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