RE: Winter and Santa arrive at HVRM 12/10/2011

Greetings!   Back hoe update. Richard Warner has been working on the problems. He and his assistant engine mechanic, will work on the transmission. He has the capablility to completely rebuild it for parts only. The bolt that broke in the engine, he was able to back out the broken bolt with an easy-out. It was very loose in the threads. The rocker arm is bent. Dave Cook thinks the water in the hydraulic system, that was removed when the system was flushed, may of had something to do with these problems. Future looks good for rehab before spring.     The first measurable snow late this week was on the ground and with temps today in the low to mid-20's was a favorable setting for the first ever Santa trains at HVRM.  Beautiful blue skies and sunshine all helped the atmosphere.    Life came to Alco 310 and the crew switched cars around in the morning so that the two Santa trains consisted of a nice warm LIRR coach 2937 and a less than warm B&LE caboose # 1989 which was used for the backup move to English Lake.  Both the 11:00 and 1:30 trains had been sold out, but a few extra riders were able to be accomodated on both trains.  C   Loretta asked me to pick up Santa Claus at his place (fortunately a bit south of the North Pole) and I took him to the Arlington Street crossing where he waited for the train to give him a ride.  Scenario was that there had been a problem with his reindeer and once on Board, Santa asked for the kids to "keep an eye out for them".  On the first run, believe it or not, the train spooked up a herd of (wait for it....) 8 reindeer!  Dasher, Dancer, Comet, etc., come back!  No such luck!  Santa visited with each child, and gave them a nice little wrapped present.  In addition to Santa, Fred and Elmer in the cab, Doug as conductor and Bill Dauber and Joe Kingsbury collecting tickets, made up the train crew.   Total ridership for the day was reported as 216 with a bit over 40% of that being kids and youth.   Bob Barcus, assisted by Margrett Cook, reported a good day in the museum gift shop.  The Union Pacific G gauge train that circles the gift shop derailed and Mike and I had to give Bob a hand in rerailing it including dragging the tall ladder in from the display Troop Sleeper .  Apparently a switch was somehow thrown by accident.  Fortuntately, this minor problem happened while the first Santa train was out on the line and the G gauge was back in operation by the time the passengers arrived back at the depot.   Mark Knebel and John LaOrange acted as road guards for both Santa runs.   Ryan took photos of the train itself (11:00 run) and on the train (1:30 run).   Bob Albert, Louise and Steve worked in the old Erie Milk Station building today, burning a lot of worthless paper items.   Bing Risley brought lunch, including a number of goodies, including three different soups.  I made a meal of the Chicken Noodle!    I checked on the Nickel Plate caboose before I left the museum and the exterior appears to be finished.   A number of other museum members were around today including Tom Travis, Tom McKee, Dave Cook, Tom Royce, Randall Downs, Jason Jordan and probably others I missed.  The cold weather and the concentration on operating the caboose trains, kept other activities to a minimum.   Enjoy the week everyone! December 17th is the last day to sign the list in the kitchen car for President, Treasurer and 2 director positions. Newsletter arrived last week also, great color pictures of HVRM Pumpkin Patch.   Les