Car 451 Repaired

Yes, Sunday was Easter Sunday. Where was Tim Baisley? At the museum for a couple of hours working on the braking system of 451. Now that's dedication! In the time he was there, he was able to adjust the brakes. Now the drum brakes actuate when the dynamic brakes are depleted like they are supposed to. Only one more adjustment on one end of the car and it should be ready to return to Public Service!

Track 1 of Train Shed Takes Shape

Saturday was a very productive day at the museum. Galen Semprebon, along with his son Brian, led a group of community service volunteers in building track 1 under the Train Shed of the Visitor Center. While doing this, they were able to learn some basic track building principles, such as lining, spiking, and gaging.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier was busy working on a hoist for the wheel lathe. One axle is out from underneath New Orleans Car 836 so once the hoist and tooling are ready, the project can begin.









John Cummins and I were busy working on clean up projects of the property. Some of the area by the Section Houses have been cleared of the material stored there. It is hoped that this will all be able to be cleared. In the past week, a dump truck and flatbed truck have been removed from the property. The tie inserter (rusted yellow piece of equipment) that has been sitting next to the Bradley People Movers has been dragged out of there to the top of the parking lot. The owner of it is supposed to have it removed by the Annual Meeting. In moving it, we were able to rescue a track jack that was buried under it.

On the public side, despite the rain, the museum did exceptionally well on Saturday, Easter Bunny Fun Day. Every time I looked up front, the parking lot was full and operations was running double sections of cars.

And the Trucks are Finally off the Front Lawn!

Over the weekend, a lot was accomplished at the museum. I started off the day in Kelly Yard with a hard working crew of volunteers. We were able to replace three more switch timbers in the yard before lunch. I was also able to get the hi rail gear working on our hi rail truck. Pat McCann was able to cut a bit off of the handle for the hi rail gear so that we are able to use it easily. Before, it was hitting the ground before the hi rail gear was fully up.

In the car shop, Galen Semprebon and John Pelletier were able to jack up New Orleans car 836 and pull the truck out from under it. The car is in the shop to have the wheelsets fixed due to thin flanges. The truck was removed from under the car and disassembled.

John Cummins and Morgan von Eisengrein were able to help me move the two sets of Peckam trucks off of the front lawn. For a long time, they have been an eyesore in the corner of the front lawn. They are now sitting on the truck track on the back side of the property. We were also able to move Connecticut Company car 771 (Consolidated Railway car 189) back under the train shed and move the snow plow blade for Gardner & Templeton Snow Plow 12 back in front of the snow plow.

Xian Clere spent a good portion of the weekend working on the computers. All of the old printers, copiers, computers, and monitors that are broken or otherwise unusable have been moved outside for a company to recycle. They are willing to dispose of them free of charge because we are a non-profit.

Overall, a lot was able to get accomplished over the weekend. We are open all week this week for school vacation week and next Saturday is Easter Bunny Fun Day!

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.

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.

Cars Moved into the Visitor Center

On Saturday, we were able to get the Main Hall mostly set up. I started off in the morning by moving Montreal Tramways 2056 (Springfield Street Railway 575) to the west end of the main hall. Larry Lunden helped out by sweeping the tracks and vacuuming the flangeways. By the time I was ready to move the Ponemah Mills Locomotive into the Visitor Center, Dave Coppola, Brian Semprebon, and Alex Aberdale had arrived to help move the cars. We moved the Ponemah Mills Locomotive and New York Ontario & Western Caboose into the Visitor Center. Camilo Santiago and Xian Clere came to help move Connecticut Company Car 65 into place and finally Springfield Electric Railway (Vermont) Car 10 into the Visitor Center. The only cars left to move are the Northern Parlor Car to the west end of the main hall and the Fair Haven & Westville Car 154 into the Main Hall!

Meanwhile, George Contrada and Ted Coppola were busy loading the Winterfest Layouts into the storage trailer. Roger Pierson spent his day in Kelly Barn cleaning out the public operating fleet.

Up in the shop, Galen Semprebon and John Pelletier jacked up Montreal Tramways Car 2600 and installed the 4th motor back into the car. Next weekend, the car will be jacked back down on the truck. This car will now be running again on four motors for opening day!

I had the pleasure of giving a new volunteer, Dave, a tour of the property. He plans to be back next Saturday! Remember, we are always looking for new volunteers. Anyone who is interested in volunteering should contact the museum.

In Like a Lion

March has come in like a lion this year, and I am not talking about the weather. After a few weekends where not much has been happening, everyone seemed to be in full swing this weekend to get all of the Winterfest materials OUT of the Visitor Center. It started off in the morning with Galen & Brian Semprebon helping me load out the boxes of Winterfest into the trailer. Larry Lunden arrived soon after and helped shuttle the boxes to the door where we moved them to the trailer. When Roger Pierson arrived, he went up to Kelly Car Barn and removed the decorations from cars 4 and 1326. After lunch, Ted Coppola and I repaired the roof of the Winterfest Layout Trailer using flashing and pop-rivets. The large modular layout was then moved into the trailer by George Contrada, Dave Coppola, and Brian Semprebon.

Once all of the layouts are moved into the trailers, we will be able to shift cars around to set up the Visitor Center. The plan is to bring the Bobber Caboose into the Visitor Center paired with the Ponemah to have an enhanced exhibit on Trolley Freight Service.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier was busy cleaning, again. Pretty soon, everything will be in its place and we will be able to find the tool we need when we need it. Pat McCann was kept busy working on 2600's motor and motor support bearing. Within the next few weeks, the car will be jacked and the motor will be reinstalled in the car.

Unfortunately, it was quite busy so I was unable to get very many pictures of the day.

This year should be a very exciting year, and we could definitely use your help! We have many projects this year, some of them as follows: repairs to the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad Caboose, repairs and repainting of Engine 18, repairs to the open passenger car, and the repairs to the wheel-sets of New Orleans car 836.