave Coppola, and Brian Semprebon started to dismantle load the Winterfest layouts into the trailers.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier was busy working on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16. He is currently replacing a section of roof that was rotted above the motorman in the baggage compartment.

John Gasper with some help from other Fire Museum members were able to remove the alternator from the Bucket Truck which will be rebuilt. Next season we should have a fully functional Bucket Truck.

Signal Lights

At the beginning of the week, I had received a call that a pallet of used crossing signal lights were available for the taking. This comes as many railroads are switching to LED crossing signal lights. The catch was that we had to pick them up this week. Last night, Al Goff and I met and loaded them in the back of my pick up. There were three large boxes that we had to consolidate into two boxes (all three would not fit in the bed of my truck). With these signal lights, we will be able to replace some of ours that need replacing and we will also be able to use them for parts to repair them as necessary.

One Comes Off, Another Goes On

Tarps that is. Marilyn Rodriguez was busy Saturday with Brian Semprebon, Dave Coppola, Matt Januska, and Roger Pierson working to get the Dining Car and Philadelphia and Reading Coach covered with tarps.

While she was doing that, I was removing tarps (from the cars that I had been able to get back under the Visitor Center). A lot of clean up was accomplished inside the main hall. Almost all of Winterfest has been broken down. Galen Semprebon has even begun to load the Winterfest Trailers. Car 10 and the Ponemah Mills Locomotive have been moved back into the main hall with help from Marilyn and Will Yungk. Next weekend we hope to be able to get the Bobber Caboose into the Visitor Center which will allow the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose under the train shed.

Across the parking lot, members of the Fire Museum were able to remove the hydraulic cylinders from the Bucket Truck to get them shipped out to be repacked.

I didn't get a chance to see what was going on in the shop. I did catch John Pelletier for a brief moment in the Visitor Center repairing a window for New Orleans Car 836.

Floor Replacement

Work on the floor of the operator's vestibule of Springfield Terminal Railway car 16 has commenced. The floor between the controller and the step has been removed and replaced with new wood. Over the years, the floor has worn paper-thin from the foot traffic through the car. The new tongue-and-groove flooring has been installed and will be painted once the warmer weather in the spring allows. This winter, we hope to assemble a complete set of heaters for the car and wire and install golden glow headlights on the car.

On the other track in the shop, Boston Elevated Railway car 5645 has been jacked and the motors removed. One armature was sent out to an electrical repair shop and repaired. Now that it was returned, a second will be sent out. Meanwhile, inside the car, the floor is being replaced where it has buckled.

Back in the Visitor Center, work is progressing quite quickly in disassembling Winterfest. The G Gauge table is almost completely disassembled. Soon, we will be able to move cars back into the Visitor Center.