Opening Next Weekend!

A lot was accomplished in the Visitor Center, most of it relating to painting and displays.

George Contrada worked on replacing broken windows in the New York Ontario & Western Caboose. Galen Semprebon meanwhile put up boards to prevent patrons from climbing up the ladders on the caboose.

In front of the caboose, the Ponemah Locomotive received some much needed paint on the interior and the trucks. Brendan Slane worked on finishing the painting of the interior floor and wire brushed & painted the trucks of the locomotive.

Fair Haven & Westville car 154 looks like a totally different car. The entire car has been painted with the exception of the lower area on one side where we need to preserve the original "CONNECTICUT" lettering. The trim has been painted as well. Galen took on this project and his son Brian assisted in some of the painting.

I have nearly finished the platforms to get into car 10 and the caboose. I will have to come in some night this week to finish them totally as we open on Friday.

On the other side of the parking lot, the Fire Museum is also almost ready to open. The fire trucks have been re-arraigned in the main hall and the lobby has been changed around. Gone is the old gift shop counter and display cabinet. The floor still needs to be cleaned better, but the fire sleigh is now located inside the lobby of the Fire Museum.

New Exhibits

A lot has been accomplished during the off season! Inside the Visitor Center, work has been accomplished on the Ponemah locomotive, car 10, car 2056, and car 154.

Roger Pierson, Matt Januska, and Larry Lunden were able to do some paint scraping on Montreal Tramways 2056 which will be restored to Springfield Street Railway 575. This will be an ongoing restoration during the operating season.

Painting of the interior of the Ponemah Mills locomotive 1386 and Springfield Electric Railway car 10 has been accomplished using community service volunteers.

Galen Semprebon has been working on painting the trim work on Fair Haven and Westville car 154.

Tim Lesniak and Brian Semprebon have been working on building viewing platforms for car 10, the Ponemah locomotive, and the bobber caboose.

Roger, Larry, and Matt also took on the project of locating replacement parts for the vandalized cars.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier is busy buttoning up the work on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16.

Behind the scenes, Carol Zenczak is hard at work planning the Wine and Beer Tasting; Morgan vonEisengrein with the BBQ on the Line; and Marilyn Rodriguez is working on the planning of the Isle of Safety restoration.

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.

Back on Four

Montreal Tramways 2600 is running back on four motors thanks to Galen Semprebon, John Pelletier, and others in the shop. The car was returned to service in time for operations training Saturday. First thing Saturday morning, New Orleans Public Service 836 was pulled out of Woods Car Barn and transferred to the shop so that work could start on the wheels of the car. Rio de Janeiro car 1850 was transferred to Woods Car Barn so that there would be room for car 2600 in Kelly Car Barn.

The Operations Department had their training session on Saturday. They were accompanied by Flat Stanley during their training. Flat Stanley is a paper cutout of a person who is mailed around by elementary school students to visit and learn about different places within the state.

In the afternoon, Bill Babbitt helped me with moving Fair Haven & Westville car 154 into the Visitor Center. Bill went back home to pick up his air hammer to knock out the rust in the brake system which was binding the wheels. John Cummins ran home to get his come along because the one that we were using broke. In addition, John Pelletier, Galen Semprebon, Brian Semprebon, David Lesniak, Bill Heim, George Contrada, Camilo Santiago, Matt Januska, and others helped move the car into the Visitor Center.

Visitor Center Clean Up

Saturday was a busy day in the Visitor Center. Many volunteers banded together to take the Winterfest decorations down. The village inside Wildwood Open Car 36 was taken down and boxed up. The decorations inside the window displays and on the cars were disassembled; trees were taken down. George Morris, Sheila Numrych, Paul & Duanne Gallo, Matt Januska, Carol Zenczak, Brian Semprebon and others helped in the Visitor Center.

The major accomplishment was the dis-assembly of the G Gauge table and moving of the Northern far enough into the Visitor Center for Fair Haven & Westville 154 to enter the Visitor Center. This would allow Connecticut Company 771 (Consolidated Railway 189) to be moved back under the Train Shed. Will Yungk helped me with this project. We moved the Northern with a "car-walker" (see picture to right). When we went to move car 154, we used a come-along with a chain attached to a truck on the Northern as an anchor. The axles on car 154 do not turn very well, which makes it difficult to move. Unfortunately, as we began to move 154, the come-along handle broke and we could not find another that would work. With the car moved only 6 inches, the door would no longer close to the Visitor Center. It took us a while, but we were finally able to move the car back outside to close the door.

On the Restoration side, John Pelletier was hard at work on Connecticut Company Car 65. He was busy most of the day scraping the operators compartment on the west end of the car. He was also able to clean up and reinstall a few pieces of trim molding.


Next to car 65, Xian Clere and Galen Semprebon were working on stenciling the numbers on Springfield Street Railway Car 575 (Montreal Tramways Car 2056). We were able to get a very good stencil of the numbers of the car. Next we will be able to continue with the scraping of the car to prepare it for painting. The car will be repainted in Springfield (MA) colors, where the car originally ran.

Car 154 Emptied

In the early days of the museum, the only interior space was inside the trolleys. So, the cars that were not used for service (because they were unfit to operate, missing components, etc) became storehouses for other smaller materials that we acquired. Unfortunately, some of those materials have considerable weight to them which will stress the cars body. Connecticut Company 0309 (Fair Haven & Westville 154) is one of them that was loaded with overhead parts (insulators, bolts, etc). On Saturday, David Coppola helped me unload the materials stored inside the car onto shelf space inside the Visitor Center Relay Room. The only items left in the car now are parts to the car.

Inside the Visitor Center, Galen Semprebon, Brian Semprebon, and Matty Doane were working on scraping the exterior paint on Montreal Tramways 2056 (Springfield Street Railway 575). The car needs a new coat of paint and the plan is to return the car to Springfield, MA colors. While this will not be a complete restoration at the current time, it is a start in the direction to returning the car to its local history. In order to complete the restoration of the car, it will need an end reduction, because when the car was sold to Montreal Tramways, they extended the ends of the car and reconfigured the operators compartment.

Outside, John Pelletier, with the help of Matty, Galen, and I, was working on the repairs to the operating fleet. The bent pole on Connecticut Company 1326 was straightened and the car was returned to service. The broken retriever on Illinois Terminal 451 was replaced by a rebuilt one found in the Parts Storage Room. The repairs to Montreal Tramways 2600 took a bit longer. There was a squealing noise coming from the number 3 axle. We checked the packing and oiled the Journal Boxes. The temperature of the number 3 axle journals were slightly elevated. When we took it out for a test, the noise was still there. We finally figured out that it was the cause of the armature bearing. The waste in the bearing was failing and not properly wicking the oil. Once we repacked the bearing, the noise subsided. The armature support bearing for the fourth motor has been freed and should be repaired in the next few weeks. Once that is done, the car will be jacked and the motor will be reinstalled in the trucks.

We had another busy night of Winterfest Operation Saturday night with 5 cars out on the main line at one point. With that many cars, there is a slight bottleneck at Hancock Passing Siding. The track with three cars needs to pass through the siding before the track with two cars on it can proceed because the siding is only two cars long.

Day of Caring

This year's Day of Caring was a huge success. Unfortunately, I could not be there because I could not get the day off from work, but I did stop down on my lunch to see the progress. The Day of Caring took place on Friday, September 3rd. When I arrived, I could not believe all the work that was accomplished. United Health Care sent 22 employees to help us out for the day. It seems that this year we got the most done in a long time during the Day of Caring.

Galen Semprebon led a crew of people cleaning up the front area of the property. A new patio was installed at the front doors. The area was also graded so that the water will run away from the doors and not towards them. The front gardens were also tended to. The mulch was dug out and fabric was laid down to prevent weeds. Then a layer of stone was spread. The stone requires much less work to maintain than the mulch.

Jim Miller led a crew of volunteers trimming back the brush along the mainline. I haven't seen it yet, but I am told that the trees between Newberry Road and Skylark Airport Station are cleared back.

Tammy Babbitt was leading a crew cleaning the car fleet and Visitor Center Offices, while her husband, Bill Babbitt, was busy with crews preparing brochures for the Big E and priming cars 154 and 771.

At the end of the day, everyone got together to unload the Rails to the Darkside trailer, so that setup can begin for that event.

Overall, the Day of Caring was a huge success! This could not be accomplished without the cooperation of the United Way and United Health Care, as well as our volunteers who stepped up to lead projects: Galen Semprebon, Dale Sherman, Jim Miller, Carol Zenczak, Bill Babbitt, Tammy Babbitt, and Larry Lunden.

Member's Picnic

Today was the day of our yearly Member's Picnic. So, needless to say, I spent a lot of time preparing for that today. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so if anyone has any pictures of today, feel free to forward them to me. I did spend some time working with Galen Semprebon, George Contrada, John Arel, and Xian Clere on the 0309 (154). We removed the clerestory boards that covered the windows. The windows are glue-glass windows in the clerestory, unfortunately, they have been painted over. One of the big problems is that the car is stored with seats that retain moisture and will continue to rot the car. Not anymore. We spread the seats out underneath the train shed to dry. Then they will be stored in a boxcar. I am not absolutely certain what the seats belong to. They definitely do not belong to the car. Some of them were possibly extras that we obtained in the early years of the museum when ConnCo went out of service. The others look like they came from a passenger coach. Now, we just need to remove all of the overhead and high-line hardware from the car and it will only have parts belonging to the car left in it.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier finished re-plumbing the Type 5's whistles. We just need to install the whistles, and that car will be finished.

Next weekend, we will begin work on setting up for Rails to the Darkside.