Progress

It is amazing to see the progress that has been continuing at a fantastic rate.  Work has been accomplished in a number of places by a range of volunteers.

In Kelly Barn, Illinois Terminal car 451 received its first coat of paint.  This project has been a long time coming.  On Saturday, the primer coat was finished.  First thing Sunday morning, those helping Kevin Mitchell on his Eagle Scout Project began to apply the green base coat.  By the end of the day, I was told that the whole car should have the green finished.

Up on the hill, almost half of the roof was replaced on The New York New Haven & Hartford coach (also known as the "Dining Car") by John Pelletier.  This has allowed us to remove some of the tarps from the car, thus making it look much more aesthetically pleasing.  Once the roof on the car is completed, we should be able to re-purpose those tarps to replace the failed tarps on Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee car 162.


Under the Train Shed, The Bangor & Aroostook Caboose wood is getting primed.  Most of the wood has already been completed thanks to the hard work of a group of volunteers in the evening.  In addition, a couple of our "Community Service volunteers" have been working on priming the wood as well.  It shouldn't be long before we can start to pull the wood off of the roof.

Inside the Lusa Car Shop, one truck set has been fully tested for the Boston Elevated Railway car 5645.  We have had our resident machinists hard at work manufacturing some of the missing parts for the car (clips, covers, etc).  Next weekend that truck should be pushed under the car and the car lowered back down on it.  Then we can slide the car down the track and do the same with the other end.

For the past couple of weeks, Fair Haven & Westville Railroad car 355 has been sitting over the Maintenance Pit.  Work was completed over the weekend on the brake rigging of car 355.  Bits of the underside of the car had to be "re-engineered" because of a problem where the brake rigging was chafing one of the motor leads.

The Things You Can Learn To Do!

Saturday was a very busy day at the museum.  The shop has become an increasingly busy place, with the addition of a new volunteer, Kelly.  While up in the shop, she was able to learn quite a few new tasks with the help of our shop staff from welding to drilling holes in the motor support bearing covers.  Scott Kritzky brought her into the pit under Fair Haven & Westville car 355 where they were working on the brake rigging on the car.  He was also busy with his project in Boston Elevated Railway car 5645 of removing the seats to replace the flooring under them.

In the machine shop, Brandon Slane spent the better part of the morning machining a new bracket for a gear case cover on 5645.  It is amazing the precision that can be seen in machining new parts.  I, for one, can see what I need and will know what it should look like in the end, but would have no idea how to begin to decide what cuts need to be made to get there with a part so intricate.  I say intricate because I have no idea what to do, but it really isn't much.  That is why machinists are necessary at the museum.

I spent some of the morning packing the motor support bearings with waste for 5645.  When you look at the packing, it looks like you just shove some balls of "thread" into the oil wells for the bearings.  That is not he case at all.  There is a very specific way of doing this so that it will wick the oil properly.  The strands of waste must be dropped down into the well so that the go from the bottom of the well to the top.  They must be in coils in there so that there are no ends that can be "grabbed" by the rotation of the axle.

This is just a sample of what types of work that we do in the shop.  Each weekend it varies.  Stop down some weekend and help out.  You will be sure to learn a lot!

Parts!

Saturday, the parts that we had received as part of the Trolleyville sale finally arrived. The truck pulled into the museum at around 8pm. Luckily, the Fire Museum was able to provide lights to allow us to see what we were doing during the unloading process. Galen Semprebon, George Contrada, Marilyn Rodriguez, Xian Clere, Aaron Mangan, John Pelletier, and I stuck around the museum until after 11pm in order to get the trailer unloaded. This was a sigh of relief because we have been waiting nearly two years for this trailer and were getting ready to travel to Cleveland to pick the parts up.

The rest of the day was quite eventful as well. Marilyn and I were able to shuffle some cars around in front of the shop. Boston Elevated PCC 3100 is now back on the Northern Barn Lead and the Centerville Albia & Southern Box Motor 101 is now in front of Lusa Shop track 2 allowing Fair Haven & Westville car 355 out of the shop. A few members of operations helped out as well, happy to see 355 able to come out of the shop again.

Pat McCann was once again turning down the wheels for New Orleans car 836. He is nearly complete with that task. John was further back in the shop continuing to work on Brooklyn Rapid Transit car 169.

On the front side of the property, Galen was busy doing more Rails to the Darkside setup. We were able to take care of some housekeeping things around the Snack Bar building and Dining Car. Since the Snack Bar is closed, the sign has been taken down. The broken railings and such on the staircase to the dining car have been removed as well.

Tarping Cars

Over the weekend, Marilyn Rodriguez helped me tarp some of our fleet that sits outside. Normally it is like pulling teeth to get help doing such a mundane task. However, Saturday afternoon, we were able to get tarps over Connecticut Company express motor 2023, Chicago Elevated Railway car 4284, and the end of the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. The previous weekend, I was able to tarp Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee car 162, and Chris Perry tarped Boston Elevated Railway car 3100.

Speaking of car 3100, Chris Perry has made quite a bit of progress on the car. Most of the car is sitting in a coat of bright orange paint, its original color. This is just a base coat to get some paint on the car to slow down the rusting and by no means the final coat. Nonetheless, the car is progressing along.

And, the caboose is progressing as well. George Contrada took the final measurements and is ordering the wood for the roof and the sides of the car. We were able to find the right style and width wood at just over a dollar a linear foot.

Galen Semprebon has been leading the setup for Rails to the Darkside. The cars within the Visitor Center have been moved into place and decorating has begun. We have also come up with a new layout for Winterfest. I will keep that under wraps so you will have to come to that event in December to find out.

The shop is still busy as ever with John Pelletier working on both New Orleans Public Service car 836 repairing the seats and doing general maintenance on the car and working on cleaning up and putting final touches on Fair Haven & Westville car 355. Pat McCann continues to turn the wheels for car 836.

Hurricane

With Hurricane Irene slamming Connecticut today, the museum has been closed. Yesterday we took the time to tie down anything that may fly away. The biggest concern is trees that may fall down on buildings or equipment.

Chris Chestnut spent the day turning the wheels on the lathe for New Orleans car 836. They are coming along quite well and we hope to have the car returned to service by the end of September.

In the back of the shop, I began my day pulling the floor up in Brooklyn Rapid Transit car 169. The floor was in such poor shape, most of it pulled up with just my hands. Under one of the seats, I found an interesting switch. It turned out it was actually the heater switch as it said "Consolidated Car Heating Company" on the side of it. Phil Godeck was working on the outside of the car removing paint.

John Pelletier was able to get the air compressor running in Fair Haven & Westville car 355 and the car should be back in service over the next couple of weeks.

During the heavy rain, Galen & Brian Semprebon spent time in the library organizing magazines and removing duplicates. Peg Hoffman now has over 500 books cataloged. The library is coming together.

Later in the day, I got to work some more on the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. I have just about finished stripping the tar-paper off of the roof. George Contrada is working on getting the wood for the side and roof of the caboose.

Signal Problems Repaired

This morning, Xian Clere, Brian Semprebon, and I replaced the insulated joint across from the section house. This insulated joint has been causing some troublesome ghost signals for some time. Now that this insulated joint has been replaced, operations should be happy.

Behind the Visitor Center, a volunteer has been working on building a wall for Rails to the Darkside. The wall is of very simple construction, using shelving units to hold the wall up. Once it is constructed, maybe we can get someone to give it a coat of paint? Any volunteers?

Using our 1890's McCabe lathe powered by a traction motor with a modern tracing attachment and a template, Chris Chestnut and Pat McCann have been able to turn the wheels for New Orleans Car 836 to eliminate the thin flanges. It is a very interesting process. We have completed the first wheel and are now working on the second. A video of the process can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUdsbSysBVo. I do suggest that you turn your speakers down before watching, as the lathe does make a rather ear piercing noise.

Also in the shop, John Pelletier has been working on remounting the air compressor for Fair Haven and Westville Open Car 355. Now, we just need to re-plumb it and the car will be ready to go back into service.

In the back corner of the shop, Brooklyn Rapid Transit Car 169 has been quietly stored. Nothing has been done to the car, so tools, parts, and other things have been stored inside and up against the car. One of our newer shop volunteers, Phil Godeck has started work on the car. He has documented all of the lettering found on the car, and has removed the paint from one side of the car. The siding on the car is cracked and separating in many places so we will need to fix that, then we can begin to paint the car. Once the exterior is done, the interior will be repaired: floor replaced, seats reinstalled; and hopefully the car will be moved down to the Visitor Center. 5 Mile Beach Electric Railway (Wildwood, NJ) Open Car 36 will then most likely be moved up to the shop.

Centerville Albia & Southern Box Motor 101 is now sitting outside the shop. Chris Chestnut is planning to go through that car and get it completely serviced at the end of this year to be ready for next year. And finally, I have received word from Chris Perry; he will be coming down during the week of Labor Day to work on Boston Elevated Railway PCC Car 3100.

Wheel Turning

This past weekend, Chris Chestnut and Pat McCann took turns watching and making adjustments at the lathe. The first of car 836's wheel sets is being turned on the lathe with the first wheel nearly complete. The flange that was paper thin is now being turned down and beginning to form.

Elsewhere in the shop, John Pelletier was busy working on getting the proper hardware to install a new air compressor on car 355. This air compressor appears to be in working order, unlike the last two that once we got them under the car, they would not function properly. The last one that we put together had a high bar.

With the help of George Contrada, I was able to repair the north gate at Winkler Road Crossing after a pick-up truck damaged it on Friday. The gate will be replaced when a new one is assembled.

The rest of the day, I spent sorting through railroad ties: the good, the bad, and the ugly; so that we can get them prepared for main line tie replacement. Once those are sorted out, I need to get the tie inserter running again. Between that and the tie handler, we will have a semblance of a production job.

And, yes it is that time of year again. Galen Semprebon was caught out behind the Visitor Center unloading materials for Rails to the Darkside! In fact, the path is nearly constructed between the mainline and the Visitor Center. I guess that is my hint to begin installing the lighting.

More Car Shifting

Most of the progress during the day on Saturday included shifting of various cars in preparation for the Annual Meeting.

First thing in the morning, Bill Wall and Bill Pollman stopped by the museum with tires and rims for the trolley bus that is scheduled to be shipped down to Baltimore. They have a similar trolley bus, but they need one of ours (we have three) for parts. The one big hurdle in getting the bus shipped is that it had no tires on it.

George Contrada, Galen Semprebon, Ted Coppola, John Cummins, Dave Coppola and I worked to move the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad Caboose under the Train Shed. In order to do this, we needed to pull the caboose down to the Powerhouse Crossing on the Visitor Center lead tracks so that the access track could be shifted over 2 bays. Then the caboose was pulled back up and pushed under the Train Shed.

Xian Clere and Camilo Santiago worked with Northern Tree Service of Palmer, MA to move around 700 relay ties that have been donated to the museum. The ties are now sitting on the back road to the loop.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier was working with another volunteer to service additional cars. They were able to finish working on Fair Haven & Westville Railroad Car 355 and Illinois Terminal PCC 451. Later in the day, Springfield Terminal Car 16 was brought up to the shop and minor repairs were continued on the car.

After operations was finished for the day, Camilo Santiago, Xian Clere, George Contrada, and John Cummins completed a switching operation which included moving the Reading Caboose to the North Road Lay-Up Track and clearing the Northern Barn Lead so that Aurora Elgin & Chicago Interurban 303 can be moved out for the Annual Meeting next weekend.

Morgan von Eisengrein spent the day working diligently in the office with the planning of our new fund raising event for this year, BBQ on the Line. More information on the event will be forthcoming.

Kelly Yard Track Work

Kelly Yard is finally getting the rebuilding that it has needed for a long time. And doing this, we are able to teach some of the younger volunteers how to do track work. On Saturday morning, Camilo Santiago and I got together with Henry Kutash and some of the younger guys - Brian Semprebon, Alex Aberdale, David Coppola, and David Lesniak - to show them how to properly do track work. These guys learned a lot and we were all able to replace 7 switch timbers in the Kelly 1-3 Switch. They got a chance at learning to properly tamp and spike ties as well. They all did remarkably well. We will be attempting to finish the timber replacement next Saturday morning beginning at 9am. All are welcome.

Under the Visitor Center Train Shed, Galen Semprebon led a crew grading the fill to build the track for Connecticut Company Cars 0206 and 1739. Todd Chicoine and his father Paul were busy using the front end loader and bulldozer grading the path for the temporary access tracks.


Up in the Lusa Car Shop, John Pelletier was busy with some new volunteers finishing the servicing of Fair Haven & Westville Railroad 355. The air compressor armature was reinstalled in the car and the car was returned to service. They also cleared the area in front of the lathe. Galen also was able to break free from working under the Train Shed to service Montreal Tramways Observation Car 4. At the end of the day, 355 was released into service and Illinois Terminal PCC 451 was moved to the car shop.

Behind the Visitor Center, John Cummins and Morgan von Eisengrein were working to cut and remove overgrown trees.

With all of the things that were going on Saturday, we still had many volunteers running streetcars in Public Operation. It was great to see so many volunteers, and so many visitors at the museum.

Winkler Road Rebuilding

Yesterday and today, crews have been working to replace the Winkler Road Crossing. When the crossing was first built, ties were used along the inside of the rail in order to create the flange way. Over time, those ties have rotten and the pavement has sagged creating a very bumpy crossing. Half of the crossing was replaced yesterday with new rubber guards and pavement. The other half will be finished by the end of the day today. Thank you to Andy Cotton, Amber Hurrle, and the rest of their crew for helping out with traffic.



John Pelletier was able to find the cause of the air compressor issue on car 355 today. Apparently, the set screw that holds one of the bearings in place had worked itself loose and caused the bearing to spin and jam. Unfortunately, he found this out AFTER removing the air compressor from the car. This problem could have been solved without removing it.

Over 700 Visitors for Rails to the Darkside

Rails to the Darkside was packed Saturday night! We had over 700 visitors. The first run is scheduled to go out at 7:00pm, but by 6:45pm the parking lot was full. Thankfully we had Andy Cotton and his crew in the parking lot. I don't know how they were able to go it by they found parking spaces for just about everyone. They utilized all of the main lot, the volunteer lot, and in the area behind the Fire Museum.

The first car was sent out 15 minutes early. That still left us working until well after 11:30 at night. All of the volunteers at both ends were amazing. George Barreto and Xian Clere both received a crash course in Conducting in the Main Hall. Even most of the kids that are volunteering made it through to the end. Luckily, when the volunteers at the end of the line were done, they helped at in the Main Hall.

The closer we get to Halloween, the better it gets so it should be a very good year.

During the day, John Pelletier took a look at the Type 5. Unfortunately, it appears that a nut came loose on one of the field coil bolts. This allowed the bolt to drop down onto the armature and dig into the armature. This will require the motor to be pulled from the car and an armature will have to be found to replace the damaged one.

Pat McCann spent the day working on car 355's air compressor. A couple of months ago, 355 was pulled from service because the air compressor armature was unraveling. Once the compressor is taken apart, we will able to figure out what the extent of the damage was and repair it.

With the problems that we have begun to have with some of the operating equipment, we really need to get car 836 back in service. In order to do this, we still need to raise the funds to repair or replace the wheels that have thin flanges on them. Please consider making a donation to the New Orleans Public Service Car 836 Fund!

In the Fire Museum, members spent the day rearranging their Main Hall. This was done to get one of the trucks in the rear out and put in the shop. While this was happening, I was able to get a quick look at the Connecticut bus that was just repainted.



Pumpkin Patch did well this weekend too! All day Saturday, the parking lot was filled with cars. This year should be a good year for our Halloween events.

Car Relocations

Yesterday, with the help of Ernie Darrow, Brian Semprebon, and David Coppola, we got ConnCo Open 840 switched out of the car shop and into Woods Barn. We first had to push the Elevated car 4436 all the way to the back. At this point Woods Barn is bursting at the seams. Both tracks of the barn have two cars on them that just allow the doors to close. Car 840 was moved out of the shop for two reasons. First, Fair Haven & Westville open 355 had to be moved into the shop to rebuild the Air Compressor. It is not a good idea to have both Connecticut Open Cars in one building. Second, in the coming weeks, work is going to be done over the dead track of the shop so the car could not sit there.

Out in the parking lot, Todd and Paul Chicoine were hard at work starting and early regrading the upper lot. There was a pile of old telephone poles stacked in the lot that they used to delineate the edges of the parking lot with. Hopefully by next weekend we will have the parking lot opened up all the way to the Northern Barn tracks. Ted Coppola and Pat McCann kept busy cutting down trees that were along the edge of the newly reclaimed parking lot.

Pumpkin Patch was a huge success on both Friday and Saturday. There was little space in the parking lot both days for additional parking. New this year to Pumpkin Patch is a scavenger hunt for the children to do..."Help Ponemah Learn to Run". "Ponemah" is our Ponemah Mills Locomotive built by General Electric. The children need to find the ghosts in the main hall that tell them what the next step is to start a trolley car. When they are done, they can turn it in for a prize. Of course, the favorite part of the event for the children is when they get to go out to the Pumpkin Patch at Airport Station and pick out their pumpkin. We can still use help for Pumpkin Patch for both motormen and people in the Visitor Center. If you would like to help, contact Carol at the museum.











Rails to the Darkside was also a huge success both nights. The West End has once again expanded to include an additional trolley car, and we have many new features. On Friday night, we had 150 riders, and on Saturday night we had over 300 riders. This is much better than last year's first weekend. We have an excellent cast in both the Visitor Center West End and the Newberry Siding East End. We can still use help from cast members, motormen, and people in the parking lot, so if you would like to help out, come by the museum Friday or Saturday nights at around 6pm.