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.

Set Up of Visitor Center

The set up in the Visitor Center has continued. Galen & Brian Semprebon were able to move the remaining cars in place. We will wait until after Cabin Fever Days to move the Bobber Caboose inside since we will need that space for people to congregate during the event. Larry Lunden continued to sweep up after the mess that is created when we are working in the Visitor Center. While this doesn't seem like a glamorous or helpful job, it is something that NEEDS to be done and many of us don't have the desire to do this after a days work. Thank you Larry for doing this!

Roger Pierson and Matt Januska continued to work on Springfield Street Railway car 575 (Montreal 2056) removing paint. When they are done, we will be able to repaint it in Springfield, Mass colors.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier has been working on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16.

In the background, JF Smith has been working on a NEW handout for this coming season as well as the next series of Trading Cards!

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.