Greetings to all,
A late start this morning got me down to HVRM about 10am. As I drove
up to the museum entrance, the lake in the parking lot was gone, no
snow to be seen. The 60's yesterday must of done the trick to get rid
of all that water. But wait, the front of the depot was abuzz with activity.
Yes the backhoe was busy pulling ties out from in front of the platform.
The payloader had a load of new ties on the forks. Yes my friends, the season
has commenced, the dreaded TRACK WORK that consumes Mark,
Cory, John, David were all at it. How dare those guys start something
without consulting me. Well it was on a moments notice that they decided
to start. In addition Sparky was conned into helping also. A goal of 14 ties
were decided to be replace. I joined in on the work party, careful not to fall
down on my first real work session of the season. Lots of shoveling stone
away was physically draining. Broke for lunch and returned to get a couple
more ties put in. Spikes were started, David went down to get the air compressor,
but needed to check the battery to make sure it had a full charge on it.
He was gone an awful long time in front of the shop with the compressor. We
all believed it was running, but actually was the LIRR coach engine running.
A small problem had occurred on the compressor, it would not turn over,
the starter had gone bad. One is on order for over 200 dollars now.
In the mean time, the LIRR coach was been cleaned of the winters dirt. Bjanrne
and a couple of others made it clean once again for the Easter ege hunt
coming up in April.
Back to the depot, no compressor, meant the dreaded spike maul had to
be used to pound all those spikes into the ties. Everyone took a turn,
even Richard took a couple of swings with the maul. Everyone was
just about exhausted by the time it was completed. The old ties
were stacked for removal by the payloader, guess what, the payloader
would not start, dead battery, so the battery charger had to be tracked
down and electric cord layed out. Battery charged, payloader started, ties
removed. Mission accomplished.
Down in the shop had a paint crew working on the IC caboose, Joe, Louise,
Fred, Fred and Bjarne were painting inside an out. One coat of orange has
been applied, with a 2nd coat on the north side of the caboose. Inside primer
has been applied to the wood. Louise has worked 4 days on the inside priming.
I did not see it, but all say it looks good.
Richard was inside the depot working on getting the wiring in for the switches
in the west depot room. A number of people showed up to visit the depot
an tour the grounds. Spring is here, cabin fever. Some donations were brought
to the museum today, magazines and books.
It was decided to put down rubber flooring in the IC caboose, Doug was going
to get 20 boxes at about 600 dollars from Menards tonight to cover the entire
floor. With a 11% discount, some money was saved.
Doug held a morning session of conductor training with 4 members.
So a fun filled day was had by all, some may certainly feel it tomorrow morning
in areas that have not been used all winter, muscle wise.
Hopefully things will go better next week. Come on out and enjoy the spring
weather.......
Tom
A late start this morning got me down to HVRM about 10am. As I drove
up to the museum entrance, the lake in the parking lot was gone, no
snow to be seen. The 60's yesterday must of done the trick to get rid
of all that water. But wait, the front of the depot was abuzz with activity.
Yes the backhoe was busy pulling ties out from in front of the platform.
The payloader had a load of new ties on the forks. Yes my friends, the season
has commenced, the dreaded TRACK WORK that consumes Mark,
Cory, John, David were all at it. How dare those guys start something
without consulting me. Well it was on a moments notice that they decided
to start. In addition Sparky was conned into helping also. A goal of 14 ties
were decided to be replace. I joined in on the work party, careful not to fall
down on my first real work session of the season. Lots of shoveling stone
away was physically draining. Broke for lunch and returned to get a couple
more ties put in. Spikes were started, David went down to get the air compressor,
but needed to check the battery to make sure it had a full charge on it.
He was gone an awful long time in front of the shop with the compressor. We
all believed it was running, but actually was the LIRR coach engine running.
A small problem had occurred on the compressor, it would not turn over,
the starter had gone bad. One is on order for over 200 dollars now.
In the mean time, the LIRR coach was been cleaned of the winters dirt. Bjanrne
and a couple of others made it clean once again for the Easter ege hunt
coming up in April.
Back to the depot, no compressor, meant the dreaded spike maul had to
be used to pound all those spikes into the ties. Everyone took a turn,
even Richard took a couple of swings with the maul. Everyone was
just about exhausted by the time it was completed. The old ties
were stacked for removal by the payloader, guess what, the payloader
would not start, dead battery, so the battery charger had to be tracked
down and electric cord layed out. Battery charged, payloader started, ties
removed. Mission accomplished.
Down in the shop had a paint crew working on the IC caboose, Joe, Louise,
Fred, Fred and Bjarne were painting inside an out. One coat of orange has
been applied, with a 2nd coat on the north side of the caboose. Inside primer
has been applied to the wood. Louise has worked 4 days on the inside priming.
I did not see it, but all say it looks good.
Richard was inside the depot working on getting the wiring in for the switches
in the west depot room. A number of people showed up to visit the depot
an tour the grounds. Spring is here, cabin fever. Some donations were brought
to the museum today, magazines and books.
It was decided to put down rubber flooring in the IC caboose, Doug was going
to get 20 boxes at about 600 dollars from Menards tonight to cover the entire
floor. With a 11% discount, some money was saved.
Doug held a morning session of conductor training with 4 members.
So a fun filled day was had by all, some may certainly feel it tomorrow morning
in areas that have not been used all winter, muscle wise.
Hopefully things will go better next week. Come on out and enjoy the spring
weather.......
Tom
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