Drizzly, but beautiful day at Hoosier Valley 11/17/18

 

Greetings -

Snow in the forecast for the day, but just had a light rain most of the afternoon with temps in the mid 30's all day.

Bob Albert has been working on the photo displays in Pullman Troop Sleeper # 7256, including those highlighting the Studebaker Automobile Company in South Bend, Indiana.  Photo one shows a photo display of historical photos relating to Studebaker.  Note the photo of Wabash boxcar # 49114, a car that is displayed at Hoosier Valley.  The company used box cars like this to ship parts and also entire automobiles to Studebaker dealers around the county. The second photo shows one of Bob's previous Studebaker displays that he recently renewed with new wood frames.

While in the Troop Sleeper, I checked for recent additions to the N scale display of North Judson.  Jon Oram has added grass and a number of trees to the display and also told me that a N gauge 1951 Desoto had been placed on the layout.  I looked, and actually found the maroon colored car! 

Joe Kingsbury continues working on our Porter diesel.  Photo number 3 shows one side of the cab with its finished ND&W 5332 lettering.  Also note the template on the hood of the unit.  The 4th shot shows Joe working on the lettering on the other side of the cab. 

Work also continued on putting ballast down on the new spur going into the west side of the museum's Shop.  Dave Cook with the air hammer is at left in photo number 5, while John La Orange handles the second air hammer with Tom Rainford behind John using his shovel to spread the stone.  Later Mark Knebel (left) and Cory Bennett took over the hammers, as seen in the 6th shot.

Two Saturdays ago, the museum started putting down new stone for the upcoming arrival of Erie Lackawanna open window coach # 4328.  Last Saturday, additional stone was put down from the Mulberry Street pavement over to the track where the car was to be unloaded.  The job got finished just in time, because word was received mid-morning that the truck bringing the car to HVRM, was on its way up from Noblesville! 

There was no formal lunch today so after finishing work on the west side Shop spur mentioned above, Tom Rainford and I went over to Subway for a quick lunch.  Upon our return, we found EL number 4328 sitting on Mulberry Street, waiting to go onto museum property (photo 7).  The unloading of truck-shipped railroad equipment is a long and involved, and we aren't able to document each step, however these next photos will give you an idea of the work.  Schlatter Boys Trucking handled the move of the 1917-built car and in the 8th shot, we see the two sets of trucks up on the roll off truck.  The first set of trucks has to be placed on the unloading track before the unloading of the 4328 can be started.  The 9th photo shows the first set of trucks coming off.  Doug Kosloske, who arranged to purchase the car, is shown in the 10th pix, putting heave grease into the bowl of the unloaded truck.  Once the first truck is on the unloading track, the car can be brought onto the property.  This move was not without problems as the truck got its wheels stuck in the new stone necessitating bringing out the museums Payloader to provide some helper service (photo # 11).  The car eventually was carefully positioned over the unloading track and the jacks positioned to lift up the front end of the car (pix 12), and once raised, the truck was pushed back (photo # 13) and lined up with the cars bolster with the jacks lowering the car onto the truck.  Not as easy as it sounds, this particular operation took quite a while.  With the car now sitting with a railroad truck on one end and the highway bogie on the other end, work commenced on getting the second railroad truck under the car.  This first entailed removing the third axle from the rear highway bogie and then pulling out the remaining two axle bogie as seen in the 14th photo.  The jacks were placed in the proper spot, and the car was again lifted up as can be seen in the 15th shot, with Doug again getting ready to apply heavy grease to the truck.  The second truck was unloaded from the roll off truck (photo 16) and then, after being greased, was carefully backed under the car.   With both trucks now in place and the car safely sitting on Hoosier Valley track, a quick inspection of the interior took place (photo 17).  Much work now has to be done to the car, but one day it WILL run down HVRM rails.  Thanks to Joey and Jake Schlatter for the move of the car to North Judson. 

Hope everyone has a great week coming up and a most wonderful, and enjoyable, Thanksgiving.  Don't eat too much now!!

Les

 

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A blue September sky at HVRM 9/15/18

Greetings!

Membership/Business meeting scheduled for this morning cancelled due to lack of a quorum.  

Beautiful blue sky today with temps in the 80's.  I got the manlift out and tightened the balance of the bolts in the roof walk sections of Chicago & North Western box car # 284.  Not a hard job, but I kept waiting for some clouds to show up for some shade.  Didn't happen!  And it was hot up there!  Managed to get all of the bolts in and tightened except for one on each end which will have to be taken care of from the car ends.

Mark Knebel had to work today but earlier in the week, he had started in on NKP gondola # 45622.  Here is a shot of the results on one end of the car. 

Steve Henrichs was wire brushing some additional levers up in Grasselli Tower and by the end of the day, Steve had cleaned up three levers and painted them black.

The track crew of Cory Bennett, John La Orange, Dave Cook and Tom Rainford successfully put in some holes using the museums rail drill tied the two rails of the track leading into the west side of the shop together with a joint bar, as can be seen in the second photo.

Bob Barcus handled depot gift shop sales today while Charlene Gyurko was the ticket sales agent.  Since Charlene was in the depot, pizza was ordered for lunch.

Bjarne Henderson was the engineer on the G.E. diesel today while conductor John DeGan aided by student conductor Bob Gyurko.  Tom Travis and I handled attendant duties in Long Island coach 2937 and MKT open car # 13833 with Kevin Kennedy along on the first run.  Bob Jachim and Mike Healy handled flagman duties at the North Judson Mulberry Street crossing while Bob Albert took care of flagging the crossings out of town.  The first train scared up a coyote while the second train did the job on a young deer which was just developing its antlers.  The deer decided to race the train and cut across the tracks and was successful, but John and Bob said "just barely"!

Joe Kingsbury put a blue stripe on the Porter diesel and later in the day did some needlescaling on the unit.

Bob Albert used the table saw to cut some wood to size.

Supposed to stay warm until mid-week when cooler temps are scheduled to move in.  Have a great week everyone!

Les

 

Saturday August 25,2018 HVRM's Passenger Count Exceeds Expectation Today

Greetings to all railroad enthusiasts,

Today started out on the cool side, spitting rain, overcast, just plain damp conditions

at the museum. Again another superb turnout of HVRM members today to work a

number of jobs around the grounds

I arrived closer to 10am an saw some activity at the west shop area outside.

The track crew had begun prepping the ground for new ties to be laid down.

Cory Bennitt, John LaOrange, Tom Rainford, David Cook an Kevin Kenneddy 

were getting things together for a days work. Inside the west shed, Joe Kingsbury

an David Cook were busy working on the International mowing tractor. Seems a 

shaft from the engine to a pump was making funny sounds an they were in the

process removing the shaft to get to the pump for fixing. John brought around the

payloader to remove a set of trucks from an old boxcar, moving them by the reefer

shed building. Next was removing ties an debris from the ROW that the new track

would be placed. That took a while of do, as first the frog had to be removed from 

section of rail it was attached to, allowing ties be picked up. After that task, Cory

used the backhoe to break up the ground so it could be scraped up by the bucket

an dumped. David took over an remove remaining soil. After some grading an good

old shoveling of dirt, ties were ready to be set under the rail. John went down and

got a bundle of the new plastic ties. Break for lunch.

Charlene Gyurko had an excellent lunch for the working force. Pork steaks, potatoes with gravy,

green beans, apple sauce, an cottage cheese with green jello mix. For desert, cake.

Excellent lunch again prepared by Charlene.

After lunch, I volunteered to be car host in the open air car. A group of school students

an adults from I think Warsaw IN, a private school on a field trip. Very well behaved kids, I enjoyed

talking to everyone. Still the weather had not improved much, still sort of drizzly an cool,

but everyone had a great time. The second trip weather had improved somewhat,

but a smaller group on the open air car. The handicap lift was used for 2 ladies who

would of had trouble getting up the coach steps, all went well.

A couple of guest engineers ran the #11 to English Lake an back in the morning.

It was recertification day for a number of  engineers, Doug Koslovske, John DeGan were 

in the  cab. Steve Hendric was conductor for the first run, Bob Barcus the second run.

Joe Kingsbury manned the LIRR coach an the narrative for the trip. Tom Travis manned

the open air car. Bob Gyurko was in the B&LE caboose with the conductor getting time

on the job for conductor qualification.

Bob Barcus an Loretta Koslovske manned the depot for the day. Bob Albert worked around

the orange caboose. Richard Warner showed up, I saw Bing riding in his truck with Corky.

Mark Kniebel, had a day off from postal work, conducted the track inspection in the

speeder. Mark also provided crossing guard to English Lake. Mike ? from North Judson

was also in the depot. Sorry if I missed any one who was there today.

As the train returned from the 2nd trip to English Lake, I noted ties an tie plates were under 

the rail an ready for spiking next week. Some other track work needs to be completed

first so the frog an be placed an the switch installed, many long weekends remain till the 

switch is completed. Long wood ties need to be installed also under the switch.

By 3:30pm activities had wound down, mostly everyone departed soon after.

Loretta is setting up a table down at Bailey's next Saturday for memberships an brochures 

on activities at the museum. Please volunteer your time next weekend to  man the table.

Everyone have a good week. School has started, so watch out for kids loading an unloading

be observant of distance between your auto an the rear of school busses, La Porte has already

had one car rear end a school bus, luck had it no kids were on the bus at the time.

Tom Travis

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HVRM Saturday 18th SEPTEMBER--HOT AN HUMID DAY

 

Greetings to all. It was just another hot humid Saturday. Lots of activities around the museum today.

Depot was manned by Bob Barcus, gift shop, Charlene manned ticket booth.

Train crew, Steve Hendric engineer, Bob Albert conductor, Bob manned the Long Island coach.

Tom Travis  manned the open air car.

Mark Kniebel conducted the rail inspection with the motor car.

Track crew completed spiking down of the rail on west side of building.

Cory Bennett, John LaOrange, Dave Cook, Tom Rainford, Tom Travis rounded out the crew.

Spiking down 3 rails was the completed track.

No lunch today, Charlene was manning the ticket booth, everyone got lunch on their own.

After lunch, I rode the 12:30 pm, 2:00 pm trains. Some old timers rode the train from the Lake of the Four Seasons Historical

Socitey. Ted Fitzgerald from Crown Point rode the open air car, along with Walt  ? Les's car mechanic from Crown Point.

Had a nice talk with everyone on the open air car.

The day wore me out, left the train right after the last train arrival at the depot, Sorry no pictures, Les was

in Ann Arbor for the week.

Everyone have a good week, watch for school busses, school has started around the area, make sure you slow down

in cross walks for schools.

Tom Travis

Warm, but busy day at HVRM 8/11/18

Greetings!

Board meeting at Hoosier Valley this morning with a number of guests also in attendance.  Warm day with temps getting well into the 80's with sunshine most of the day.

A crew went out after the Board meeting to clean up a couple of downed trees at the picnic/trail area just off of State Route 10/39.  Crew consisted of Dave Cook, John La Orange,

Cory Bennett, Tom Rainford, and perhaps others.

Heard that there was a problem with one end of the center roof flashing on Grasselli Tower.  Obviously the report was accurate as can be seen in the first photo.  Apparently, the wind from a storm that passed through earlier in the week, got under the edging and the old nails failed.  The tower was constructed in 1904 and failure of the nails could be expected after all of this time.  It was decided to address the problem later in the day.  Meanwhile, I opened the tower and there was no indication that the roof was leaking; at least not yet!

You will recall that late last Saturday, Bing Risley dropped a bucket load of crushed stone at the concrete pad next to the lower door to Grasselli.  The second photo shows that stone pile.  I hiked down to the Shop and found a suitable shovel and proceeded to spread the stone around the step, as can be seen in the 3rd shot.  Yes, not a neat job, but should be satisfactory!

Took the shovel back to the Shop and found Bob Jachim (in the orange vest in the 4th pix) giving one of his talks on Kanawha # 2789 to three museum visitors.

During the past week, Mark Kneble had worked on the lettering on one side of Nickel Plate Road baggage car # 344 as can be seen in the 5th photo.   Mark had to work his U.S.P.S. rural mail route, so wasn't at the museum today.

Bob Barcus and Loretta Kosloske manned the depot.

Charlene Gyurko provided a yummy lunch for the members today.  Meatballs with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, green Jello salad and to top it off, one of her sisters fabulous chocolate cakes!  A visitor accompanied Charlene and Bob to HVRM today; their pooch "Chatter".  So well behaved....the pooch that is!

Good passenger count for the two trains today; apparently numbering in the 80's.  Crew consisted of Bjarne Henderson, John DeGan, Bob Gyurko, Doug Kosloske and Tom Travis.  New member Mike Jones rode along.  Bud Tibbie handled most of the road flagman duties, although Bob Jachim, Bob Albert and myself, pinch hit at times.

John La Orange managed to get some gas into the riding lawn mower and cut quite a bit of grass today.

Joe Kingsbury worked on the Porter diesel in the Shop.

In the afternoon, the flashing at the peak of Grasselli's roof was tackled.  Using the man lift, Dave and Cory raised the platform, then put an extension ladder from the deck onto the roof over the tiled roof shingles.  Cory is shown in the sixth photo moving the flashing back into place and in the 7th photo, screwing the flashing back down while Dave keeps the ladder steady.  This repair should hold for a while.

Have a great week everyone.

Les

 

Heated day at Hoosier Valley 8/4/18

Greetings!

Got up into the low 90's today at North Judson with sunshine all day. 

Despite the heat, the track gang continued hard at work on the West Lead Track into the shop building.   The ground was a little high at this point, and the first photo shows Cory Bennett in the backhoe pulling out two of the composite ties that had been set in place.  The other Gandy Dancers pictured left to right in the first photo are David Cook, John La Orange, Tom Rainford and Kevin Kennedy.  After the two ties were removed, Cory is shown in the second shot, backing the backhoe up and using its bucket to scrape a layer of dirt off.  This was done a number of times until the ground was lowered enough so that the ties could be shoved back in as shown in the 3rd photo.  About this time, the fourth pix shows John showing up with the Payloader, and another load of ties. 

About this time, the gang broke for pizza in lunch car # K-325.  Ray Kammer was a guest at lunch to discuss some other train possibilities with the members.  Interesting to say the least!

Nice passenger counts for both trains today.  John DeGan was at the throttle of Alco # 310 while Steve Henrichs was the conductor.  Joe Kingsbury was the car host and handled the P.A. system while Tom Travis collected tickets in MKT open air car #13833 while is was the collector in LIRR coach # 2937.  We also used the lift on EJ&E transfer caboose # 184 for one passenger.  A tour bus from Ft. Wayne provided most of the riders for the second train.   Kevin Kennedy provided the crossing protection for trains.

Seemed to be a good day in the depot where Bob Barcus handled the gift shop while Loretta Kosloske was the ticket agent. 

Mark Knebel had to work his rural mail route today, but did get to the museum earlier in the week to apply some additional lettering on one side of NKP baggage car # 344.  The BAGGAGE letters on one end are shown in the 5th shot while the AUTOMOBILE letters on the other end of the car are shown in the 6th photo.

Last Saturday, the weather was nice enough to enable me to do a bit of painting on the west end of Grasselli Tower's south side and the results from last week are shown in the final photo.  Bing Risley brought over a bucket load of crushed stone for Grasselli, but too hot and too late in the day to spread it out.  Next week!  

Well, the "Dog Days of Summer" are obviously here.  So hang in there everyone and enjoy your week!

Les

     

 

Good weather at HVRM 7/28/18

 

Greetings!

Nice weather at North Judson this Saturday with temps around 80 degrees.  For late July, we will take it!

Good passenger counts for both the 12:30 and 2:00 trains today.  John DeGan was engineer on Alco # 310 with Bjarne Henderson the conductor.  Bob Gyurko was car host on LIRR coach # 2937 with Tom Travis handling the honors on MKT open car number 13833.  Doug Kosloske handled most of the road flagging duties.

Bob Barus and Loretta Kosloske handled gift shop and ticket agent duties in the depot.

Another section of track was spiked down leading in to the west end of the Shop building.  Cory Bennett, Dave Cook, Kevin Kennedy, John LaOrange, Tom Rainford and Tom Travis did the work.  Steady progress being made.

After doing the morning track inspection, Mark Knebel sprayed for weeds around the museum property.

I was hoping to put some more crushed stone around the concrete step for the lower door into Grasselli but that didn't happen, so since Mark wasn't using the Lift, I grabbed it and putted over to the tower where I scrapped peeling paint and put some primer on the upper story on Grasselli's south facing side.  Lots still to do.

This past week, Mark had started in on the lettering of the Nickel Plate Road baggage car, doing free hand work to put the number and star on both sides of the car (see Mark's photo attached).  Late in the afternoon, he was putting the stencils on the side to trace the letters for BAGGAGE on the car.  Continuing to make progress!

No word yet on the upcoming move of the EL coach to the museum.

Recently heard some good news concerning the CRI&P brick depot in New Lenox, Illinois that was supposed to be torn down.  Now it turns out it will be moved and used for a museum. 

Have a good week everyone.  Supposed to be getting some rain this week with moderate temps but a warm up on the horizon for next weekend.

Les

    

Fw: Just a bit of time at Hoosier Valley 7/21/18

 

Greetings!

Short report today as I had to leave before Noon due to a family commitment. 

The regular bi-monthly membership/business meeting was held this morning.  The membership approved spending the monies to transport the purchased EL open window coach from Noblesville to North Judson.  Check the upcoming newsletter for additional discussed items.

It was cloudy most of the day, with a nice brisk wind that kept temps in the 70's.  An indication of the wind is in the first photo showing the red flag on the rear of B&LE caboose #1989 blowing while the car sat at the North Judson depot.   Very comfortable for a mid-July day. 

We had one guest engineer this morning.  Doug Kosloske was the conductor and Steve Henrichs the engineer.

Some time back, I mentioned that I had removed an Erie Lackawanna herald from the MKT open flat car and repainted it.  The second shot shows that herald back on the car.  Not all projects at the museum are large efforts and this is just one example of something small that could be done to help out HVRM.

Last week, I showed a photo of Bing Risley getting set to move a concrete slab into place in front of the lower door to Grasselli Tower.  I managed to get that slab leveled today and here it is in its new location (3rd photo).  The slab was once part of another structure at HVRM and Bing saved it and it has now found this new home.  I still need to get some additional gravel around it.

Also from last week, I mentioned that John La Orange used the Payloader to bring some additional ties over to the west side of the Shop for the track being laid there.  The last photo shows those ties in place.

Enjoy your upcoming week everyone!

Les

Fw: Light rain doesn't damper Hoosier Valley 7/14/18

 

Greetings -

Had clouds most of the day and the light rain occurring mid-day, never amounted to much at all.  Temps stayed in the low 80's. 

Doug and Loretta Kosloske were off doing their NASCAR thing in Kentucky, so Charlene Gyurko competently handled ticket agent duties in the North Judson depot.  GE diesel number 11 was the power for the two guest engineers and the regularly scheduled runs.  Bjarne Henderson was engineer for the day.  John DeGan was conductor for the 12:30 train to English Lake and also gave some training instructions to Kevin Kennedy.  Bob Albert handled the conductor duties for the 2:00 run.  Kevin and Robert Gyurko were train hosts today.

 

Charlene had me cut some 4' dowels down to 2' for her to assemble some new "Hobo Packs" for the gift shop, where Bob Barcus worked all day.

On July 12th, Mark Knebel had put some aluminum tape over the rust holes on Nickel Plate Road baggage car # 344, putting ProFlex Sealer on the tape for application of paint later.  The first photo attached is Mark's shot of that tape.  Mark came back on 7/13 to put on the first coat of green paint on that tape and my photo of the result is shown in the 2nd photo.

The track crew continued their work on putting the new track into the door on the back side of the Shop's West Annex.  The 3rd shot shows their work and the beginnings of the "curve" to meet the new switch to be installed.  This work continued in the afternoon and the fourth photo shows Cory Bennett up in the Backhoe, breaking up the hard packed dirt, with Tom Rainford (at left) and John La Orange then shoveling the loose dirt over to the side.  John eventually got the Payloader out and moved a new set of the composite ties over to the track for continued construction.

Last week, Bjarne and sons Lars and Paul, redid the south side of the Pullman Troop Sleeper.  The 5th shot shows some of our blooming wild flowers with the car in the background while the sixth photo gives a better perspective of the results of the three Henderson's work.   Looking good!

Bing Risley lifted the concrete slab into place at the lower door of Grasselli Tower as per the 7th photo.  The end result will be shown in a future report.

Bob Jachim, myself and Mike Healey, all flagged the Mulberry Street road crossing at times.  The last photo shows Mike doing the honors for the arrival of the 12:30 train back to North Judson.  Bob Albert and Tom Rainford flagged the road crossings out of town on the various runs. 

Finally, I would be remiss not to report on the purchase of a "new" passenger car for the museum through the good graces of Doug and Loretta.  With the move of the Indiana Transportation Museum out of their long home in Noblesville, Indiana, Erie Lackawanna coach # 3328 became available and will eventually move to HVRM.  The car was originally built by the Pullman Company in 1917 for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western's electrified operation back east as DL&W # 676.  The Lackawanna eventually renumbered the car as 2328.  After the merger of the DL&W into the Erie Railroad, the car became EL # 3328, and then Conrail # 3328.  Toward the end of its commuter life in 1983, it became New Jersey Transit # 4328 before NJT retired it in 1984.  ITM acquired it, along with some sister cars, in 1985.

As nice as it is to be getting a new open window passenger coach, we must also report that the Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society decided not to send their caboose 81528 to HVRM, opting to keep it at the new operation that will be starting up out of Atlanta, Indiana.  A logical decision by the MRHTS.

Stay cool, and have a great week!

Les 

  

Fw: Moderate temps at Hoosier Valley 7/7/18

 

Greetings -

After a day in the 70's on Friday, temps got up to 81 degrees at the museum today.  Still low humidity, so not a bad day for grunt work!

Spent all day working on replacing two of the arch windows in passenger coach # 899.  First photo shows the interior of the first window after preparing the opening for the new window.  The new windows were built by Ross Robinson of Ottawa, Ontario (Canada).  Have had these replacements for a while but found out that they were a little bit too wide for the window opening.  Over to the Shop to run them through the table saw.  The surgery was successful!   The second photo shows the window installed while the third shot shows this same window as seen from the outside of the car.

Although I spent the day on the 899's arch windows, I did manage to get a few other shots.

Bjarne, Paul and Lars Henderson spent the day polishing up Pullman Troop Sleeper # 7256.  The 4th photo shows Paul power washing dust and grime off of the car before the elbow grease was started.  The 5th shot shows Bjarne starting in on the cleaning while in the 6th shot, Bjarne, Paul and Lars (from left to right) proudly pose before the now pristine car.

Mark Knebel worked on the exterior of Nickel Plate Road baggage car # 344 this week and the seventh photo shows his work to date.  Only the other end of the car needs to be finished as about 2/3rds remains to be given its coat of Pullman Green paint.

Bob Barcus manned the depot gift shop today with Loretta Kosloske the ticket agent.  Charlene Gyurko provided Bratwurst for lunch.  I noticed that Steve Henrichs was the engineer for the day while Doug Kosloske was the conductor.  The 8th photo shows the detraining of the passengers after the 12:30 p.m. trains arrival back at the North Judson depot.  That's Bob Gyurko on the left in the yellow shirt with conductor Kosloske on the right.

In the afternoon, when I went to trim the second arch window for number 899, I noticed that the track gang was hard at work on the track going in to the west side of the West Shop Annex and I got the 9th photo.  shot .  That's Dave Cook at left, with Tom Rainford and Mark in the white shirt in the foreground.  Cory Bennett is partially hidden behind Tom.

The second arch window was successfully installed in 899 in the afternoon.

Hope everyone has a great week.  Temps are supposed to go back up into the 90's so, stay cool!

Les  

 

Fw: Heat and humidity at Hoosier Valley 6/30/18

 

Greetings!

Was not at the museum last Saturday due to a visit from out of town relatives.  Last weekend was in the 70's, but this Saturday found summer coming in with a vengeance!  Was in the low 90's with high humidity and the goodly breeze was blowing strictly hot air!

Had two guest engineers in the morning with G.E. number 11 providing the power.  Steve Henrichs was engineer for the day with Bob Albert the conductor.  

Despite the heat, the track crew continued their work of putting the new track in to the back entrance of the West Shop Annex.  The first photo shows the crew taking a well deserved break while Cory Bennett drops a load of mixed ballast and dirt on the recently laid track.  The second photo shows a second load being dropped while John LaOrange (at left) and Joe Kingsbury watch.   The composite ties used on the track can clearly be seen in this shot.  The 3rd photo shows Tom Rainford starting in on spreading out the ballast.

Had a number of visitors up in Grasselli Tower today.  Charlene Gyurko provided Chili with cornbread and green jello for lunch.   Bob Barcus and Loretta Kosloske manned the depot.  The 12:30 train left with Bob Gyurko collecting tickets and manning the P.A. system in air conditioned Long Island coach # 2937 while I handled the ticket collecting in the Missouri-Kansas-Texas open air car.   Upon the arrival back at North Judson, I grabbed some shots of the west side of the Shop.  In the 4th photo, NKP baggage car 344 can just be seen to the left of the building.  Mark Knebel had put the black paint on the roof of the car last weekend.  The fifth shot gives a better view of the trackwork done by the Gandy Dancers earlier in the day as mentioned above.  In the sixth photo, number 11 is shown as it goes through the switch off of the old Chesapeake and Ohio track and onto the Erie Railroad right-of-way heading for the museums depot.

All of the riders for the 2:00 train opted for the air conditioned LIRR 2937, so I got a reprieve from train duties and instead, provided crossing protection at the Mulberry Street watchman's shanty.  Bob Jachim had provided the Mulberry Street protection for the earlier guest engineer trains.  Doug Kosloske handled the flagging at the other road crossings for the first train while Tom Rainford did the same for the second train.

It's been a while since we tore up a section of the asphalt parking lot near the depot looking for a water leak, and after lunch, a repair patch was put into place as seen in the seventh photo.

Josh Sobczynski put up the computer screen in the corner of the depot (last photo) earlier this year and returned today to make some adjustments.  This screen gives a report (visual and audio) of train action in the Chicago and northern Indiana territory.  Interesting to say the least!

Stay cool folks!  And enjoy a safe and sane 4th of July!

Les  

   

Fw: Triple day Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum report

 

Greetings -

Had a very short day at the museum back on June 9th, due to having a tooth pulled earlier that week.  There was a Board of Directors meeting that morning and I only stuck around for a little while before heading for home.

This past weekend (June 16th and 17th) coincided with the annual North Judson Mint Festival and the museum was open, with two train rides on both days.  Got the "good news" upon arriving on Saturday morning,  that someone had thrown a rock through one of the windows of passenger coach 899.  Both the 16th and 17th saw temps in the 90's with high humidity and working in an extremely hot 899 wasn't fun.  Got the broken glass cleaned up and fortunately had an extra window frame (with glass) on hand and managed to get the window replaced (see photo one). 

Mark Knebel had the doors on the automobile end of NKP baggage car # 344 open, as can be seen in the second photo, as he had to get in and put primer on that end.  A photo taken on the 17th (3rd shot), shows his work on the car to this point.  BTW, that's member Bing Risley and Corky next to the car.  Mark was also able to clean the crud off of the trucks on the north side of the 344 and get those painted, as can be seen in the 4th photo.  The plan was to get the 344 pulled slightly forward so that Mark could get the man lift up against the other end of the car, so that he could put primer on that end this upcoming week.

As I said a bit earlier, there were train rides on both the 16th and 17th.  I arrived at the museum on Sunday just as Alco # 310 was pushing the 12:30 p.m. train west out onto the ex-C&O line.  A short time later came a call from the cab of 310; the Alco had lost power!  Fortunately, the brake work had just been finished on G.E. number 11 and Doug Kosloske and John LaOrange fired her up and took off on a rescue mission, eventually bringing the train back to North Judson.  After unloading passengers at the depot, the dead 310 has uncoupled from the train and set on the caboose track and the 11 was coupled up to the train in time to make the regular 2:00 p.m. departure.  John found out the problem with the 310 was a bad fuse, and the Alco was soon operational again.  Little items can sometimes result in big problems!

Train crews for the trips were Steve Henrichs (engineer) and Bob Albert (conductor) on the 16th and Bjarne Henderson (engineer) and Steve Henrichs (conductor) on the 17th.  Car hosts for these days included Joe Kingsbury, Bob Gyurko, Bud Tibbie, Tom Rainford, myself and others also helping out on the trains and also with flagging duties.  Hot temps divided ridership amongst the MKT #13833 (open car) and LIRR #2937 (air conditioned coach) on a pretty even basis.

Bob Barcus and Loretta Kosloske were in the depot and Charlene Gyurko provided a hot lunch both days and also assisted in the depot on the 17th.       

On the 16th, a crew started in on the extension of track into the west entrance of the West Annex of the Shop building.  Using the backhoe and shovels, their results are shown in the final two photos.  Ballast forthcoming!

This unusually hot spell is supposed to break this week with normal high temps (around 81 degrees) in the extended forecast.  Let's hope it is so!

Have a great week everyone!

Les