Last Saturday at HVRM for 2014.....12-27-2014

Greetings to all,

 

Well the end of the year is near, with 2015 looming on the horizon, HVRM is set for

another year with lots of projects planned. Hopefully it will be a successful one.

Today was mild, so a good turnout of members showed up. With soft ground,

track work was a priority with 10 or more ties inserted  between the C&I switch an

the shop lead switch. 7 more ties need to be replaced an this project will be done.

Ties were spiked with the air compressor spike machine. These ties are the last

bunch available till spring time. Cory, Dave, John, Mark, Bob J an myself made out the

crew.

 

Inside the heated shop, with the new wood stove going, work on the ND&W 5332 was

being done. Joe, John Degan, Richard, Steve were replacing wiring destroyed by mice.

The wood stove has had some improvements made, thermostat control for the blower,

some improved electrical connections an spilt wood brought inside an stacked.

 

An outside electrical lamp had died during the week an repairs were needed, so the

manlift was brought around to the east end shop. Cory braved the ascent an taking

the light apart found it full of bugs an a loose electrical connection. Everything cleaned,

connection fixed, a test showed the light worked. So reassembled, manlift was brought

down an parked near the fuel tank.

 

Doug worked on the ERIE 310. Bob Barcus was in the depot. Some brave railfans were

observed walking around the grounds today taking pictures.

 

Have a safe an Happy New Year. I'm ready to go back to work already after getting some

garage an car projects done this past week due to the nice warm temps outside. Wish

the days were longer, but that won't happen for some time yet.

 

Tom 

Light turnout but not light results at HVRM 12/20/14

Seasons Greetings!

Managed to make it down to Hoosier Valley just after the Board meeting started.  Interesting meeting with various discussions including

train shows, next years passenger train schedules, antique bottles, and a number of other things.

Light member turnout, understandable with it being the Saturday before Christmas.  Still, interesting things got done.

Showed up in the West Annex of the Shop, warm from the new wood stove.  Found Fred Boyer applying additional Bondo to the car sides

of our ex-United States Army kitchen car # 325.  This car has an interesting history being sold to the Chicago & Eastern Illinois where it

was first numbered A-1054 and then later renumbered as 88125. The C&EI assigned it as the tool car for the wreck train stationed at Yard

Center in Dolton, Illinois.  After the C&EI was merged into the MP (line to St. Louis and the L&N (line to Evansville), the car ended up as

Missouri Pacific number X15096 before the MoPac decided to break up the work train and the car was sold to a company that performed

wreck train cleanups for the railroad.  Eventually that company donated the car to HVRM.  After a stint as the Diesel Locomotive Department

work car, the museum eventually decided to use the car in conjunction with our Nickel Plate Road lunch car, but a fire in the car has set this

project back as the interior has been destroyed.  There are still plans to use this car as intended, but the interior needs to be completely rebuilt

including a new floor.  I helped Fred today ratcheting the nuts off of old bolts, or on the tougher ones  Fred cut them with his grinder.  The

photo accompanying this report is of Fred working on one end of the car cutting a bolt.  Just before we quit for the day, Fred sanded down

the now dry Bondo he had applied in the morning.  So progress has been made, but there's still a heck of a lot to do!

Progress also made on ND&W #5332, our Porter center cab diesel.  Joe Kingsbury and Rich Warner worked on the Cummins diesels and

tried to get them fired up this afternoon for the first time since Notre Dame donated the unit to the museum.  Well, believe it or not, the one

diesel fired right up!  And eventually the diesel in the other hood, started too!  The unit sounded great!  The confirms the museums opinion

that, although the Porter looks very rough on the outside, it is in very good shape mechanically.

A number of folks dropped by the museum today including Bill Dauber, Chuck Ness, Elmer Mannen and Randall Downs.  Others on hand all

day included Bob Barcus, Dave Cook, Margrett Cook, Mark Knebel, Cory Bennett, Judy Boyer and John LaOrange. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, or whatever you might be celebrating.

Les         

12-13-14, Santa Claus Trains at HVRM

Greetings to All,
 
A nice day for being 12-13-14, mid 40's a nice day for ole Santa to ride the train. Many riders
gathered for the three Santa trains at HVRM today. 336 passengers for the day count, not
bad for only the LIRR coach. Everything ran well, plenty of heat inside, ALCO ERIE 310 performed
well, with GE INTERSTATE STEEL #11 as standby power.
 
Pictures provide by Les Beckman of some projects for the day. First is C&O 2789 sand dome
being brought into the shop building for refurbishing during the wintertime. Cory got the
payloader out of the shed an immediately got the sand dome down to the shop. Set on a couple
of 55 gallon drums, shored up with blocks of wood for easy access. The dome has been outside
for almost 25 years sitting on old ties. The dome will be sanded down, primed an repainted
an eventually lettered for CHESAPEAKE & OHIO 2789. A start to cosmetically restoring 2789,
replacing parts taken off years ago.
 
Yes the new wood burner has been fired an tested with great results. Large amounts of wood
can be put in an with blower system, provide good heat for the building. Brackets were made
an installed on smoke stack to hold it in place, with the manlift. Brackets built & welded
by Cory, Sparky, Dave, myself who burnt his finger tips on the hot steel.
 
Two buckets of ballast were shoveled along the north wall of the shop building to prevent snow
an wind blowing into the heated shop this winter. A 5 man crew made quick work of that job.
 
The old house is now HVRM's north of Bing's. Cory managed to pull trees out of the backyard
lawn an put them in a pile.  A hot water heater was removed for salvage for further use.
Entrance to the basement was uncovered an the gas furnace will be salvaged later. Not much
in the house is useable, but for some kitchen cabinets. NIPSCO has to remove electric line from
pole an remove gas line before demolition begins. No decision made as how the house will
be removed yet. Bing removed bags of moldy clothes from garage an put them in  the dumpster.
No decision on status of garage either if it will be saved.
 
Les Beckman an Fred Boyer worked on the tool car removing some more burnt wood. Judy Boyer
removed more things from the GTW caboose.
 
Next Saturday at 8am is monthly board meeting in the depot waiting room.
 
Be safe driving in the evenings, dark early now.

Tom Travis

A bit of a respite from the weather at Hoosier Valley 11/29/14

Greetings!

Weather for this weekend actually predicted to be slightly above normal!  Actually had sun in the morning with

temps in the low 50's.  Clouded up in the afternoon and had gusty winds all day.

Steve Henrichs had Grasselli Tower open so I went up to check on what was going on.  Found Chris Zahrt and

his family getting the "nickel tour".  Chris and his dad Fred, have been long time members of the museum and

have helped on many projects through the years.  Chris used to come as a young man and has since gone on

to Purdue and been involved in a number of steam locomotive projects.  Currently studying for his Masters.  He

came to visit and also to accept the 2014 David P. Morgan best authored article award given out by the Railroad

& Locomotive Historical Society which was given to him in a small ceremony by a representative of the R&LHS.

Congrats to Chris!

Decided to take advantage of the decent late Fall weather by doing some additional painting on coach 899.  Had

to run over to Norwayne and purchase another gallon of Pullman Green paint.  While doing the painting, I could

hear Cory Bennett and Mark Knebel cutting some of the previously felled wood from the old Erie Railroad wye area,

into furnace size chunks.  These will be used for the new wood furnace being built for the West Annex of the Shop.

I managed to get over to the Shop before I went home and got the attached photo of the furnace.  Not sure who

was doing the work on the furnace today but I saw John De Gan walking down that way so he may have had a hand

in it.

Skip Benge of Deedsville, Indiana stopped by the museum this afternoon.  Skip donated the locomotive number

plate off of Chesapeake & Ohio K2 class 2-8-2 #1165.  I was able to secure a photo of this engine leading a double

header out of Peru, Indiana back in 1942 from Malcolm D. McCarter.  Mac made an 8 x 10 and an 11 x 14 print

of a photo originally take by Bill Swartz.  Skip's Dad worked as a fireman for the C&O and when the C&O of Indiana

was dieselized, he was able to get the number plate off of the 1165 as it sat in the "boneyard" in Peru and just before

it was shipped out to be scrapped.  We gave one of the two prints to Skip and the other one will be displayed with the

number plate off of the C&O Mike.  It was good to hear that Mac is still making prints from his extensive railroad

subject collection.  He tells me that he recently turned 91 years young!

As I was applying paint to the 899, John La Orange walked past me with a large bucket and a long narrow wood board

of about 10 feet in length.  Curious, I watched him walk down to Nickel Plate Road baggage car #344.  He stood next to

the car and placed the bucket upside down on the end of board and then lifted it up onto the roof of NKP 344, attempting

to get it onto a white stack on the baggage cars roof.  After a few attempts, he was successful!  Well done John!   On the

way back, he told me that he had been in the 344 earlier in the day and the inside was still dry, EXCEPT for the open

stack where a stove had probably once sat, and for a little bit of leakage around one of the baggage cars doors.  He was

surprised that the interior was basically dry.  That's good to know as the outside of the car is starting to show deterioration

which eventually will need to be addressed.  There are many parts for the 2789 in that car.

Others at the museum today included Bob Albert, Bob Jachim, Steve Newland, Tom Royce and probably some others

I missed.   Bob Barcus worked in the gift shop in the depot.  Next Saturday will be the first of our Santa trains!  Help would

certainly be appreciated.  Contact Loretta Kosloske.

Have a good week everyone!

Les

     

End of Season at HVRM 11-15-2014

Greetings to all,
 
End of a successful train season, with Christmas trains in December still gaining
riders, it has been a long season. Many thanks to all involved in making this happen.
From traincrews to depot workers, all deserve a pat on the back for a job well done.
 
Saturday dawned cold an dreary, perfect time  for some track work, but more on that
later. Board meeting started at 8 am in the depot with a wide range of topics, but
nothing really to report on. Immediately after the meeting the Erie 310 was started
for some final switching of the season. The 2789 tender was uncoupled an pulled outdoors
to spend the duration of winter, needed to make room for the tie tamper. GE 11 was pulled
outside an the tie tamper was started to move over to the 2789 track. With that completed,
the 310 pushed #11 back inside an pushed the tool car past the winter curtain to the
backshop. GE 11 was spotted over the pit an 310 was uncoupled an pulled forward
a couple of feet, shut down an the water drained from the coolant system.
 
A number of leftover new ties were brought down to the connector track to the C&I
switch. These ties were not used in crossing replacement an Cory had marked some
ties needed for replacement. 10 ties were inserted into the line an spiked. 3 ties were
straightened, not needing replacing. It seems only like yesterday when these ties
were put down, 132 pound rail put for car storage. Time goes fast when you
get older. New clean ballast was brought down an dumped for tamping later.
 
Joe Baker did some electrical work for outside lighting. Cameras will be purchased
to view the storage areas for theft of steel soon. Scrap metal will soon be put into
dumpster for recycling. Joe Kingsbury returned the welder from getting it fixed, an
started on welding in  the tool car's floor. Les & Betty Beckman during the
past week did painting on his passenger  car. Les is in New Orleans this week working
on  Habitat for Humanity housing. Rode the City of New Orleans down an will return
the same way next weekend. Have a good trip. Steve Newland put up the bathroom
walls in Grasselli tower, an put a non-working toilet in for display. Bob Jacqim took
items out of the china cabinet for transfer to the new cabinet.
 
I left early, was getting cold outside. Not much else new around HVRM. Membership
meeting next Saturday at 1pm Central time in the depot.
 
Tom Travis
 
 
 

Slow Day at North Judson 11-1-2014

 Well fall has arrived with a vengeance to NW Indiana Friday, snow, wind, cold, brutal
weather, just making it a horrid day. Saturday woke up to ice on the deck an a temp
of only 23 degrees. Slow going getting started.
 
Arrived at HVRM to see the Erie 310 an 2 cabooses on the main line in front of the
depot waiting for the next guest engineer. Had a total of 6 drivers today. This is the
final day of the year for this program. The 310 will be drained till its needed again.
 
Crossing Mulberry Street, I saw the crossing was replaced with asphalt. Thursday
it was tore out an North Judson donated asphalt to fix the crossing. Much better than
it was.
 
The work crew was in side the shop building working on the soon to be wood burner
stove. It was up righted an legs were being welded on the bottom, with more to
be done later on.
 
Steve Newland worked on downspouts on Grasselli tower.
 
Not much else to report. Board meeting next Saturday  morning at 8am in the depot.
 
Tom Travis

Halloween Train HVRM 10-25-2014

Greetings,
 
Wonderful fall day at North Judson today. In the mid 60's, clear sky, nice breeze.
 
Some items from Friday, Doug, John, Cory, Richard performed a 92 day inspection
on the ERIE 310. Some mechanical issues were taken care of on the tamper. A never 
ending tightening up bolts issue. Bing, worked on the brick sidewalk on the side of
the stairs leading up to Mark's office. When the old steps were removed during renovation
of the building, some bricks were uprooted. Bing cut a tie, enclosed the walkway an
reset the bricks. The above picture shows the finished job. Nice work Bing.
 
Early Saturday morning, the depot workers set up the Halloween decorations for the
dusk train ride to La Crosse. The depot deck looked good. The train had 191 paying
passengers, all who had a good time an nice animal show at La Crosse. The train arrived
back at HVRM around 7pm and where amazed by the lighted signals lining the tracks
an the lighted Grasselli tower on the 2nd level. What a nice display.
 
Earlier that morning, the track crew was out busy at CR 400South taking up the asphalt
an old remnants of the crossing in preparation for replacing ties an rebuilding the
crossing Sunday. Cory, John, Richard, Mark an David were the crew members. Last week
CR 500 South crossing was replaced an asphalted on Tuesday. This makes all the crossings
in Starke county replaced on the CKIN line, cept for the Mulberry St crossing.
 
Les took the pictures above. Also got Steve Newland replacing the downspouts
at Grasselli tower with the manlift also. Nice work Steve.
 
Les worked on painting window frames on the D&RGW passenger cat an doing some
priming rust spots.
 
That is the end of regular season operations, cept for the Christmas trains in
December. Hopefully some inside projects will get started, new woodburning  
stove, rebuilding tool car, an the ND&W diesel engine.
 
That's it for this week, come on down an help out inside the shop buildings, lots
to do everywhere.
 
Tom Travis
 

Cold Day, Hot Trains at HVRM 10-18-14

 

Greetings!

Cold day, with persistent drizzle all morning at Hoosier Valley.  Temp topped out at 49 degrees.  Rain

became intermittent in the afternoon, but weather remained raw.  Meanwhile, the second day of the

museum's pumpkin train operation remained hot!  I arrived late, just as the 10:00 a.m. train was getting

set to depart.  Went down and flagged Mulberry Street for their departure.  Looked like the passenger

count was in the 150's.  Spent the rest of the day flagging Mulberry and helping out Loretta Kosloske in

the depot, selling tickets and checking in reservations.  The trip at 12:30 probably neared 200 riders, with

the 2:30 p.m. train sold out!  We managed to find seats for most walk-up customers on this last run and

the final passenger count came in at just about 250!  So, almost 600 riders for the three trains!  In addition,

most of the passengers opted to purchase pumpkins.  A great day for HVRM!

Needless to say, most museum members were involved in the operation of the trains.  John Kimsey

was the conductor all day, with Doug Kosloske and John DeGan in the cab of GE 95-tonner # 11.  I had

to leave right after the departure of the 2:30 train but on the way home, passed Dave Cook and Cory

Bennett working hard on the road crossing at County Road 500W, preparing for the actual rebuild of the

crossing, which is set to be undertaken tomorrow.  Others working the train included Joe Baker, Bob

Albert, Randall Downs, Fred Boyer and others I probably missed.  Bob Barcus was kept very busy in the

gift shop.

Weather is supposed to improve.  Hope everyone has an enjoyable week.

Les

Active day, great weather, at HVRM 10-11-14

Howdy!

One of those great early fall days!  Lots of sunshine, with temps in the mid-50's moving up to the low 60's by the end of the day.

Only one train today, departing at 1:30 p.m. for La Crosse.  This enabled some switching of equipment after the early morning

Board meeting concluded.  Student engineer John Kimsey was at the throttle much of the day under the watchful eye of

engineer John DeGan, with Bob Albert as Conductor.  Doug Kosloske was also in the crew.  Car hosts included Randall Downs,

Joe Kingsbury and Steve Newland.  Motive power was Interlake Steel GE #11. 

Mark Knebel needed to use the Orton crane along with NKP gondola car 45622, so the crew pulled out the three cars in front

of the crane and set them over on the main line.  Then down to dig out the gon from the storage track on the east end.  Mark

got the crane fired up while this was all going on, then ran down east past the depot while the train crew pushed the cars to

be used on the La Crosse train back into the caboose siding so that the crane could squeeze by for the east end.  After the

crane was in the clear, the crew pulled out the 6 cars to be used on the Lacrosse train and then ran back west and coupled

on to the 3 cars still sitting on the main line.  These were pulled east, with number 11 having no problems with the 9 cars.  After

the 3 cars were put back, the train ran back east past the depot and parked.

Doug needed to do the 92 day inspection on the EL Alco, so he fired the unit up so that it could be moved over to the inspection

pit on Track 2 of the Shop.  Also started up was the U.P. tamper.  The tamper moved out of Track 2 into the clear, the Alco came

out of Track 1 and switched over to Track 2.  Then the tamper moved back in to the Shop, ahead of the Alco.  Lots of interesting

movements for some of our guests who were catching everything with their cameras.

Bob Barcus found a heavy duty peg board in great condition and this was moved into IC display caboose #9914 by Bob, Steve

Newland, Joe Baker and myself.

Meanwhile, Fred Boyer was working on sanding the repaired windowsills up on the second floor of Grasselli Tower (see photo

at left at the end of this report).  Lots of visitors arrived early for the train, so Fred also provided information on the tower itself.

I provided some information to visitors who ventured into the troop sleeper.  Later in the morning, Steve and Fred started in on

one of the towers first floor windows.  This is the first concentrated effort to work on the first floor windows.  Steve is shown in

the photo below, taking the rotten windowsill out.  Needless to say, although rotten, the windowsill didn't want to come out!  Then

in the afternoon, Fred cut a new sill out of very heavy wood stock, and I helped him move it into place with Fred giving it a coat

of primer paint to protect it.

The new galvanized gutters for the tower have arrived.  Hopefully, they will be installed sometime before winter sets in.

The third photo shows the Orton Purdue crane at work taking the old ballast/dirt out of the gondola and putting it into the pile

next to Main Street.  At this point, Mark was in the gon supervising the dropping of the clamshell, with Cory Bennett at the controls.

Also working on this project, was Dave Cook who was operating the Payloader and keeping the ballast/dirt piles in reasonable

order!

There seemed to be a good crowd on the train today, although I don't have an actual count of passengers.  There were also

quite a few visitors who toured the grounds, but did not ride the train.  This is okay, as we are a museum and an educational

organization and always glad to show visitors around.  The signals all worked today.  Erie semaphore 921.1 has been a bit balky

in the past, but performed perfectly today.  It too, must have been enjoying the great weather!

Others working at the museum today included Loretta Kosloske selling tickets and later riding the train and Bob Barcus handling

gift shop duties in the depot.  Bob Jachim was flagman and Margret Cook and Diane Bennett provided lunch.  Bing Risley was

cutting grass on his riding lawn mower. 

Hoping the weather holds and that everyone has a great week!

Les 

    

   

Blustery day with all hands on deck at HVRM 10/4/14

Greetings -

Wicked weather at North Judson today with high temp around 45 degrees and a howling wind.  Nevertheless, the

three Hoosier Valley "pumpkin trains" were operated as scheduled.  All museum members were involved in their

operation.  NKP caboose #471 and EL caboose #C345 were added to the regular consist to provide enough seats

inside as Katy open air car #13833 saw very few riders braving the elements.

Train crew included John DeGan engineer, Steve Henrichs student engineer and Doug Kosloske conductor.  Car

hosts included Joe and Louise Kingsbury, Randall Downs, Fred Boyer, Steve Newland, Les Beckman and Rich

Warner.  EL S1 Alco #310 provided the power for all the runs.  The Mulberry Street flagman was Bob Jachim with

Mark Knebel handling the over-the-road flagman duties.  Bob Barcus was in the gift shop with Loretta Kosloske

and Les Beckman handling ticket sales and ticket pickups.  Judy Boyer sold items out on the depot platform, a very

cold job for sure!

Cory Bennett, Tom Travis, Dave Cook, Joe Baker, Mark, Loretta and Rich did the honors out at the "pumpkin patch".

Margrett Cook provided a hot lunch. 

Note that some museum members did "double duty"; handling more than one job today.  Other activities at the

museum were curtailed in order to get the pumpkin trains run successfully. 

Ridership numbers were as follows:

10:00 train - 124

12:30 train - 145

2:30 train   -   96

Total ridership was 365.  Thanks to all the museum members for a job well done!

Les  

New China Display Case

China cabinet in waiting room, donated by Jim Minix, Norwayne Lumber from
his fathers house.
 

---

Saturday 27 Sept, Perfect Fall Weather

Greetings to all,
 
Saturday had some nice surprises for everyone. A visitor from Los Angeles CA, Greg Ramsey,
from Travel Town was down for a visit. TT has a EMD Model 40 switcher that pulls a caboose
on a short piece of track, so he got a tour of HVRM's model 40. I missed Greg as I was doing
track work on the ERIE line. Got a chance to go to TT in spring 1987 on UP Native Son 9006,
from San Diego to Los Angeles CA an return, sponsored by PSRMA Campo CA for working
members. I enjoyed the visit, but never got a chance to return. A nice museum. Brings back
many good memories of California days.
 
Got down to HVRM sort of late, but saw the track crew down on the ERIE main spiking ties.
Got down to help for quite a few ties to be spiked, it is now complete for now, as during
October, trains will be going to the Park for pumpkins. The UP tamper came out in the
afternoon an finished up getting the ties tamped. Performed flawlessly. David Cook, Cory
Bennitt, John LaOrange, Mark Kniebel rounded out the crew.
 
Grasselli Tower had workers on the upper floor working on windows an frames, Steve Newland
an Fred Boyer was the crew.
 
The newly donated China cabinet was inside the depot waiting room. Bob Albert is getting
things moved around right now an getting the IC caboose ready for displays. I have a picture
of the cabinet but will post it separately. Many ideas for the depot waiting room displays
are happening. Bob Barcus an Loretta Kosloske worked the gift shop.
 
Last Sunday visited Montecello IL Railway Museum. A wonderful day for their Railroad days
festival. Three trains were running an about 10 or so motorcars to White Heath wye. SOU 401
steam engine put on a good show. Will look impressive on the Steam Polar Express for December,
which tickets are sold out already.
 
Remember next weekend will be Pumpkin trains.
 
Tom Travis

One more summer day at HVRM 9/20/14

Greetings!

Last gasp for summer as Fall begins this coming Tuesday.  And what a wonderful day it was!

At 8:00, temps were in the low 70's, moving up into the low 80's by the afternoon, but with a

nice breeze keeping things pleasant.  But like many a typical summer day, storms were predicted

for the afternoon.

Arrived in time for the regular Membership meeting with a quorum in attendance.  A number of

things discussed which will be mentioned in the upcoming newsletter.  I did bring up a couple of

items including the fact that the bridge plate hinge pins for our TTX # 475037 piggyback trailer flat

car were received.  Thanks to the folks at R&IS for making these for us.  I mentioned that we will

eventually need some help in lifting the bridge plates onto the car.  I also asked that the sand dome

for Kanawha # 2789 be eventually moved into the main section of the Shop so that it can be needle

scaled, primed, painted and lettered.  The 2-8-4's sand dome has sat outside now for a number of

years and is deteriorating badly and definitely needs some help.

Bob Albert reported in the meeting today that he has finished the floor of IC # 9914, the caboose

that houses some of our displays.  A photo of his efforts is attached below.  Nice job Bob!

Had a number of visitors today, including some from the LaPorte County Historical Steam Society

in Hesston, Indiana, including Kathy & Darwin Enders and John Harbeck.  Kathy's father, John

Gooley, was the engineer on Notre Dame & Western # 5332, the Porter diesel that the University

of Notre Dame donated to the museum.  Kathy presented me with a copy of a South Bend Tribune

story from August of 1979, that has a number of facts about the locomotive and the railroad.  One

of the interesting photos with that article shows the 5332 pulling a New York Central arch windowed

passenger coach in 1961 with a group of Boy Scouts as passengers!  John gave me a CD with

various photos of the ND&W.

Jim Menis of Norwayne Lumber donated a beautiful cabinet in honor of his parents and a crew

went over and picked it up and brought it to the museum using Bob Jachim's pickup truck for

transport.  It was placed into the depot building.  It is a beautiful piece of furniture. Thanks to Jim

for the donation, and also the members who helped with the move. 

Mark Knebel was down at the museum earlier in the week and used the man lift to begin giving our

Orton built Purdue University crane a new paint job.  Results of his efforts thus far, are shown in the

photo below.

Bing Risley was out cutting grass today.  A never ending summer job.

Bob Barcus and Bruce Emmons worked in the North Judson depot.

Train consist for today was Erie ALCO # 310 and the four usual cars; LIRR coach 2937, MKT flat

car (open car), EJ&E transfer (handicap accessible) caboose #184 and B&LE caboose # 1989.

Bob Albert was conductor, John LaOrange engineer, Steve Henrichs student engineer with Joe

Kingsbury and Randall Downs as car hosts.  Jim Vosberg handled the flagman duties at the

road crossings for the first two trains.  Ridership was 48 on the 10:00 train and 60 on the 12:30

train, both of these trains to English Lake.  I counted 12 riders in the Katy open car for the

2:00 run to La Crosse, but don't know if there were folks riding in the other cars. Hopefully the

train finished its round trip and made it back to North Judson before the storm came in.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable week!

Les

   

Rare Mileage to Thomaston IN 9-6-2014

Greetings,
 
Saturday was cooler than Friday's uncomfortable heat an humidity. After torrential
rain & lightning for most of Friday evening, left a considerable amount of water in
ditches and low areas of fields. Several trees fell on IN 39, north of IN 8 an looks
like they were pushed off the road way. The Kankakee river seemed high from the
rain also.
 
Arrived at HVRM at approx 9am, after having breakfast at Fingerhut Bakery with
the local amateur radio group. Lively discussions going on with all members
present. Need to dig out some old log books an QSL cards for show & tell next
week. Les Beckman drove up behind me as I was getting out of the van. A quick
stop in the depot to ask some questions. Les an myself ended up at the garage
an looked over what needed to be done yet. I walked around the shed an noticed
that someone had picked up all the boards on the ground an a small pile of wood.
Thank you whomever did that for me. I was waiting till I had finished an not needed
any wood to fix some problem an was going to take them down to the shop for
the wood stove. I walked into the Erie shed to get some paint, an on the floor
were some items that needed to get picked up. Me & Les cleared a spot on
a cabinet an then put  the items on top of it. Cleaned up the area a little an
rearranged some things, moving toilet paper into the paint room for easier
access to the box.
 
Afterward I got to thinking about lettering for the C&O 2789 tender & cab. Looked
in Mark's office an found the box holding a copy of lettering off of C&O 2776 in
Washington Court OH. A discussion followed on what venue we should try to
get either stencils made or have vinyl made. Bjarne Henderson has experience
in vinyl, so we decided to ask him later.
 
I was looking at the gap at the north end of the garage and wondered how I could
fix it easily. The building is bowed in the middle an the 1x12 is not square on the
bottom. After several opinions Bob J came up with putting metal flashing
up under the batten boards, covering the gap and nailing in place. Paint it
and nobody will notice standing five feet away. By then it was nearing noon,
so we broke for Subway. I was going to ride the 2 pm train to La Crosse with
rare mileage on on the old PM to Thomaston.
 
Other items, Mark an John spiked about 30 ties on the Erie line with maybe 40
to go yet. Dave Cook assisted also.
 
Sparky Beyers an John worked on the UP tamper in the shop. Sparky's wife
assisted in the depot ticket office selling tickets.
 
 Steve Newland and Fred Boyer worked on window sills in Grasselli tower.

 

Steve Hendrics painted the Grasselli tower desk green.

 

Sorry for the delay in getting this out. I had Ross Robinson from Ottawa ONT

visit Monday, Tuesday, and left Wednesday. With school bus driving, time

has been not available for me,

 

Tuesday evening decided to eat the Michigan City LS&MC depot on the lakefront,

known as Swingbellys. As of mid October, they will close an move to a newer

restuarant. But the bad news is that nothing is scheduled to move into the

depot building. A waitress told me that a Sheriff's sale at a later date. Most

likely the building wil be bought, tore down an condos built.  Amtrak still makes

stops at the shelter a couple times a day, many Amtrak trains pass by also. Freight

operations most likely carried out at night by NS i think. So before Swingbellys

closes, stop by for a hamburger and enjoy the view of Lake Michigan and

passing Amtrak trains.
 

Will try an keep everyone updated on this closing.

 

Tomorrow is HVRM's open house. Maybe a board meeting at 8am in the depot.

General meeting on the 20th.

 

Summer is not over yet, as it will warm up next week. Out in Poway CA its over

100 degrees for a few days, I just enjoy the nice cool weather.

 

Tom Travis

Spiking Those Ties on Erie Line 8-30-2014

Greetings,
 
After a long week of driving school bus and getting back into a routine, it
was a sleep in for me Saturday morning. I arrived at HVRM about 9ish
and drove in the back way to see the tie gang already working hard at
spiking those Erie ties. It was a fairly cool morning so far an decided to
help out. Cory, Mark, Steve Hendrics, Dave Cook and a new member,
whom I forgot to get his name. I had met him a couple of weeks ago in
the kitchen car, but forgot already. Cory had the spiking hammer going
full blast. Dave and Mark raised the ties and Steve drove in spikes with
a BIG HAMMER to ge them started. I bet everyone will be happy when
the Studebaker petrified wood ties are gone, which I think they are.
Extremely hard to hammer in with the air spiker. Hopefully they will outlast
all the other ties. All new ties have been used up. Only new ties left are for
the road crossings replacement. That was scheduled for Sunday/Monday,
but cancelled for the immediate future due to scheduling problems with
North Judson street department. Broke for early lunch and returned to
finish up about 2:30pm. Ninety some ties were spiked on Saturday, with
approx 70 to go. The replacement ties go past the interchange switch some
distance. Once this is done, I believe that will be all for this year.
 
Les Beckman used my grinder on the 899 passenger car door to take the
flaking paint off. He got it primed and will paint it when he has some more
Pullman Green paint along with the areas that require some touch up.
Some window frames need to be repainted entirely also.
 
Sparky Beyers and someone else were working on the UP tie tamper in
the shop replacing bushings. Richard Warner & Sparky devised a system
to easily remove and replace them. So the tamper will soon be out doing
its job on the ERIE line soon. Richard Warner, still on vacation visiting Devils
Tower in Wyoming on Saturday an returning to North Judson soon this
coming week.
 
Bing Ringsley was out on his skid loader down helping with pushing in rail
to make guage. Instead of using the chain come along, slow an labor
intensive, using his machine makes it simpler and faster.
 
I don't have much else to report, since I never really saw who was there.
 
Next Saturday morning is board meeting and on the 13th is Open House
& Scout Day. No details yet.
 
Enjoy your Labor Day on Monday the 1st of September. Early this year, but
will be hot and humid with chance of thunderstorms. Heston Steam Museum
has a number of steam engines running this year. I'm heading up there
tomorrow for a visit.
 
Ross Robinson from Ottawa Ontario will be visiting 8, 9. 10th of September
for a short visit to the area, then heading west. Ross had 2 knee replacements
in the past year and walks much better now. Ross has helped with various
projects at HVRM in past years. WCHX 1114 tank car rebuild, and GTW 75072
transfer caboose repainting an relettering. Many thanks to Ross.
 
Tom Travis 

Record Amount of Ties Put In Erie ROW 1-23-2014

Greetings,
 
Last week much activity occurred during the week at HVRM. Les took this picture
of coach 899 when he came down on Wednesday to do some more putting
primer on the peeling paint spots. For some reason the paint did not stick very
well when the car was painted, so try again. The manlift provides a good platform
to stand on, not having to move a ladder every 2 feet, an is used for this work
on railway equipment now all the time.
 
Saturday dawned hot, and got hotter as the day progressed. Thursday, Cory and
Mark Kniebel inserted new ties in the old Erie right-of-way to the southeast towards
IN 10. Friday, Cory and John LaOrange put in new ties again. Saturday Cory,
John, Dave Cook and Mark inserted more ties. A total of 160 ties were put in.
Now all those ties need to be spiked. A large job for any museum. Bing Ringsley
took his skidder down to push old busted up ties into a pile for pickup later. How
years ago all the track that was put down, was all done manually. Now we have
a backhoe that takes out and inserting ties with brute force. The payloader
hauls down 20 or more ties at one time and dropping them on the steel rails
to be put in later. Yes manual labor is still needed for aligning, inserting
tie plates. Spiking spikes is now down with an air compressor and spike driver.
 
I worked on the payloader garage today, painting boards before nailing them
on the building. I took off one large 1x12x10 foot board that just was impossible
to fix with a curved edge that would not accept batten boards flat on the boards.
I had to make a trip to Norwaynes Lumber at 11:30am for more boards, but was
so busy I had to return at 1:30pm to pick them up. So now I have enough boards
for trim on the corners. Pre painting sure saves a lot of time in the long run.
Humidity was a factor today that made it difficult to nail on the building, sweat
was getting into my eyes an had to wipe them every so often. A couple of trips
to the HVRM depot to sit in the a/c an cool down. Next week I hope to get the
trim corner pieces on an finish up the building. The east wall needs another
coat of paint, so I got a can of motar gray for that latter on. The one coat just
did not cover the bare board that well. Its impossible to fix everything on the
garage, but is painted outside and looks good. Now the motor car shed needs
some serious work done to it soon, or the roof will come off. The walls are
in dire need of paint an new wood.
 
Work on Grasselli tower was evident by Steve Newland, Fred Boyer an Steve
Hendrics when he was on break from train duties. Fred was working on
window sills again. Steve working on wood projects inside.
 
Depot was staffed today by Bruce Emmons and Bob Barcus. The depot was
a welcome spot to cool down in during the day. Engineer for the first run to English
Lake was Todd Flanigan, a long time member keeping up his quals. Also noted
was Steve Hendrics, Bjarne Henderson, John DeGan working. Randall Downs
and Joe Kingsbury were car hosts. The passenger car a/c worked well today.
Passenger counts were about 50 or more on all three runs. The run to La Crosse
must of been exciting on the way back to North Judson. A huge lightning an rain
storm came thru Starke county about 3:40pm with high winds and possible hail.
Passengers were most likely moved from the open air cars to the passenger
coach for protection against the storm. Rain totals from Fridays storm was over
5 inches of rain, filling the parking lot with water. I left at 4pm in the middle of
the storm an was difficult driving. Lots of standing water in the roads. Flood
watches for Indiana counties were in effect.
 
Open house at HVRM is slated for September 13th. Mark that day down on your
calendars.
 
Bob Albert worked on the Illinois Central caboose floor, sanding it to bare wood.
Getting one area done first, then moving items inside to that area. Still a lot of
work to do before reopening. Bob had trouble getting the monster floor sander
inside, very heavy for one person. Bob Barcus assisted in getting that item up
inside.
 
All outside work had wrapped up by the time the storm came thru North Judson.
I rearranged the Erie shed making more room for ladders and putting some
work tools back into the stand. It is now open to walk into without climbing
over some item. The backhoe, heard from Bing, blew a hydralic hose, spraying
oil all over.
 
In the coming Saturdays, spiking ties will most likely be done. It is hard work,
and the spiker is heavy to lift around. An air hose handler is needed to help
keep the lines out of the way. It is east to get wrapped up and falling down
is dangerous. Track work is not easy. Don't overdo it out there in the heat,
drink plenty of water an take breaks. Remember, we are not young anymore,
physical work is not part of our lifestyle. Be CAREFUL out there.
 
Have a good week an watch out for those school busses loading an unloading
students.
 
Tom Travis HVRM Restoration 


 

 

Short Day, Short Report HVRM 8-16-2014

Greetings,
 
I was down at HVRM Friday afternoon from 3:30pm to about 7:30 pm painting
the big door on the payloader garage. Got it entirely painted in Pewter Cup, looks
good today. Just did not have time last week due to meetings with the bus
transportation garage for return to school on 19 August. Maybe 90% complete
at this time. Still have trim boards to replace and paint and one large board
on the east side that needs painting an batten replaced.
 
The C&I track crew was working at replacing ties Friday afternoon, but had
the line open today for HVRM's tourist trains. Don't know the status of the rail
line, but most likely was a slow order over the new ties. I have no idea how
many ties were replaced as of Friday afternoon.
 
Saturday morning, I got up late an got down to North Judson about 9:00am or so.
I drove in on Main street an saw the track gang spiking down new ties that were
put in last week by Cory an Mark. 48 ties were inserted. The Studebaker ties are
dried out, petrified wood, hard to drive spike with spike driver. But those ties need
to be used up eventually and putting them on the Erie line is a good idea. Putting
motor oil on the tips of spikes helped somewhat into the Studebaker ties.
Sparky Beyer was the man on the air spiker, it got more an more difficult for
him towards the end, but he hung in there an spiked all 48 ties. John LaOrange
started spikes with a small mallet and Mark Kniebel and David Cook did the honors
of using the spike bars to lift up the ties. I was on the air hose making sure that
Sparky did not trip over it or have it in his way. A pretty smooth operation. Bing
Ringsley showed up with his skid loader an picked up the old ties an
stacked them in a couple of piles along the trail, saving getting the payloader
out to move them. Spiking was completed by 2:30pm, an I left for home to get
ready for a wedding reception in Winimac. Thanks to all the guys for their hard
work today.
 
Fred Boyer, Steve Newland were in Grasselli tower working on windows, etc.
 
Richard Warner was around with another guy an may of been working on the
tie tamper, but not sure.
 
Bob Albert was working in the IC Orange caboose. May of been working on a
display case or the floor getting it ready for staining.
 
The C&O 2789 was pulled outside today for viewing. I have priced 1 Shot paint
and hardener and have an idea of what it would cost to put lettering on the engine.
Les Beckman is looking into stencils for the engine.
 
Not much to report this week. Train ridership was not the greatest today either,
but all 3 trains did run on schedule. John DeGan was engineer, Mike ? was
conductor I believe, Steve Hendrics was training today. Joe Kingsbury, Randall
Downs were car attendants. Loretta Kosloske worked the depot. Margret Cook
had lunch today with lots of corn on the cob, tomatoes, cucumbers, ham salad
sandwiches, potatoes and cake. 
 
Everyone have a safe week. Keep an eye out for those kids going to school an
school busses loading an unloading kids along city streets and country roads.
 
Tom Travis

Beautiful Day At HVRM 8-9-2014

Greetings to All,
 
Well it has been quite a week for activities at HVRM an elsewhere. Wonderful weather
wise yesterday, mid 80's, low humidity, perfect for working outside. A trip to Chicago
on the South Shore Wednesday was a treat for me from Michigan City. The SS was
putting up new wire on the line  from the 4-8th of August an were bussing folks
to the South Bend airport for every arrival an departure at Michigan City. Not the
high speed run, but new line will certainly make a more reliable trip in the future.
Maybe the bilevel cars will now be able to make that run to South Shore. I have
heard a voltage drop made it not practical to run them on the line east of Michgan
City. Also west of the diamond with Amtrak, 10 street running has a slow order
due to the street being tore up to replace railroad ties in the line. This must be in
anticipation of running faster in the next couple of years. 11th St is going to be
rebuilt with two lines to facilitate faster running an passing of trains. The street
will be turned into one way only. Otherwise a very nice trip into Chicago. Much
railroad maintenance is evident along the line with track equipment stored
everywhere. An upsurge of freight traffic is evident by SS diesel all up an down
the line. Ususally after the 10:55am departure of the bilevels, a pair of GP-38's
follow the train out for freight work. On the return trip of the 7:10pm departure from
Chicago, arrival in Michigan City, a pair of GP-38's were right on the tail of the
returning train waiting to get into the yard. A very busy interchange point the Carroll
street shop area. A trip on the CTA in Chicago from Dearborn an Washington
to Rosemont near O'Hare was a great ride also. In between stations, speed is
at a good clip, little like a amusement park ride. I noticed a old viaduct rail line
the runs east-west has been abandoned and is being turned into a walking/biking
trail, but is way behind schedule. I looked it up an its an old Milwaukee line that
went over the Chicago river to Goose Island yard. I visited an old friend, Tom Mulvaney
from Lexington KY who makes it up this way about once a year. I talk to Tom weekly
on Amateur radio and he is also a member of HVRM.
 
I made it down to HVRM a couple of times for work on the payloader garage painting
and replacing wood on the outside. One wall, west side, is completed, the remaining
walls are painted, but need wood replacement in spots. Yesterday the garage doors
were scrapped of old paint and primed. Some of the big cut lumber has been absorbing water, causing the paint to peal off. A couple of coats of primer were applied to help with the problem. Next week I plan on painting the doors a coat of Pewter Cup
paint. Motar Gray is the standard paint for the buildings around the museum. Mark
Kniebel has completed the repainting of the depot the last couple of weeks and
has rehung the signs on the depot.
 
The monthly board meeting was held at 8am in the depot. Many items were discussed
as possible donations or further programs for train operations. One item is an
NW2 EMD type locomotive that a member of HVRM is pursuing BP oil in Cleveland
TX to donate. Many comments an question were posed on condition of the engine.
The engine does have one traction motor that is inoperable. The EMD model 40
has the exact same traction motor that could be used. The engine does have
roller bearings an could be moved on rail. Ray Kammer has contacted the museum
about seeing if an ERIE RPO at Elkhart IN could be donated to HVRM. Ray also
has a diner car that would like to see used in some sort of train service. All were
taken under advisement. Road crossings will be reworked on the Labor Day weekend
doing one crossing on Sunday, the other on Monday, with paving done on Tuesday.
This is the best time for low volume of traffic, school busses, farmers etc using the
crossing. The burnt out troop tool car is inside the shop building, studying the best
plan for rebuilding a new floor. Both the ALCO an GE are running fine. The tie tamper
is inside the shop having some needed work done. Oil gaskets have been replaced,
Sparky was attempting to remove a broken bolt with an easy out yesterday. The
man who instructed how to run the machine will be back to show how to tamp
switches sometime soon. The LIRR passenger car was filled with fuel for the
diesel motor this past week. I brought up the fact that C&O 2789 is totally without
lettering or numbers. When brought outside it looks like just a blg black bug.
I brought up the idea of relettering an numbering the engine an tender. The tender
has been painted some time ago, but needs another coat of black paint an so does
the cab on the engine. The sand dome has weathered outside for some time an
needs painting. We would like to see Chesapeake & Ohio put on the sand dome
on the 2789. I was to get a cost estimate for this project. The repainting could be done during the winter time. I will get paint costs and Les will research the stencils for
relettering. HVRM does have a C&O disc that has a lot of this information on it.
Bob Albert has replaced the crossbucks on a number of street crossings with new
signs an posts during the last couple of weeks. Richard Warner has promised
a big dumpster when it is available for scrap metal, that is growing bigger every week.
Joe Kingsbury was commended for his fine work on the newsletter by a company
person who reads it, saying its one of the best he has seen. Doug wants the
Whitcomb painted up some an glass replacement in the windows done. Just another
task that needs to be done someday.
 
Train crew consisted of, Doug Kosloske, Steve Hendrics, Fred Boyer, Mike
Joe Kingsbury, Randall Downs. A brake issue on the Bessemer caboose was
noted, looks as if new brakes were installed an the linkage needed to be adjusted.
Trains ran good today. A 10 mph speed restriction was placed on the area north
of Arlington ST crossing where ties were replaced.  Returning train from La Crosse
was run at about 2  mph due to a sun kink in the rail. John DeGan was flagger for
train crossings.
 
Grasselli Tower workers today were Fred Boyer, Steve Newland an Joe Baker was
working on mostly anything around the museum that needed fixing electrical or
mechanical.
 
Tie replacement down the ERIE main line east of Main street near the signal was
done with 16 ties put in an spiked. Cory Bennett, David Cook, John LaOrange,
Mark Kniebel were the workers. Tamping needs to be done once the tie tamper
comes out of the shop south of IN10 and some areas around the museum. Bing
Ringsley brought out his skidder machine to pick up old ties an stack them in
a pile. Bing also removed a set of old steps behind the payloader garage down
to the area of the new ties for storage, out of the way. I needs to do a good clean up
around the shed when I get done with repainting. Les Beckman assisted in scrapeing
the pealing paint off the doors an did some wood work on the door. Some bolts
needed tightning up also. The manlift is near the ERIE shed, but will be used
again soon on the building. Les also pounded a pipe in the ground for the rod that
holds the door open. The ALCO was switched tracks in the shop for some

work being done on it.

 

Bob Barcus and Loretta Kosloske were depot workers today. No count on passenger

riders today. Bob Barcus noted during the meeting, the Lionel TTA and School kids

passenger runs did very well sales wise in the depot gift shop. The tour guides from

INDY were very impressed with the museum an its train ride, they will be scheduling

more trips in the future. A Port A Potty will be put behind the depot for use during

October train trips. The WWII people have cancelled out for September.

 

That is about all for now. Remember school starts in a lot of local communities

on different days this month. Be careful of children walking to school and those

big yellow school busses out on the road. Lots of rail accidents this past week

up in the Chicago area from people walking on active rail lines, to cars going

around downed gates at Miller IN resulting in fatalities. If you do get caught on

railroad tracks get out of the car an go to a safe area, or break thru the gates,

they are wood an easily replaced. I saw a video yesterday of a crossing that some

thing had hit the entire flashing light stand an toppled it over onto CSX causing

a CSX train pulling the special movement of C&O 1309 to the Western Maryland

Scenic Railroad to go into emergency, even a short train took a very long way

to stop completely, the CSX engine did push it off the tracks before passing. But

someone had tried to call CSX to warn them, but it was not passed on to the train

quickly enough to stop. Someone had a cellphone an completely recorded

the entire incident. Cell phones can be your friend, but also your enemy if

you use it while driving behind the wheel talking or texting. So be careful

out there.

 

Have a great week.

 

Tom

Short Train Ride at HVRM 2 Aug 2014

Greetings,
 
Hope everyone is enjoying the mild weather in the midwest, cool nights,
warm days, low humidity. Weather has been unpredicatable for showers.
Yesterday here in La Porte it hailed, rained buckets, lightning an thunder,
North Judson, nada, zip, none, just some dark clouds an heard thunder
in the distance. Saw one lightning strike an I broke for lunch yesterday.
I took the backroads home this afternoon, an the corn an beans needs
some rain, a little on the wilted side. Tomorrow night is the big predicted
storm, so batten down the hatches.
 
Speaking of batten, I have been down to HVRM everyday last week working on
the payloader garage. Replacing wood, putting new boards on, replacing
batten with scraps of old. Hey once it painted you will not tell the difference
10 feet away. Thursday was my only day I did not  work. I have finished
the west wall, east wall, but have wood to replace yet, north wall is 1/2 completed
with some wood replacement and the south wall, the big door is requiring quite
a bit of work. Its always in the sun, so its hot. That will be done in small increments.
 
The week has been a beehive of activity at the museum. Cory and Richard have
worked on the tie tamper to fix an oil leak somewhere in the system. Richard has
been using the John Deere and newly donated and working sprayer system to
spray overgrown brush along the right of way. Today I saw Richard and
Sparky using the hose sprayer to get some trees sprayed. Seem to work quite
well. Mark has been in after his mail route to cut brush along the C&I route brushing
up against the tourist train. Cory assisted a couple of evenings. Joe Kingsbury
put up new HVRM signs on the NKP open air car on Friday, with the help of Louise.
 
A semi load of new ties were delivered last Saturday to the museum early in the
day. Quickly unloaded an stacked down by the PRR boxcar.
 
Joe Baker installed new lights in the Illinois Central caboose, bought from
Morgan Township school for an amazing very low price, taken out were the
old long tubed lights. These lights will brighten things up considerably when
the artifacts go back into the caboose.
 
The tower crew, Steve Newland, Steve Hendrics and Fred Boyer were busy up
in the tower painting an replacing pipes. A power problem for the signals
and in the tower was experienced today. Seems a switch on the signal cabinet
was turned off. Once turned on all the signals were back in operation.
 
Train crew, engineer was Doug, Conductor Bob Barcus, a couple of trainees
were also working today. Loretta was in the depot. Margret provided lunch today
with bushels of sweet corn, and cucumbers, along with noodles & meat balls.
A cake was provided by a guest lady engineer from the morning.
 
The air compresser was pulled down to IN 10 park area to spike ties that were
inserted last week. Mark, David, John LaOrange and Sparky rounded out the crew.
The task was completed by 3pm.
 
The tourist train was cut short on its runs to English Lake and La Crosse due to
a problem of alignment in the track north of Arlington St. Wednesday I heard
a train whistle close to the museum, but thought nothing of it, until I told Mark
later. He said an engine an caboose came down to replace 2 ties on the curve,
when the track was lifted up by the track jacks, it pulled other ties up out of the
ballast got the tracks out of specs. A steel rod was placed between the 2 rails
to pull the track back into guage. But it noted by the C&I all was well for operations,
but it was decided to let someone else check out the track first either by the city
or the museum. So runs were made on the 1 mile Erie line today, making for a
short ride. No count of passengers was given today.
 
The LIRR passenger car was moved to the shop area track for work on it next
week. The short open air car was moved back to the shop area also.
 
Things wrapped up quickly today, an by 4pm the depot was locked an everyone
on their way home. A nice day, but sort of hot in the sun
 
Only 2 weeks till school starts for La Porte and surrounding schools. Please
be careful in the morning an watch for walkers on the streets that normally
are not out. School busses will be out picking up children also, please remember
to stop when the red overheads are flashing an the STOP is extended out on the
left side of the bus. Safety is parmount in getting children to schools
 
Have a good week
 
Tom HVRM

Keeping the rail heritage going at HVRM on 7/26/14

 

Hello folks!

Arrived at the museum this morning about 9:00 a.m.  The first train of the day was already at the platform with EL S1 Alco # 310 doing the honors for the day.  Nickel Plate flat car (open car) # 1946 was in the consist, added yesterday for the special trains for kids from the North Judson and La Crosse libraries.  This was the second special run day for the week.  This past Monday we hosted a La Crosse round trip for the Lionel Collectors of America as part of their Annual Meeting which was held in Indianapolis this year.  I believe that we had about 70 folks for that trip.  Not sure what the total was for the Library special.

Tom Travis was already hard at work on the C&O garage which we use for our Payloader.  The building is one of three that were donated by CSX way back in 1991 and moved from their original locations on the west side of the old C&O tracks onto museum property. The buildings have not weathered well and the one now used as the Museum Secretary's office was repaired and resided in metal last year.  It was decided to try to repair the garage and keep its original board and batten wood siding.  A number of boards have been replaced and the batten replicated.  It's a tiring effort and Tom has been doing with wonderful job.  I helped him with various aspects today.  Tom doesn't drive his school bus routes in the summer of course, and does work on the project on certain days during the week.  Additional hands would be welcome.  No experience is necessary!  I've included a photo of Tom doing some of the priming earlier today.

Also, Steve Henrichs completed the cleaning and painting of the long pipes holding the electrical wires for the levers in Grasselli Tower.  I helped Steve carry one of these long pipes upstairs while Steve Newland (younger and stronger!) managed the other one by himself.  The photo shows the one pipe laying on the floor of the tower with the other one on the floor behing me.  Steve Henrichs now believes that a third pipe may have been in the location between these two pipes, but he had not located it in our stock of items that we brought to the museum when Grasselli was moved.  We don't know if the IHB had taken it out before the tower was given to us, or if we might have misplaced it.  It's big and heavy, so I have my doubts about a misplacement.  But, who knows?  If anyone knows anything, please advise!

A number of visitors and train riders today, from as far away as New Jersey!  Always good to see. 

The "Gandy Dancer" crew of John LaOrange, Cory Bennett, Dave Cook and Mark Knebel were out working on track again today on the east end of the museum property.

Sparky Byers and Rich Warner worked on the tamper in the Shop in the morning and it was available for the track gang after lunch.  

Margrett Cook had jumbo hot dogs, potato salad and a number of other goodies for lunch.  Yum!

Bob Albert continued with the replacement of certain crossing bucks out on the line.

Mark Knebel has finished giving the museum depot its new coat of gray and white.  Looks good!

Our moderate July temps continue to which I can only give Mother Nature a big, THUMBS UP! 

Tom and I packed up and I signed out at 4:30 p.m.  A rather long day!

Enjoy the upcoming week everyone!

Les