Plenty of Work at HVRM 6-19-2014

Greetings to all,
 
Saturday was a great day for projects at HVRM. 8am general membership
meeting met inside the depot. A quorum was reached only at the last moment.
Various reports were given. The house next to Bing's is almost officially HVRM's,
Tom McKee's son has offered to tear it down free of charge an recycle the material.
They will be contacted an given a time limit to get it down. The garage was
discussed that it could be used as a storage shed for lawn mowers and other
items that are not used in the winter. The building will have to be inspected as

to what may need to be done with exterior and interior. No doors are on the

building at this time and some sort of doors would have to be built. The garage

would show up on properity taxes if left. Trees are dead an have to come down

or  will come down on their own in a storm. Joe Baker has acquired free of

charge 3 LED outside lamps and wil be installed today on the shop building.

The 3 lamps are of different sizes, but will be much easier to repair than the old

lighting on the building. Savings of $60 per year on electric should be saved.

Joe will seek grants from companies to acquire more lamps for around the

museum grounds. A tie order has been put in for 250. North Judson will

reimburse HVRM for 60 or so for crossing replancement in the near future.

The John Deere 4010 has developed a hydralic leak in the 3 point hitch system

an will require work this winter to be able to use the brush hog mower again.

Loretta noted that ridership is down on regular rides, but the LaCrosse trips

are up in numbers. I did not get the ridership for today.

 

Train today used EL 310 for diesel power. Last Sunday, work was performed on

the Interstate Steel 11 to trouble shoot the reverser problem. It was found that a

wire had come off the reverser mechanism an repaired. GE 11 is now back in

service. A number of people assisted with troubleshooting the problem. Last

Sunday, was guest engineer day for a number of people. A good program

for the museum and money income.

 

Engineers/Conductors-John DeGan/Doug Kosloske

Car attendants, Bill Dauber/Randall Downs/Tom Travis

Student conductor-Steve Hendrics

Depot- Loretta Kosloske

Kitchen Car-Margret Cook

Road crossing guard, Bob Jacqim, Les Beckman crossings to English Lake.

Richard Warner has donated an old John Deere weed sprayer. Sparky Beyers,

John LaOrange worked repairing they sprayer. Unknown what problems it may

have, but will be solved. A 50 foot hose with spray nozzle will be bought to be

used on the sprayer for areas that can't be reached by the sprayer. The sprayer

will be used to control the brush in the wye area that was recently cleared of trees

in the past years. Grassy area of the museum can now be sprayed quickly and

easily with the sprayer. It will help eliminate the use of sprayer backpacks and

the small pull around sprayers.

 

The tie replacement crew was busy getting ties replaced on the south side of 

IN 10 at the park area. 18 ties were replaced with what ties were on hand.

Spiking ties were difficult due to the dryness of the ties.  Cory Bennett, John

LaOrange, Dave Cook, Mark Knebel, Sparky Beyers were the crew today.

 

The payloader garage was worked on by Tom Travis, Fred Boyer, Steve Newland,

Les Beckman. I started on taking boards off the west side of the building that were

unsalvageable along with batten board. The corner boards also were dry rotted.

Fred and Steve cut notches in the wood for the rafters and corner boards. Steve

gave some tips on how to nail up the boards. Les gave assistance is nailing

boards up higher than I could reach. All the boards were primed before

nailing up. Jim Minnix cut boards to match the dimensions of the batten boards.

It won't be exactly the same designs as the old batten, but will be close. Old

batten boards were milled with a curved cut on the backside for boards that were

uneven and a cut made on each side of the board in a curved fashion. Old time

carpentry not found today on buildings. As old batten is taken off, it will be saved

for lengths that do no require a full 10 foot lenght, just replacement. 

 

Grasselli tower was worked on by Fred Boyer and Steve Newland. Fred painted

window sills.

 

The manlift is now back in operation. It still goes now slowly, but not as fast as

before. Some more parts and work is needed to rectify the problem, but is fully

operational.

 

Safety at the museum is paramont. A tourist museum experienced a death on

the properity by slipping under the wheels of a locomotive. Platforms are needed

to be watched carefully while trains are in motion. Watch for activity under

and around train cars. Climbing on equipment is strictly unauthorized. Discussion

for footwear around the museum should not be sandals or flip flop. A disclaimer

will be printed that wearing such footwear wil be at your own risk. Tour guides

in the shop area have been on going to groups, keeping the public aware of

hazards to unsuspecting visitors.

 

Monday, the Lionel Train Collector Convention from INDY will be coming by bus

to ride the train at 10am. We are expecting a large group for this event. July 25th

will also be another group riding the train at 10am. Come out an volunteer

if possible as carhosts, ticket takers, depot volunteers.

 

Everyone have a good week, drive safe, enjoy the nice weather we are having.

 

Hope to see everyone next Saturday.

 

Tom Travis HVRM