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.

Rails to the Darkside Setup

Work has progressed during the Wednesday night work session for Rails to the Darkside setup. The cars are all in place and tarps are being put up in between the cars. Car 36 has been wrapped and the electrical drops are being located on the cars. I cannot discuss too much into what is actually happening, because this event is based on surprises, but one thing that I will say is that there will be quite a few new things this year!

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.

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.

Feedback on Rails to the Darkside

Today, we received an email from someone who visited the museum's Rails to the Darkside this weekend:

We just got home from experiencing "Rails to the Darkside" and I have to tell you it was, by far, the best scary trolley ride/haunted house we have ever seen! The trolley ride was really amazing but when it was over it seemed to have been so short. But then we waited for the haunted warehouse and THAT was incredible! The volunteers were perfectly terrifying. On the trolley ride there was someone crawling up the aisle.I'm a 48-year-old woman and I was holding onto my 12-year-old daughter for protection.for me! And inside the warehouse all the scary people were sooooo scary. They just showed up over our shoulders and followed us around and lingered and it was SO CREEPY. At one point, there was a guy behind a paper wall (or something) and he SPOKE RIGHT INTO MY EAR. Oh my. I screamed and lurched and almost took out both my daughter and my husband (who had positioned himself behind us as cover). By the end we were laughing and screaming and running out of the building holding our sides. IT WAS GREAT!! We drove 45 minutes to get there, waited in line for the trolley for 1.5 hours, waited in line for the haunted warehouse for half an hour and another 45 minutes for the ride home.and we can't wait to do it all again next year! From now on no Halloween attraction is going to be able to hold a candle to yours. Thank you for scaring the stuffing out of all of us!

Rails to the Darkside Breaks Another Record

This year is turning out to be a record year for Rails to the Darkside. Saturday night we had 874 visitors come to Rails to the Darkside. This is the most visitors in a single night since Rails to the Darkside was brought back in 2007. Everyone did an excellent job. The line for the gift shop at one point extended out the front door, down the VC walkway and then along the tracks to Kelly Barn. The line to board the trolleys extended at one point from North Road Station to just beyond Kelly Barn.

In the parking lot, the parking crew packed as many cars in the main parking lot as possible. Once the main parking lot was full, they moved to the volunteer lot. Unfortunately, somebody parked their car in the volunteer lot blocking the Fire Museum lot so we lost around 20 parking spaces. By 8:30, we were turning people away due to lack of parking. Around 60 cars were turned away. However, some of them ended up parking next door at Olender's and across the street at WB Mason. The parking crew got innovative by turning the VC walkway into a road and creating an additional 20 parking spaces on the front lawn.

Pumpkin Patch was very busy all weekend too! From what I hear, there were points where the parking lot was nearing capacity during Pumpkin Patch as well. On Sunday, Pucky the Whale made an appearance during Pumpkin Patch.

Unfortunately, we had quite a problem on Sunday with pulling cars out of Kelly Barn. One of the joint bars in Kelly Yard snapped which caused great difficulty getting ready for Pumpkin Patch. Thanks to the quick thinking of Mike Caputo and Bill Babbitt, they were able to spike the joint in place and move the cars out of Kelly Yard. Xian Clere and I made it to the museum to make repairs. We were plagued with nothing but problems. The ties in the yard are so close together that it was difficult to get so much as a shovel in between them to remove the ballast. We also ran into issues with the Tie Inserter. Currently, the tie is nearly ready to be replaced.

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.

Tornado hits Museum's Trailers

Actually, it wasn't exactly a tornado, but it sure looks like one has hit. On Saturday, Todd and Paul Chicoine spent the day getting another trailer ready to be removed from the property. One of the main goals this year has been to clean up the property. We have accomplished quite a lot by getting rid of the trailers in the parking lot, the scrap metal pile inside the loop, the junk stored underneath the train shed, and moving the three Connecticut Company cars out of the Hartman's Siding Lay Up track. In addition, we cleaned up the gardens in front of the Visitor Center and installed a fence between the parking lot and front lawn. Paul and Todd emptied out the trailer of the materials stored in it. Everything inside the trailer was moved to the storage room off of the gift shop. Then, with the help of the front end loader, the trailer was crushed. The trailer should be removed from the property by next weekend.

Xian Clere used the afternoon to continue to clean out the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. He brought a vacuum out to the caboose to clean the floor and cushions. We are still looking for donations to help offset the cost of moving the caboose and the work that the caboose needs.

Rails to the Darkside has progressed much over the weekend. The set up of the main hall is almost completed with all of the curtains in place and the lighting set up. The Graveyard posts have been set up with the gravestones, lighting, and fencing. We gained a couple of new cast members at the Rails to the Darkside Casting Call, however, we are still looking for more cast. A rehearsal is scheduled for Thursday night. If you are interested in helping out for Rails to the Darkside, contact office@ceraweb.org.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier and Pat McCann began setting up the storage pod. The storage pod will be used to store paints, oils, and other flammable materials so they are not stored in the car shop. Boston Elevated 5645 has been released from the shop. While in the shop, whistles were installed on the car, door motors were repaired, and missing windows were replaced. Springfield Terminal 16 was moved up to the shop to have windows repaired and the motor support bearings repacked.

Rails to the Darkside Preparation

By the time I arrived at the museum on Saturday, the trolleys in the main hall were already moved into position for the Rails to the Darkside Setup. Many people were hard at work throughout the day. I began the day running electrical to the trolleys for power. Brian Semprebon, Erica Babbitt, and another younger volunteer were hard at work hanging the blackout "curtains" inside 1201, 2056, and 65.

Bill Babbitt and I spent some time cleaning up the interior of car 65. Because restoration of the car started but was never completed, many components of the car were simply being stored on the floor of the car. There were also piles of seats in the car that don't even belong to the car. Everything in the car was stacked along the walls of the car so that there is a clear walkway through the car.

Other volunteers, including Larry Bryan, Galen Semprebon, Matty Doane, George Contrada, and Larry Lunden, were all hard at work on other Rails to the Darkside projects. Unfortunately, I cannot give away too much because it will ruin the show.




By the end of the day, the Main Hall was cleaned up and the exhibit boards were put in place. They will be used to create a wall to separate the Rails to the Darkside area from the Pumpkin Patch area.



Matty is already getting into the Rails to the Darkside spirit as seen here by his companion in his van. Anyone who is interested in coming down to help out with the setup for Rails to the Darkside is encouraged. We can use all the help that we can get. Also, September 25th is the Rails to the Darkside Casting Call from 3 to 5 pm. Anyone who is interested in scaring for Rails to the Darkside who has not done it in the past is encouraged to come to the casting call.

Elsewhere on the property, work was being done as well. Xian Clere was able to get the Tie Handler running under its own power. He moved it closer to the Sweeper and swung the boom sideways to make room for the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose when it arrives this week. Larry Lunden also spent some time outside cleaning up the west end gardens of the Visitor Center. They have been overgrown with pricker bushes for the longest time and he was able to remove the bushes.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier found the issue plaguing the Type 5's motors. One of the motor support bearings was worn and it was causing the motor to jump when power was initially applied. This resulted in the bull gear and pinion not making contact. John will be looking for a spare set of motor support bearings next weekend to replace the worn ones. For the time being, the car will be out of service.

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.

Car 771 Moves to Covered Storage

When I arrived at the museum Saturday, I went to the Train Shed and noticed the tarp was back on car 154 (0309). I was about to question why the tarp was put back on 154, when I realized that it was actually car 771. Car 154 had been moved into the Visitor Center and car 771 was moved under the Train Shed. Although car 154 is not the greatest looking car, it was moved into the Visitor Center to prepare for Rails to the Darkside. The car will probably get a coat of primer in the coming weeks and be cleaned out. Unfortunately, there is a lot of weight in the car from overhead components to seats.

Car 771 was moved under covered storage just in time. The car will need some work to stabilize it. It has a nasty twist in the car partially because the track it was sitting on was not straight, and partially because the northeast corner post is just about non-existent. Ben Wallace and myself spent some time pulling the tarps and pulling the clapboard siding off of the car. While tarps are great at keeping the rain and snow out of the car, in New England summers they trap the humidity inside the car. The clapboard siding on the cars did the same thing. Unfortunately, its a decision that we have to make when a car is sitting outside. Do we want the humidity to rot the car or the rain and snow? When we were taking the clapboard siding off, some of it came off way to easily, and actually took the covering of the corner post with it. Looking inside and outside the car, it was noticed that the corner post and post between the first and second set of windows on the north side of the car were both gone. Currently, the wall between the car and the vestibule seems to be bearing all of the weight. We will need to clean some space inside the car and put a 4x4 in place to brace the car until work can be done to permanently replace the corner post.

Galen Semprebon, Matty Doane, and George Contrada worked on removing the former Hartman Siding Lay-Up at Powerhouse Crossing. This had to be removed immediately in order for us to recreate the walkway from Powerhouse Crossing to the Visitor Center for Rails to the Darkside. Once the rails were removed, Matty began working on regrading it with the bulldozer.


When Larry Bryan showed up, we had an impromptu Rails to the Darkside meeting in the parking lot discussing plans for skits and animated props. Larry is working on a few things for Rails to the Darkside at home including designing a new poster. I will keep those all under wraps, so you will need to come to the event.

By the end of the day, George was working on cleaning up car 154. Galen, myself, Mike Savoie, Xian Clere, Amber Hurrle, and Andy Cotton worked to push the cars back in on Hartman's Siding and move the Long Island car back on to Hartman's. Car 451 is once again on the North Road Lay-Up.

John Pelletier was busy in the shop all day working on the type 5. The doors are opening and closing better and the gong on the west end of the car is working. Next weekend, he plans to install the whistles on the car.