RE: Winter and Santa arrive at HVRM 12/10/2011

Greetings!   Back hoe update. Richard Warner has been working on the problems. He and his assistant engine mechanic, will work on the transmission. He has the capablility to completely rebuild it for parts only. The bolt that broke in the engine, he was able to back out the broken bolt with an easy-out. It was very loose in the threads. The rocker arm is bent. Dave Cook thinks the water in the hydraulic system, that was removed when the system was flushed, may of had something to do with these problems. Future looks good for rehab before spring.     The first measurable snow late this week was on the ground and with temps today in the low to mid-20's was a favorable setting for the first ever Santa trains at HVRM.  Beautiful blue skies and sunshine all helped the atmosphere.    Life came to Alco 310 and the crew switched cars around in the morning so that the two Santa trains consisted of a nice warm LIRR coach 2937 and a less than warm B&LE caboose # 1989 which was used for the backup move to English Lake.  Both the 11:00 and 1:30 trains had been sold out, but a few extra riders were able to be accomodated on both trains.  C   Loretta asked me to pick up Santa Claus at his place (fortunately a bit south of the North Pole) and I took him to the Arlington Street crossing where he waited for the train to give him a ride.  Scenario was that there had been a problem with his reindeer and once on Board, Santa asked for the kids to "keep an eye out for them".  On the first run, believe it or not, the train spooked up a herd of (wait for it....) 8 reindeer!  Dasher, Dancer, Comet, etc., come back!  No such luck!  Santa visited with each child, and gave them a nice little wrapped present.  In addition to Santa, Fred and Elmer in the cab, Doug as conductor and Bill Dauber and Joe Kingsbury collecting tickets, made up the train crew.   Total ridership for the day was reported as 216 with a bit over 40% of that being kids and youth.   Bob Barcus, assisted by Margrett Cook, reported a good day in the museum gift shop.  The Union Pacific G gauge train that circles the gift shop derailed and Mike and I had to give Bob a hand in rerailing it including dragging the tall ladder in from the display Troop Sleeper .  Apparently a switch was somehow thrown by accident.  Fortuntately, this minor problem happened while the first Santa train was out on the line and the G gauge was back in operation by the time the passengers arrived back at the depot.   Mark Knebel and John LaOrange acted as road guards for both Santa runs.   Ryan took photos of the train itself (11:00 run) and on the train (1:30 run).   Bob Albert, Louise and Steve worked in the old Erie Milk Station building today, burning a lot of worthless paper items.   Bing Risley brought lunch, including a number of goodies, including three different soups.  I made a meal of the Chicken Noodle!    I checked on the Nickel Plate caboose before I left the museum and the exterior appears to be finished.   A number of other museum members were around today including Tom Travis, Tom McKee, Dave Cook, Tom Royce, Randall Downs, Jason Jordan and probably others I missed.  The cold weather and the concentration on operating the caboose trains, kept other activities to a minimum.   Enjoy the week everyone! December 17th is the last day to sign the list in the kitchen car for President, Treasurer and 2 director positions. Newsletter arrived last week also, great color pictures of HVRM Pumpkin Patch.   Les

Back Breaking Work at HVRM Office, 12-03-2011

Greetings to all wherever you may be,
 
Today started out as an overcast, rainy day, but by late afternoon it was quite pleasant. Board meeting was short, about an
hour. Big news is that HVRM will start the Annual General Membership Dinner again next spring. Details will follow.
I arrived late again, due to some issues trying to get going this morning. Les reported that the  troop kitchen car/ex-diesel
office, the C&EI number has been found with the help of Ryan Kertis last week and he has contacted the C&EI Historical
group for some stencils and the board approved repainting it next year back to C&EI. In lieu of the Metra car being converted
for a lunch room, with some work inside the troop kitchen car, it will be converted to a lunch room. A working stove did
provide heat at one time, with some tinkering should work again.
 
After a quick breakfast at Finger Hut Bakery with Les, we returned an started to work with Mark K, John L, Richard , Les,
an myself on taking up the screwed down luan board inside the HVRM office building. Mark has removed all the contents
of his office out to the 48 foot container, set up for office duties. The old carpeting was taken up and rolled  an taken
outside. Then started the removal of the 4x8 sheets of plywood, nailed in with ring shank nails, extremely difficult to remove.
A small area was started with crow bars and some extreme pounding, the hard back breaking work commenced. A variety
of tools were used and after some trial an error, breaking a pitchfork in two, bending a long bar wrench, another long handled
broken pitchfork was used. First a crow bar was pounded under one edge and the long handled pitchfork pulled it up off the
floor, I used a heavy duty spike puller bar to get under the flooring and keep it up while Mark kept pushing the fork in
further to pull up more plywood. Amazing we finished finally and then pulling the nails out of the floor. Underneath the
plywood was the orignal planks for a floor. Two of the large planks were pulled up and there was no blocking under the
joists to keep the floor level. Plans were made to jack up the building and put supports under the floor. Lots of water
damage to the door area will need to be address later.
 
A quick trip down to the milk building to see how the crew was coming along. They have removed a sizeable amount of
material to either the dumpster or truck. Inside the building remains a large amout of questionable material for resale
at Baileys. Bob A, Steve N, Bruce F, Fred B, Randall were all working at the milk building.
 
The Christmas train for next week was being readied charging batterys and maintence. Joe K, John L, Doug K were all
busy.
 
Elmer M and Doug K were also working on the diesel engines down at the shop area. John and Richard were also
taking the backhoe tractor apart, transmission and engine damage all caused by a 69 cent bolt inside the transmission
a long time ago damaging parts that will require an extensive amount of money to fix. Stay tuned for further details.
 
Loretta K, Bob B and John DeGan were about at the museum thru the day.
 
Some upcoming events will happen in January, office elections for President, Director (2), and Treasurer position.
Make sure that you come out to vote, its important to all the canidates running and the future of the museum.
 
Some ideas are needed for goals that could be worked on in 2012 by everyone. Tourist train operation, restoration of
railroad cars, track work, shop cleanup. The shelving out of the milk building will be coming to the shop buildings.
The shelving is heavy duty and can be put up all the way to the ceiling. Needed to get all the clutter that occupies
floor space unto shelves will be great. Many other projects need to worked on, Grasseli tower, landscaping, cleanup of
the yards, coal pile, worn out ties, make the museum presentable to the public. Lots of hard workers needed.
 
Have a safe week, only 22 days till Chrismas. I got a present today for myself, a Black & Decker 1/2 inch, 7 amp, heavy duty
electric drill down at Norwayne Lumber, got to have those toys for restoration work.
 
Tom
 
http://hoosiervalleyrestorationpage.blogspot.com/
 
 
 

Weather to be thankful for at HVRM 11-26-11

Greetings!   A cloudy, windy day, with rain in the forecast for the afternoon, but a temp of 56 degrees at North Judson at 9:00 a.m.  Certainly not bad for a late November morning!   Ran the flag up the pole once I signed in.  I realized I'd have to take it down if it started raining.   Joe Baker was working on the new electrical boxes near the museum sign at the entrance to the museum off of Mulberry Street.   I drove down to the east end and found Bob Barcus taking some photos of the freight equipment.  Bob says that he is going to be updating the web site.  He also reported that Google is running HVRM ads on searches for the museum.    Eventually made my way down to the Shop where I found the temp at 50 degrees.  This is typical as the metal in the building has a tendency to hold in the cold.  John La Orange had gone up to town for a firebrick which he was going to see if it would fit into the wood stove that Tom Travis had brought down a while back.  John reported that the brick will fit, although slightly larger than what the wood stove calls for.  When that stove is installed, it should provide for a nicer workplace in the insulated West Annex of the Shop.   Speaking of the West Annex, I walked back and found Joe touching up the yellow handrails on the NKP bay window caboose.  Still a lot of touching up to do, but the old 471 is looking great!  Cory Bennett and Dave Cook were working on a problem with the backhoe.  "Don't ask!" was Cory's comment.   Ryan Kertis showed up and we decided to walk over to the storage tracks and look at some of the equipment that he had not been able to inspect since he joined the museum back in October.  We managed to get into the NKP wood tool car and talked over what it would take to attempt to restore the car.   Doug Kosloske and Elmer Mannen fired up EL 310, using the Alco to pull GE # 11 out of the Shop so that the big tarp could be pulled down on the number 2 shop track to provide a tight wall so that the West Annex can be heated.    Bob B. joined Mark Knebel in taking the stuff out of Mark's office and putting it into the donated trailer.  Mark had found a copy of an Indiana Harbor Belt timetable from 1913 which included whistle rules for calling Grasselli Tower.  Neat find!   Margrett Cook brought in soup and some home made pizzas for lunch.   Bob Albert, Steve Newland and Jon Schmidt had been helping Bruce Fingerhut in cleaning out the old Erie Milk Station and eventually showed up for lunch.  Steve fired up the Payloader in the afternoon to help in clearing out the junk in the building.   The Scouts arrived and started giving Joe a hand with the work on NKP 471.  Ryan also pitched in.   I decided to go over to the Troop Kitchen car and do some additional sanding to try to find some additional lettering.   Dave, Cory and John tackled the water pump which had given up the ghost.  They found a new pump at Hoppe Hardware and spent the afternoon getting the old one out and the new one in.  So we have water again in the Shop!   Ryan came over and when I told him that I was not having any luck with my sanding, he pointed out a number 3, which I had missed!  Turns out, with him and I working at it, we found the old U.S. Army number on the kitchen car; K-325.  The old car is slowly giving up her secrets!  Bob Albert came over and we showed him the Army number and also the C&EI maintenance-of-way number (A-1054) that we had found last week.   There were a few raindrops and I decided to head back and take down the flag.  But no rain came, and when I got to the depot, I found Mark already in the process of running the flag down the pole.  The temp was still in the upper 50's.  Not even the grayness of the skies could keep this from being a wonderful day!   Stopped in the depot for a few minutes.  Loretta Kosloske was asking folks about the possibility of a renewal of the the museums Annual Dinner to be held on a Sunday in February or March.  I gave a thumbs up!    Darkness is coming early to the museum at this time of the year, so I pulled the plug for the day at about 4:15 p.m.   Enjoy the upcoming week everyone!     Les

Cloudy, breezy day at Hoosier Valley 11-19-11

Howdy!   Cool temps in the 50's all day.  But not bad for mid-November.   Arrived at the museum about 9:00.  A group was working on tamping ballast at the east end of the grounds around the newly installed ties.  Included were Cory, Dave, Mark Knebel, John LaOrange, Tom Travis and Bob Jachim.   I again tackled the errant turnout target on the switch leading in to the number 2 track of the Shop building.  After much work, and an assist from Tom T., I finally managed to get the target tight!  A victory after 4 days of work spread over the last month!   Joe Kingsbury was working on NKP bay window caboose 471.  Much of the lettering was done but the Scout troop from South Bend showed up and continued their assist.   Jon Oram was working on the N Gauge display layout in the Pullman Troop Sleeper.   Joe Baker reported that he now has 3 of the "torpedo" heater restored to service!   Bob J. has finished the removal of the "flower/weed" bed from around the museum sign off of Mulberry Street.  Area looks neat!   Bob Barcus, Judy Boyer, Louise Kingsbury and Pat DeGan were working in the depot gift shop today.   Elmer Mannen was working on the Whitcomb.   The container donated by Canadian Pacific, was delivered to the museum late in the morning.   Bi-Monthly meeting was held at in the afternoon.  Big news to come out of the meeting was that the museum agreed to purchase the Long Island passenger coach from owner Mike Koehler.  Two individuals have agreed to donate the funds for the purchase.  More details of the meeting will be in the upcoming newsletter.   In the afternoon, Ryan Kertis and I started sanding on the side of the old Army kitchen car in an effort to try to find the C&EI car number from when it was assigned to the Dolton Yard Center work train.  Ryan managed to find a number A-1054 and will see if this might be the number.   Bing Risley was moving parts around the equipment part with his Bobcat.   Took off at 4:00 for home.   Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!  Enjoy the day!   Les

Projects around HVRM

		Projects around HVRM Prep work for Main street crossing repaving. Track/tie replacement on the east switch. Repainted NKP steel boxcar by Mark Kniebel. From, Thomas View Slideshow Do more with these photos Beautiful full-screen slideshows Comment on and Like your favorites Download full-resolution copies
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HVRM November 12th, 2011 Report

Greetings,
 
Today was a typical November day at North Judson, good weather, temps in the
high 50's. Les is in WI for the weekend.
 
Yesterday was Veterans Day. A wonderful program was held at the La Porte
Civic Auditorium. It seems that a larger crowd occupied the floor area than last year.
The local middle schools grade 7 and 8, were transported from school to the Civic
for the program. Its good to hear the students thanking the Vets for their service.
The highlights of the program was the 21 gun salute, and the playing of Taps by
2 La Porte High School band members added to program.
 
Arriving late this morning at HVRM, the track crew Mark, John, Cory, Dave and myself
tamped stone for most of the day. The tie replacement program is complete up to the

2n switch from the east end. The entire switch has been leveled and realigned making

it look good. Bing assisted in hauling stone from the clean ballast pile to fill in bare

spots. Work terminated about 2:30pm as everyone was tired.

 

Joe Kingbury and the boy scouts have been working on the NKP bay window caboose

repainting the exterior. Things are looking good and progress is coming along nicely.

Other interior items need to be fixed, floor and seat recovering. Doug has taken out

the seats for recovering. After fixing items, a new floor of rubber matting will be installed.

Next caboose slated to be repainted is the EL bay window caboose. Boy scouts would

like to have a project to work on, possible car is the NKP baggage car.

 

The GE locomotive had the radiator drained for the winter season. The Alco will have its

coolant drained next weekend. The Whitcomb was worked on, with some items needing

replacing to make it run safely

 

The Mid America Cars have not been moved yet. The MDT, C&NW boxcars have been

placed on the #3 track to the west of the shop. The 2789 tender will remain on the

engine for the winter.

 

Milk house clearing continues with a big truck from Baileys and a dumpster. The truck

was filled and dumpster filled about 2/3 full. Doug said it didn't even dent the material

inside the building. Lots of people working inside the building, Doug, Loretta, Bob A, Steve,

and a couple of Bailey employees.

 

Arlington Street crossing has been paved and is back in service.

 

Depot was manned by Margret, Loretta and a few others.

 

Next Saturday is membership meeting at 1PM in the depot. Items are the Shop Czar,

someone is needed to  take charge an clean up the shop area. The milk shed hopefully

will provide some big shelving to put inside the buildings and get items up off the dirt

floor. This winter will be fixup/cleanup of railroad cars. Come on out and participate.

January meeting will be the election of officers/board members. President, treasurer,

2 board members (buildings,equipment). Deadline is 17 December for putting you name

on the ballot. Election committee is Pat Degan, Louise Kingsbury and one other whose name

escapes me at this time. Contact them to have your name put on the ballot, sign up sheet

is in the kitchen car.

 

Have not heard much on the conversion of the Metra car into an eating area, meeting area.

The South Shore flatcar, reel wire car, has still not been removed by IRM. The Porter

steam engine still still has not had any decision what to do with it. I would like to propose

that the Vulcan ore cars be moved to a display area, offline, and repainted and cleaned up

for display purposes. One at each end of the properity. One at the east end and one in

the area of Grasseli tower eventually. The flower bed has been removed during the week.

The telephone line pole could be removed and the landline moved to the power pole to

clean up the area. The crane with the bucket would make quick work of removing the pole.

I donated a wood burner stove to be used in the west shop, needs installation and smoke

stack installed. The REA trailer needs to be put inside for the winter again. I suggest clearing

an area in the shop, middle aisle, up against the wall, so I can work on 3 sides and work

on the doors that need to be rebuilt. The west shop area outside needs to be cleaned

up of old air tanks, cut levers, etc down to the rail storage area. Along the north side

of the west shop and couple of big scoops of ballast need to be dumped in the mud hole,

getting pretty deep with water. Clean-up of the coal pile, selling the remains to get

rid of it. Some talk of using the hopper car for dumping ballast on the row. If some device

to control the doors open/close could be devised for the flow of ballast, that would be nice.

 

Thats it for now, drive safe and have a good week.

 

Tom

 

http://hoosiervalleyrestorationpage.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Falling back to a great fall day at HVRM 11/5/11

Greetings!   A beautiful fall day; sunny with temps in the 50's.   Started the day by attending a Board meeting.  Much discussed.  Details forthcoming in the upcoming newsletter.   Bob Jachim continued to work on cleaning up the flower beds, the plants now mostly dormant.  The front bed near the sign for the museum just off of Mulberry Street had really become overgrown, and Bob has pretty much taken care of that situation.  He wants to make that bed smaller.   Track crew of Dave Cook, Cory Bennett, Mark Knebel and John LaOrange busy again working on the east switch near Main Street.  They had 4 old ties jerked out by lunch and new ties installed.  Not sure what the final count was for the day.   Joe Kingsbury continued work on NKP # 471, the bay window caboose.  Had some help today from Ryan Kertis and a number of other folks including some young men who may have been a Scout troop.  Car is really starting to look good!   There were two Guest Engineers at the museum today and Alco 310 pulled the NKP open flat car # 1946 and EL caboose # C345.   Later in the day, the crew moved some equipment around including pulling C&NW box car # 284 out of the shop.   I worked on patching some of the vinyl over the windows of the heavyweight passenger car in the morning then spent the afternoon in a fruitless attempt to repair the "Rube Goldberg" switch marker on the turnout leading to track 2 of the Shop.  Frustrating!   Don't forget to set your clocks back, if you haven't already done it.  Remember; Spring Forward, Fall Back!   Have a terrific week!   Les

Last Train For Season, Beautiful Day For A Ride 10-29-2011

Greetings,
 
After a day trip to Chicago Friday, I slept in this morning. The South Shore train had unusual
heavy load at Miller IN and needless to say we all stood the entire way to Chicago. Guess
every kid in IN was off school. Got off at the 56st stop for the Museum of Science and
Industry. We got the tickets for the CP 2816 movie and the U505 Submarine tour. Both
exhibits are well worth it. U505 was put underground, restored, and repainted. An excellent
display of German submariners. The tours are now limited to about 20 people and have
excellent docents. My only comment is that when I was about 10 years old, I remember
the Submarine tour, is that it smelled of diesel and sweat. Now after 50 years it is clean,
repainted and does not smell of sweat. Imagine 90 days of patrol under those conditions.
Some years ago, I remember reading that a couple of men tinkered with the diesel engines
and got them to run after 60 some years. German engineering, still marches on. Last weekend
in Mobile AL, toured the USS Alabama and USS Drum. My interest in the Drum were the
Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines, both looked brand new. The Drum is outside, but is being
restored cutting rusted panels out of the hull and replacing them. In Pensacola FL, FRISCO
2-8-2 1355 is nicely restored, lettering is not authentic, but looks good. The L&N depot
is now the headhouse for a multistory hotel. Beautifully restored, with the express building
now serving as a banquet hall. BNSF handles a lot of industries along RT29, mostly paper
mills, the same nasty smell that I remember in 1980 at Corry Field for school. Pensacola
is now a nice town, not a sailor town anymore, just big employer of civilians on military bases.
 
Arrived at noon, everyone was at lunch. The track crew was working on the east
main line switch, replacing 5 more ties by days end.
 
NKP bay window caboose has new paint on the north side, with lettering just about ready to
be applied.
 
Steve Newland and Bob Albert worked on the water line at the Erie shed. Replacing the
water leaking pipe.
 
Les Beckman did some painting on the switch stands from the C&I interchange to the
shops. Some adjusting, painting, of the green and red aspects.
 
I worked on the REA trailer using the manlift to reach the very top. The upper portion is
now primed. The roof is in good shape, cept for needing repainting aluminum trailer
paint.
 
The last train of the season left at 4PM for La Crosse with over 100 riders on board.
The LIRR coach was full with the diesel running to put some heat inside. Some brave
souls rode the 2 open air cars
 
Departed at 4:45Pm. Got a note from Les that he had passed thru La Crosse on his
way home and the C&O kerosene marker lanterns were burning brightly on the B&LE caboose.
Nice touch for a end of season train. Doug supplied the lanterns for todays train.
 
Next Saturday, Board meeting at 8am. Have a good week.
 
Tom

Pumpkins and sunshine at HVRM 10/22/11

Greetings -   After missing the last couple of Saturdays at Hoosier Valley, was greeted with some cool temps but abundant sunshine today.  Temps started in the mid-40' and ended in the mid-50's, but I think it made it up to the low 60's during the day.   This was the second of two "Pumpkin Train" days and I spent the day as car host on the three scheduled trains.  I heard that we had over 500 riders for the trains and sold a lot of pumpkins at the "patch".  Was on B&LE caboose 1989 for the 11:00 run, split time on the 1989 and EL caboose C345 on the 1:30 run and worked NKP open flat car # 1946 on the run at 4:30.  Lots of happy riders today and hopefully a good day for the coffers of HVRM.  I asked some of the folks where they had heard about the runs, and some said "the paper", others "on the radio" and some "from friends".  Most riders seemed to be "first timers".   Andy Hershman and Fred Boyer were in the cab of EL Alco 310 today, splitting the duties, with John DeGan conductor all day.  Car hosts included Randall Downs, Doug Kosloske, Bill Dauber, Tom McKee, Joe Baker and yours truly.  Elmer Mannen, Bob Jachim, Mark Knebel and Joe Kingsbury protected the crossings at times during the day and also helped in loading and unloading passengers.  Judy Boyer, Margrett Cook and Pat DeGan were kept very busy in the gift shop while Bob Barcus and Loretta Kosloske handled ticket sales and Loretta the pumpkin patch activites.  Others helped out too, including Louise Kingsbury and her daughter and grandaughter.     Because of the emphasis on members joining in to handle the days trains, other work was light today.   Joe K. was working on painting the NKP bay window caboose 471 in the west end of the shop in the morning.  One side has been completely done in the bright caboose red with light gray band across the top.  The other side has the light gray band finished, with about 2/3rds of the red paint done.  Both ends also have to be painted red.   Mark Knebel had finished painting the Pennsylvania Railroad 50' boxcar and it was decided that the car would be moved from the end of the caboose track over to the display track so that the complete train for passengers could be placed on the caboose track.  The operating crew got this done during the "lull" between the operation of the 1:30 and 4:30 trains.   John LaOrange, Dave Cook and Cory Bennett worked on fixing the leaking water line on the line leading to the ouside faucet behind the old Erie maintenance building.    I'm sure I have missed some of the folks who helped out today.  It's been a long day and I'm pretty tired as I type this tonight.   Hope everyone has a good week.   Les

Track Gang Rips Up Arlington Crossing on a 60 Degree Day 15 Oct 2011

Georgeous day at North Judson, in the 60's, breezy fall day, clear blue sky. Perfect for an outside
project.
 
I arrived al little before 10am, quiet around the depot as the only train of the day would
be at 1:30pm to La Crosse. All you could hear was the farm combines in the nearby
corn fields. Getting ready, I head down to the Arlington St crossing. Cory has made quick
work of the rotten timbers, as not one came out intact. A detailed inspection of the ties
revealed 8 needed replacing. A rail joint needed new bolts,  the sun warmed the rail
to close the gap, but will need the C&I track crew to drill out 3 bolt holes to finish the
rail joint. Eight new ties were put in in along with tamping and spiking.  The tourist train
past twice without a problem. The North Judson city street dept came down earlier in
the week and cut the pavement. Bing manned his Bobcat along with faithful dog companion
to keep Bing awake. John, Dave, Grandson Seth, Joe, Bob, Mark and Jason Jordan all manned
shovels thru the day.
 
Mark, during the week has repainted the PC boxcar into Tuscan Red PRR paint. Nice job.
Joe has been working on the NKP bay window caboose during the week getting it ready
for a new paint job.
 
The 1:30pm La Crosse train left a little off schedule, but had over 170 riders today.
Nice crowd.
 
Have a nice week, Les will be back next weekend, I will be gone on vacation.
 
Tom
 
http://hoosiervalleyrestorationpage.blogspot.com/
 
Link to HVRM Blog
 

Pumpkin Trains

 

Kudos to all the individual members and family members who worked so hard to make yesterday's Pumpkin Trains a great success.  There were over 407 riders with 276 pumpkins sold.  Smiling facing lugging pumpkins down the crowded platform was a wonderful sight to see!

 

The day started out with the repair of the Nickel Plate open-air car which was greatly appreciated with the beautiful weather.  The pumpkins were delivered and scattered throughout the grassy area for each of the trains.  The train crew, car hosts, flaggers, track crew, gift shop workers, ticket sellers and punchers all worked diligently throughout the day.  The clean-up crew at the end of the day made the depot and outdoor area ready for next weekend.

 

Thanks to one and all, whether you helped out for a few hours or all day!

Loretta

 

Loretta Kosloske

Marketing Specialist

Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum

North Judson, In  46366

 

marketing@hoosiervalley.org

219-395-0369 (cell)

219-996-6687 (home)

 

Pumkin Trains at HVRM on a WONDERFUL DAY 8 OCT 2011

Greetings to all Pumpkin Pickers
 
A great day Saturday 8 October was had by all at HVRM. Loretta confirmed that over 400
riders on the pumpkin trains and 275 pumpkins sold. Temps in the upper 70's, clear
blue skies, a perfect fall day. The local farmers were busy havesting corn and beans
up and down the C&I line.
 
Arriving at 8am, John LaOrange had the Erie 310 running an on the move. He moved
on down track 1 and hooked up to the NKP open air car, moving it to track 3. Cory and Dave
were ready with an air jack to lift the car up and change out the broken spring a truck.
Making quick work of lifting the weight off the truck, a track jack was positioned with a
steel rail joiner to lift the bolster taking the weight off the springs. A quick exchange
of springs and the jacks removed the car was set down on the bolster.  It had moved
slightly, but a nudge got the center pin lined up and centered. NKP open air car back in
service for the pumpkin trains and it was filled to capacity on the first run.
 
I missed the board meeting, but was short.
 
Joe Kingsbury has scaffolding set up in the west shop on both sides of the NKP bay window
caboose. It looks as if the roof has been cleaned of old flaking paint and a fresh coat
of primer and black paint has been put down. Sides of the car have been sanded and getting
ready for paint. Joe will make quick work on this project.
 
I moved to the the REA trailer and setup my scaffolding. Getting set up was quick and
grinding commenced on the sides. . After a quick cleanup of prior work, primer was
applied quickly. Things moved quickly and I completed the south side and moved to the
north side. Running out of paint, break time for lunch and resupply of a gallon of primer.
I finished up at approx 2:30 and broke down for departure. Had to be home by 3:30pm
for a sports school charter.
 
On the way out, I made a quick trip to the east end, where the track crew gang was busy
cleaning up the paving project of the C&I crossing on main street, hauling away debris
and getting the shoulders filled. A super paving job was done last week and now makes
the crossing smooth as glass. Next weekend Arlington Street crossing will be taken
apart for paving the following Monday.
 
Mark Kniebel has been working on the soon to be PRR boxcar during the week, and the
manlift was positioned at the west end of the car about 1/3 done.
 
Mostly everyone was helping with the Pumpkin trains, so no other work was performed
on Saturday.
 
Tom

A Super Saturday October 1st At HVRM

Greetings to all,
 
Just an absolute beautiful day that resulted in good weather versus the horrid wet, wild, windy
mood that existed all week long. Friday was the worst with wind whipping up 20 foot waves
on Lake Michigan with power outages everywhere in northwest Indiana. But the next 7 days
are good warm temps in the 70's.
 
Arriving at a late hour of 9:30am, much activity was already started. The Main Street
crossing was already under attack.....demolition is more the way things were going. Prior to my
arrival, the air compressor running the air ratchet tools had removed most of the big bolts
holding the planks down to the ties. Cory manning the backhoe was busy pulling up the crossing
planks in a manner allowing the payloader and Bob Cat with the forks tips to get under the
planks and take them to a pile across the road, stacking the planks in a neat pile. John L running
the payloader, Bing R using his skid loader, Joe K, Dave C, Mark K, busy clearing the ties of
debris and stones. Both the C&I main and siding were clear of planks by 11:30am. Time for
lunch.
 
Meanwhile the train crew was getting things ready for the crowds that were to ride the
1:30pm train to La Crosse and Wade Tower with the Monon Historical group. The train
was spotted at the depot loading platform by 12:30pm. Many riders were boarding early
to get a good seat in the LIRR coach or the open air car. The chair lift car got a good work-out
today with a couple of wheel chairs and others who could not climb steps into the cars.
The train left close to 1:30pm but a couple of last minute items had to be taken care of,
getting a radio to the rear end, whose radio battery went dead at the last minute.
 
By 1:00pm, I had got my tools together, electric cord plugged in to the new outlet on the
east end of the kitchen car, manlift started, with some help from Joe K working the choke
and it started. Moved the manlift into position on the south side of the PC, soon to be PRR
boxcar for some grinding and priming. I got a good section of the side done before the
return of the train from La Crosse.
 
The crossing crew had the town street dept cutting a nice cut across Main street for a much
neater cut-in with the paving crew coming Tuesday of next week. Cleanup of the old asphalt
lasted the greater portion of the afternoon. All is ready for next week. Any bets on if someone
might try going over the tracks before Sunday morning. One of the track circuit wires was
broken and the crossing lights will flash till repaired, so that may help prevent an accidental
crossing.
 
The train returned from La Crosse at 4:34pm, everyone exited quickly and departed shortly
after, the train crew quickly locked all the cars, and put the train back on the caboose
track. Everyone was gone by 5pm.
 
Next week, most likely at 8am, board meeting, 3 trains running, and on the 15th, work
will commence on the Arlington street crossing, as only 1 train will be running that day.
 
Enjoy the fall weather this coming week, see you next Saturday.
 
Tom Travis 

Lazy days of summer not quite over at HVRM 9-24-11

Folks -   Well, the calendar told us the Autumn started this week.  But despite a forecast of rain and possible storms and maybe even hail, we got a sunny day in the mid-60's at HVRM today!   Tom Travis brought down a wood stove and managed to talk a few of "the boys" into giving him a hand unloading it.  Tom says its now in the center aisle of the original Shop building.   I got to Hoosier Valley at 9:00 a.m., too late to help Tom unload the stove.  What could be interpreted as smart planning on my part was really just a case of being too lazy this morning to get an early start.  So upon arrival in North Judson, I unloaded some items for the NKP kitchen car.   It was good to see Bob Jachim up and around and cutting down weeds in one of the flower beds.  Bob had some minor surgery the week before last.   Plans to start on the Main Street road crossing rebuild, were apparently put on hold for the weekend.  A number of folks planning on working on the project, were not at the museum this day.  I had ideas to take a motor car out to Wade Tower and do some cleaning up around the structure, but again the C&I had covered hopper car parked on the main line between the La Crosse wye and Wade, so no way to get there.  Speaking of covered hoppers, the C&I had about 20 of them parked just east of Main Street on their old Cheapeake & Ohio line, apparently stored awaiting the fall harvest to come in to the elevators.  Some of the local farmers have just started harvesting corn.   Tom and I finally hooked up and since I had some plumbing items to unload at the old Erie Railroad storage building, Tom took the bull by the horns and started some cleaning up including emptying the overflowing garbage can.  We managed to make a good spot for the new plumbing arrival, and made the old items a heck of a lot neater!  Elmer Mannen had Metra (ex-ICRR) Highliner # 1502 open and we joined him to see what he was doing.  There is some desire to turn at least a portion of this car into extra seating for the kitchen car.  We left Elmer to his calculations and  then headed down to the old NKP wooden double sheathed tool car # X50110.  We managed to get into the car and look it over.  This car needs a lot of work, and there is a big question as to whether a restoration will ever be attempted.  I pointed out to Tom that, earlier in the year during a very heavy rainfall, the car remained dry except for a couple of holes in the side of the roof where the old tarp donated by Tom McKee and put on for protection, had finally just rotted away.  After we were done, it was time for coffee and doughnuts!   The 11:00 train departed on time, with some riders.  The recertification of engineers continued for those who could not be at the museum last Saturday.  The train was made up of B&LE caboose 1989, EJ&E handicap car (transfer caboose) 184, the MKT open flat car 13833, LIRR coach 2937 and EL bay window caboose C345, with EL Alco 310 pushing out and then pulling back to the museum.   Pat DeGan manned the gift shop in the depot with Loretta Kosloske selling tickets.  Loretta also was guest engineer, running the 310 after the 11:00 train returned.    At lunch, I put up the new flag on our pole since it now appeared that the rain forecast for the day, wasn't going to materialize.  Then after lunch, Tom decided that we should ride EJ&E # 184 on the 1:30 p.m. train and he pulled out two chairs (a directors chair for him and a folding chair for me) and we sat on the platform and enjoyed the beautiful early fall day.  A very nice ride.  The only other passengers rode in the Bessemer caboose.  Tom pointed out the brush that he had cut around milepost marker 217 on a recent Saturday.  A nice job.  Tom said that after our arrival back at the museum, he was going to call it a day since his shoulder was bothering him.  l felt I should try to do something at least, and as we pulled past the Shop, I noticed that the red indicator board on the turnout had faded to an almost brown color.  Here is something I could do with the rest of this lazy day.  So, after deboarding I eventually wandered back to the Erie building and found a can of bright red paint, a brush and a paint stick.  Packed it all up and drove over to the Shop, walking to the west side of the Shop where the switch was located.  Waited for the 2:45 train to La Crosse to run through the switch before I started on the red portion of the target.  Apparently the train load was very light, because instead of taking all of the cars mentioned previously, the train was made up of only 310 and the B&LE caboose.  After they headed west, I opened the can, stirred the paint and with a bit of dilligent work, the two sides of the banner were soon finished.  Looked good!   Had to go around to the front of the Shop and decided to check those turnouts out there.  One looked okay.  Another didn't.  More paint!  Continued walking east, paint can and brush in hand.  Some indicators are green and yellow.  No paint for these.  Another turnout east of Mulberry Street.  Done!  Continued east, passing the Erie building and found a high switchstand throw necessitating walking back to the Erie building for scrapper, wire brush and most importantly, a ladder.  As I worked on this one, Bing Risley came up and we talked a bit.  Bing said  that he had just come back from giving Mark Knebel and John LaOrange a hand with track work out past State Route 10.  Finished that switchstand and continued walking east.  Bing asked about the ladder and I replied that the next switch throw was low and I would put the ladder back upon my return.  The next indicator soon bore a new coat of red.  There were a few more down on the east end near Main Street.  Red indicators?  The first two proved yellow and green, but what about the very last one?  The one that had recently had new switch ties put in and which is the very first turnout that the museum installed after the move to North Judson in the late 1980's?  As I walked over to the side, it looked green and yellow!  But no, not yellow, just a VERY faded red.  This turnout has a very high target; one I would need the ladder for.  A long walk back to the switch I had left the ladder by, and then an  even longer walk back to the Erie building after I was finished.  And that is a wood ladder that is very heavy.  I would also be at the east end of the museum with my car back at the west end at the Shop.  Decided since I would have to eventually walk back to the Shop anyway, I might as well do it now and then come back with the car, picking up the ladder on the way.  When I finally got back to the east end switch, with car and ladder, there was some scrapping and wire brushing before all four sections of the indicator was painted.  Steve Newland gave me a wave from his pickup as I worked.  By this time, I heard the 310 blowing for the crossings as it made its way back toward the depot.   Finished up.  Much better!  There were some of these targets that would need green paint too, but that was going to be for another day!    As I put the ladder back at the Erie building, I saw Mark and asked him how they had done on track work.  He said that the managed to get all of the ties that were put in last week, spiked down.  I don't believe that they had the compressor running, so these were probably put in the old-fashioned way; just driving them home!   Managed to get everything packed away and signed out at 5:00.  A lazy day had turned out quite well after all.   Have a good week everyone.  Enjoy the autumn weather.   Les

That old snake-in-the-grass at HVRM 9/17/11

Greetings!   After 3 days where the temps did not get up to 60 degrees, old Mother Nature told us today that summer ain't quite over yet as we had a beautiful sunny day with temps in the low 70's!  Hurrah!   Started out the day at 8:00 a.m. by attending the general membership bi-monthly business meeting.  A number of things discussed including the FRA inspection of GE # 11; Mid-America Railcar's proposal to bring passenger equipment to HVRM; the lease of Mike Koehler's Long Island commuter coach # 2937; the monetary results of NKP 2-8-4 # 765's visit earlier this year; tie replacement; the Erie Monterey depot, NKP RPO # 356 and various other items.  Too much to recap here.  I direct your attention to Mark Knebel's Secretary page in the upcoming museum newsletter for further info.   After the meeting, I had hoped to go out to Wade Tower and do some general cleanup, hopefully using a motorcar to make the trip.  Unfortunately. I was told that the C&I had four covered hoppers parked east of Wade which would prevent getting the putt-putt out there.  There doesn't seem to be any way to drive to the location.  Elmer Mannen did tell me that they had run out to the tower last week on the trip to La Crosse and decided that they could unload the folks from the Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society who will be visiting Hoosier Valley and riding the train out to Wade at the beginning of October.   Tom Travis and I looked over Penn Central boxcar #153177, which Mark and Joe Baker had worked on during this last week as we prepare to eventually reletter it as Pennsylvania Railroad # 607627.  The car had one side almost completely primed with only the narrow ladder area to the roof not finished.  Tom decided to do some grinding to remove rust and flaking paint on the other side of the car, but was not able to get the manlift to start.  So he decided to go down and work on tie replacement on the east end of the museum, but put up our new flag before he left.  It is good to see the flag flying over the depot and museum.   Meanwhile, I searched for Steve Newland who told me the "secret" to starting the manlift and I was able to finally get it going.  Decided that since it was now running, I would remove the light rust and paint the remaining portion of that one side of the car, which I spent the morning doing.     Meanwhile, the passenger train schedule began with the museums engineers undergoing recertification during the operations.  Not sure of the passenger count for the day, but all three runs had a fair amount of people.  Randall Downs, Bill Dauber and Joe Kinsbury, were carhosts today.  John DeGan, Elmer, Doug Kosloske, Jason Annen and Fred Boyer were in the cab and some of the guys also acted as conductors.  I may have missed some of these guys.     I broke for lunch, in the NKP kitchen car.  Many goodies although I confined myself to soup and the smoked sausage/cabbage combo.  Good!   Margett Cook and Pat DeGan worked in the depot gift shop today while Loretta Kosloske sold tickets.   After lunch, I decided to head out to check on the tie replacement gang who started again replacing ties between SR 10 and CR 250W, near the old highway rest stop.  This is now the parking area for the Erie Monterey Trail.  Tom said he was glad I showed up as he was getting tired and decided to head back to work on the PC boxcar now that the manlift was going.  I took over for him, pushing the little railroad hand cart as Cory Bennett on the backhoe, Dave Cook and Mark, put in new ties under rail joints, replacing those that the Erie had put in years ago, all of which were in pretty horrible shape.  Mark pointed out to me a little brown and white banded snake that had slithered out from under one of the ties they were working on and which made its way into the crack of another tie a little further up the line.  Is that one of the poisonous ones that make Indiana their home?  Probably not, but I made sure I kept my eye on the little critter the whole time we were in the vicinity of that particular tie!   Mark pointed out an Erie tie that had a date nail of 57 (for 1957) and another one for 39.  I was able to dig out the 57 nail and gave it to Mark, but we left the other one in the tie, which was still in pretty remarkable condition for being put in by the Erie in 1939.  As Cory said, they must have made a good batch of creosote that year!  The quality of the wood, might have had something to do with it too.   Cory, Mark and Dave eventually ran out of replacement ties, and we then went back and put tie plates under as many of the replacements as we could.  Still have to spike them, but that is for another day!   After we picked up the tools and the hand cart and put it in Mark's pickup, I headed back to the museum where I found that Tom had cleaned a nice patch of the PC (PRR) boxcar.  We were both pretty tired by this time, so took a little break for water and cookies in the kitchen car.  Finally, we realized we had to get some paint on the cleaned area otherwise it would rust with the rain due to hit the area Sunday night.   Managed to get that done.  About this time, the train from La Crosse was heard coming in so we called it a day.    I'm pretty tired right now.  Lots of physical activity today.  Will be plenty sore tomorrow!   Hope everyone has a great week.  Enjoy what's left of summer!   Les

Foreign Visitors from "eh land" at HVRM 10 Sept 2011

Greetings to all foreign and domestic readers,
 
Wonderful day at HVRM, sun was somewhat hot, but clouds cooled it down quickly. HVRM had
two special visitors for Canada today, Ross and Gee Robinson stopped by for a quick visit and
dinner at the Wooden Nickel. Returning from a quick visit to Tipton IA, on way back to Ottawa
ONT, Ross stopped to exchange latest and greatest news from the Ottawa area. A very crowded
Nickel, due to a memorial motorcycle run, it was busy and smokey. Maureen and Brianne joined
us for dinner. All of us left full and feeling good after a wonderful meal.
 
I arrived somewhat late in the morning to the east end switch, where the "tie crew" was busy
at work. Cory, Mark, Dave, Seth, Doug were all trying to replace 4 ties and get the switch
points tight against the rail. After a lot of effort, time for a break down at the train loading
area for hot dogs and drinks. A quick trip down to the west side of town at Osinki's auction
to see what was for sale, Cory had his eye on a small disc, but bids did not meet the price
required for a sale, so back to work. After doing some more shimming with flat washers,
a working medium was acchieved throwing the points to a tight position. Then putting spikes
in the 4 ties installed earlier and getting the guage correct. Finally driving in the spikes, was a
slow process. Next week it shoud be easier to install an spike ties without so much extra work.
Seth reported only 57 ties in the main line need replacing, should be a piece of cake to do.
Come on out and help out, needed spike pullers, tie plate placers and handing out spikes.
 
After the train departure at 2:45pm, the GE locomotive was brought out for some final
adjustments prior to the FRA coming out and inspecting it on Friday next week. All looks
good.
 
The MDT reefer and short NKP open air car are now locacted on track 3 at the east end
shop, to get in with the manlift to do some TSP'ing on the MDT car. Cooler weather will
make it easier to work in. C&NW boxcar is on track 1 inside the east shop being worked
on. NKP bay window caboose is still in the west shop for repainting. PC boxcar is
located across from the kitchen car, ready for grinding and priming. DT&I #122 will be
coming to  HVRM in the near future from Mishawaka IN Wendt Cranes.
 
Train riders today was at moderate level.
 
Sept 17th, next saturday morning at 8am in the depot, is the general membership meeting.
Come on out, download for the NKP 765 event, proposal discussion for the Mid America Car
request, and other important items. Get there early, seating is limited.. Like to paint, plenty
of things to paint, grinding, tie replacing, mowing grass, cleaning out the Erie shed, cleaning
bathroom in shop area, picking up trash around the grounds. Lots of jobs to work at,
some easy, some more effort required.
 
Until next week, be careful driving, getting dark earlier. May all your signals be green....
 
Tom

Super Day at HVRM Weather Wise, Not So at Meeting

Folks -   Here is Tom Travis's museum report for August 27th.  I've added a few additional comments at the end.   Les --- On Sat, 8/27/11, Thomas Travis <wa9ngo@hotmail.com> wrote: Greetings to all,   It was a fine day at North Judson today. Started out cool for the most part and stayed in the mid-80's most of the day. Nice breeze for those working outside today. Perfect for making hay, which Richard Warner was doing all day, round bales and square bales. Weather on east coast is not looking good for all the rail fans and museums. Some of the prime tourist time is actually getting blasted by Hurricane Irene. Lets all hope the rail museums survive without much damage.   Arrived early for an anticipated special meeting, more of presentation by Ben Butterworth, President of Mid America Car. Let me cover happenings first.   The special trains during the week went off without any problems. One dinner train was well attended of dignitaries I believe of the local community. Marcia of the Wooden Nickel provided a wonderful dinner and plenty of food for all. As always, Marcia has the best broasted chicken in town.   Work in the east shop had a Mid America Car passenger car lifted up doing some work on a truck set. The massive lifts make lifting the car easy. Power from another dorm-baggage car was back fed (480 volts) to run the lifts, nice system. Ben has a good crew working for his company, knows their business.   Train crew did their expert job of running the tourist train today. John "Highball" DeGan was engineer, John LaOrange was co-engineer. Don't really know who was conductor. Seems all the trains had good attendence today. Bus load of Amish visitors showed for the 1:30 train, 50 or so rode to English lake and return.   The real working crew, tie replacers, were working down at the east end yard switch replacing two 16 foot switch ties. Cory on tractor, Mark on track, Tom, well stumbling around trying his darnest to fall down, managed to get two ties in with not much problem. The real test was getting the points to close tight. Finally Fred showed up and got us all in the right directions of fixing this small problem. Cory only made Fred take off 2 nuts, 2 or 3 times to finally get the bar that guages the points. Fred happy as ever, did what he was told and then Tom took off 2 big nuts and got the angled steel bar off to insert 1/2 inch washers to make the points fit tight. After reassembling that, throw the switch was tested. Well its sort of tight now, just stand back when pulling the switch lever, it springs real good and if it hits your midsection, you will have some pain for a couple of days. To get the switch locked, you might have to pull 3 or 4 times to get it. A nice 3 foot piece of pipe extension will help greatly. Actually it will be easier to throw once the outside rail to the switch is ground down some. It was a piece of bent rail to begin with and was never properly bent at the the points to give clearance. Either will have to stretch a long electrical cable, or use a generator, for power, I don't think the electrical cable will work for 1/4 mile. So it is back in service for the time being, till more tweaking can be done later.   Now for the presentation of Ben's Mid America Car proposal to HVRM board. MAC would like to make the following equipment storage, usage and display proposal to HVRM. Several passenger cars of MAC's heritage fleet would be displayed on a new storage track at the east end of the properity. In addition MAC will provide cars that can be operated for  use at HVRM in regular or seasonal events. MAC requests that any routine maintence, HVRM will provide, i.e. brakeshoes, fuel, cleaning etc. A joint effort of MAC & HVRM to up date former C&O Chessie dome observation car for exclusive use by HVRM for 3-5 years,  with Amtrak certification eventually. In exchange of furnishing equipment for display and operation with HVRM's current equipment fleet, MAC would like use of HVRM's facilities to inspect, maintain and upgrade our running fleet of cars.   The full equipment storage and usage proposal can be viewed by everyone by asking Mark Knebel for a copy. Maybe it could be put on-line in a pdf so the different types of passenger cars can be displayed and the entire general overview proposal page.   This presentation was only an announcement. Board meeting on 3 Sept at 8am in the depot will discuss this further. A general membership meeting will be 17 September at 8am in the depot. Further discussion will be held.   This proposal will be viewed under a microscope. All questions, impacts on HVRM, MAC's intent to invest, and the extent of what to expect, will be conducted.   I encourage every member of HVRM to take a look at this proposal. Ask questions, make sure contract proposals are carefully written, leaving no idea along the way. This will have a lasting effect on HVRM for years to come. PROs/CONs????? Hard to say. Its all up to you. Make your vote count what you think is right to do with the museum's future.   Attend the meetings PLEASE!!!!!!!!   Have a safe week to come, enjoy the Labor Day weekend, drive safe, days are getting shorter by minutes each day, watch out for school busses on the roads after Labor Day.   Tom   Addendum -   The 2:45 train today ran all the way into La Crosse.  This is the first train to operate from the museum into La Crosse since the track was fixed by HVRM track crews after the 765 derailment on the Memorial Day weekend.  So certainly a red letter day for the museum!   I believe that Elmer Mannen and Doug Kosloske shared conductor duties on the trains today.  Joe Kingsbury provided the crossing protection that was necessary on the two earlier English Lake runs.   I spent the day finishing the painting of the watchman's crossing shanty.  I think it looks pretty good in its new coat of light green paint with dark green trim.  Comments welcome, pro or con.   I told Tom that the ex-Santa Fe Geep that the elevator at Malden uses for switching there, is apparently under repair at the Chesapeake & Indiana diesel repair area at La Crosse and that ex-C&O SD-18 # 7311 is currently up at Malden.  I am not sure if 7311 has been leased to the elevator for them to use while the Santa Fe unit is being repaired, or if it was just moved there for storage.   There had been some switching around of equipment.  NKP caboose # 471 is back in the West Annex of the Shop for painting.  And MDT refrigerator car # 13385 has been moved onto the tail of the turntable lead track.  Unfortunately, the car is now in a location where Tom and I will not be able to work on it due to junk around the car.   Pat DeGan and Judy Boyer seemed pretty busy in the gift shop today, which is always good to see.   Have a good week.   Les

Super Day at HVRM Weather Wise, Not So at Meeting

Greetings to all,
 
It was a fine day at North Judson today. Started out cool for the most part and stayed in
the mid-80's most of the day. Nice breeze for those working outside today. Perfect for making
hay, which Richard Warner was doing all day, round bales and square bales. Weather on
east coast is not looking good for all the rail fans and museums. Some of the prime tourist
time is actually getting blasted by Hurricane Irene. Lets all hope the rail museums survive
without much damage.
 
Arrived early for an anticipated special meeting, more of presentation by Ben Butterworth,
President of Mid America Car. Let me cover happenings first.
 
The special trains during the week went off without any problems. One dinner train
was well attended of dignitaries I believe of the local community. Marcia of the
Wooden Nickel provided a wonderful dinner and plenty of food for all. As always,
Marcia has the best broasted chicken in town.
 
Work in the east shop had a Mid America Car passenger car lifted up doing some work
on a truck set. The massive lifts make lifting the car easy. Power from another dorm-baggage
car was back fed (480 volts) to run the lifts, nice system. Ben has a good crew working for
his company, knows their business.
 
Train crew did their expert job of running the tourist train today. John "Highball" DeGan was
engineer, John LaOrange was co-engineer. Don't really know who was conductor. Seems
all the trains had good attendence today. Bus load of Amish visitors showed for the 1:30
train, 50 or so rode to English lake and return.
 
The real working crew, tie replacers, were working down at the east end yard switch
replacing two 16 foot switch ties. Cory on tractor, Mark on track, Tom, well stumbling around
trying his darnest to fall down, managed to get two ties in with not much problem. The real
test was getting the points to close tight. Finally Fred showed up and got us all in the right
directions of fixing this small problem. Cory only made Fred take off 2 nuts, 2 or 3 times to
finally get the bar that guages the points. Fred happy as ever, did what he was told and then
Tom took off 2 big nuts and got the angled steel bar off to insert 1/2 inch washers to
make the points fit tight. After reassembling that, throw the switch was tested. Well its
sort of tight now, just stand back when pulling the switch lever, it springs real good and if
it hits your midsection, you will have some pain for a couple of days. To get the switch
locked, you might have to pull 3 or 4 times to get it. A nice 3 foot piece of pipe extension
will help greatly. Actually it will be easier to throw once the outside rail to the
switch is ground down some. It was a piece of bent rail to begin with and was never properly
bent at the the points to give clearance. Either will have to stretch a long electrical cable,
or use a generator, for power, I don't think the electrical cable will work for 1/4 mile.
So it is back in service for the time being, till more tweaking can be done later.
 
Now for the presentation of Ben's Mid America Car proposal to HVRM board. MAC would like
to make the following equipment storage, usage and display proposal to HVRM. Several
passenger cars of MAC's heritage fleet would be displayed on a new storage track at the
east end of the properity. In addition MAC will provide cars that can be operated for  use
at HVRM in regular or seasonal events. MAC requests that any routine maintence, HVRM
will provide, i.e. brakeshoes, fuel, cleaning etc. A joint effort of MAC & HVRM to up date
former C&O Chessie dome observation car for exclusive use by HVRM for 3-5 years,  with
Amtrak certification eventually. In exchange of furnishing equipment for display and operation
with HVRM's current equipment fleet, MAC would like use of HVRM's facilities to inspect,
maintain and upgrade our running fleet of cars.
 
The full equipment storage and usage proposal can be viewed by everyone by asking
Mark Kniebel for a copy. Maybe it could be put on-line in a pdf so the different types
of passenger cars can be displayed and the entire general overview proposal page.
 
This presentation was only an announcement. Board meeting on 3 Sept at 8am in the
depot will discuss this further. A general membership meeting will be 17 September at
8am in the depot. Further discussion will be held.
 
This proposal will be viewed under a microscope. All questions, impacts on HVRM,
MAC's intent to invest, and the extent of what to expect, will be conducted.
 
I encourage every member of HVRM to take a look at this proposal. Ask questions, make sure
contract proposals are carefully written, leaving no idea along the way. This will have a
lasting effect on HVRM for years to come. PROs/CONs????? Hard to say. Its all up to you.
Make your vote count what you think is right to do with the museum's future.
 
Attend the meetings PLEASE!!!!!!!!
 
Have a safe week to come, enjoy the Labor Day weekend, drive safe, days are getting
shorter by minutes each day, watch out for school busses on the roads after Labor Day.
 
Tom   

Sane Day, Rain Day at HVRM 8-20-11

Greetings!   Arrived at North Judson about 8:45 a.m. to find Bob Jachim hard at work removing flowers and weeds (mostly weeds fortunately) from one of the plant display areas.  These areas, which are boxed in with old railroad ties, were set up some years ago around the wood telephone poles in the museums parking lot.  Museum visitors had a tendency to back in to these wooden poles at times and the idea behind the plant displays and the ties was to protect the poles and make them more visible.  The idea has been a great success.  Most of the plants were put in over a period of time by former member Cheri Schultz, who used both native flowers and plants and also domesticated plants.  Unfortunately, these areas have become overgrown and unsightly these past few years.  Bob's "weeding" was most welcome.  Bob and I also moved around some of the old ties that form the parking spots in the parking area so that we were able to get another automobile spot set up.   Bob Barcus singlehandedly manned the gift shop and ticket sales, as the ladies in the normal crew all were unable to be at HVRM this morning.   I dropped off a newly purchased can of light green paint which is to be used for Grasselli Tower and also for the Mulberry Street watchman's crossing shanty that I am painting.  Although there was rain in the forecast for this afternoon, I decided to do some painting on the shanty anyway.  I noticed that Bing Risley had put some additional crushed stone around the outside of the shanty this past week, which is much appreciated.   Fred Boyer was picking up old track material in front of the Shop building an taking it over to the track supply area.  Fred then grabbed a bunch of old concrete blocks and took them over to Grasselli and, after knocking excess mortar off of them, stacked them in front of the lower door to the Tower as temorary stairs.   The train crew had done some spotting of cars and moved MDT refrigerator car # 13385 over to track 1 in front of the Shop so that the second side of the car can eventually be scrubbed down to remove road grime.  Hopefully the garden hose will reach over to the car when that project is started up again.  In addition, Penn Central boxcar # 153177 had been moved over to the track near the NKP kitchen car.  Presumably, this means that a restoration is to be soon undertaken including repainting the car back to Pennsylvania Railroad # 607627.       Steve Newland had worked earlier in the week on the stairway that leads up to the second floor door of Grasselli, and was doing some additional work on the stairs today.   Joe Kingsbury spent the morning cutting grass in the future roundhouse site space.   Bill Maloney of the Blackhawk Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society was a visitor at Hoosier Valley today.  It was good to see Bill and talk to him.  He had not been at the museum for a number of years and Fred took the opportunity to give Bill a tour of Grasselli.  Blackhawk has supported various projects at the museum in the past, including signal restoration and installation and the move of Grasselli Tower from East Chicago to North Judson.   Train crews were very busy today.  In addition to the forementioned switching, the four Mid-America passenger cars had to be sorted so that the Mohave and Keystone Grille could be separated from the other two Mid-America cars in prepartion for their scheduled assignment on the 4:00 p.m. dinner train run.  Train crew today included John DeGan, Andy Hershman, Doug Kosloske, Joe Kingsbury, Elmer Mannen, Bill Dauber and Randall Downs.  The regular 11:00 train headed for English Lake.   A very light rain started late in the morning so I packed up and put paint cans and brushes away for the day.  Loretta Kosloske arrived about this time to help Bob Barcus in the depot.   No lunch today, so members were on their own.  After lunch, the rain started in a bit harder, so Fred and I decided to join Bill Maloney in B&LE caboose # 1989 on the 1:30 p.m. train.  A nice ride, but the rain continued to increase, the wind picked up drastically and eventually the riders on the Katy open air flat car were forced to take cover in Long Island commuter coach # 2937.  Many of the riders got a good soaking.  Fortunately, the temp was still about 80 degrees, so the riders were not upset.  As we approached North Judson on the return trip, I noticed that the three headed ex-Erie searchlight signal just to the west of the tower displayed green over red over red.  This signal had long been displaying three reds, and Matt Lasayko, our signal guy, had been working on it last week to see if he could figure out what the problem was.  As EL 310 went by the signal today, the top green changed correctly to red and it was great to see that this signal is now working correctly.  Of course, Matt had just recently fixed the top semaphore blade on the ex-Erie TTO signal that is just to the east of Mulberry Street, and seeing that signal blade drop down to red as the 310 passed was also wonderful.     After arriving back at  the depot, I had the opportunity to talk to Cory Bennett for a few moments.  He and Mark Knebel had just gotten back from the tie work project and Cory reported that the rain had caught them as they were spiking the last 3 ties in and rather than leave, they worked in the downpour and finished the project.  He reported that 25 ties were put in today and 25 more yesterday (Friday) and an additional 8 ties were also put in north of State Route 8 in La Crosse.   Perhaps because of the inclement weather, there were no riders for the 2:45 English Lake train.  As the passengers began arriving for the dinner train, the weather started to clear up.  The crew pushed the caboose train cars back and dropped the Bessemer & Lake Erie caboose on the main near the Shop, then went east and placed the other cabooses and LIRR 2937 into the caboose track.  Then another trip back west to got ready to pull the Mohave and Keystone Grille out from in front of the shop.  There is apparently a freon leak in the air conditioning system on one of these two cars and Jason Annen, Andy Roeske and Steve got out the tank of freon and charged the system.  Finally the train crew was able to couple the two passenger cars and the caboose together and pull them up to the depot for loading.  Included in the dinner crew were Joe and Louise Kingsbury, Loretta K., Bill D., Jason A., Andy R., in addition to the folks that were catering the event.  Doug K. was the conductor, with Elmer M., John DeG. and Jason Jordan in the cab of the EL Alco.  Departure was at 4:07 p.m., only slightly off the advertised.   With that, I did some minor gardening work and then headed for home after a very active and sane day at HVRM!   Les

HVRM Saturday August 13, 2011

Greetings!   Arrived at the museum about 9:15 a.m. and was surprised to see 4 Mid-America passenger cars parked on the track on the north side of the Shop building.  I had heard reports that the Keystone Grill and Mohave were coming back, but didn't know about the coach and combine.  Interesting!    I signed in and then found Tom Travis already working on WCHX # 1114, the museums single dome tank car.  So I joined in as we attached missing lock washers and nuts to the bolts securing the wood running boards that circle the car.  Many of these bolts are located in hard to get to locations and a hot sun burning down on us, didn't help our efforts.  The weather report for the day called for storms to arrive in the afternoon, and we hoped for some clouds, but got nothing but bright blue skies all morning.   Bob Barcus and Pat DeGan manned a lighter-than-normal crew in the depot and gift shop.  Ticket sales for the day seemed to be doing okay for a hot summer day in August.   John DeGan and Fred Boyer switched between engineer and fireman in the cabo of EL Alco #310, Bob Albert was the conductor with Randall Downs, Bill Dauber and Chris Kosary rounded out the crew.  Elmer Mannen drew the job of driving out and flagging the various crossings when the train was pushing the consist outbound from the depot.   Steve Newland worked on putting additional primer on the railings of the Grasselli Tower staircase.  Steve had come down earlier in the week and started that part of the project.   Broke for lunch in the NKP kitchen car, which included barbequed ribs, sausage and noodles, various sandwiches, a watermelon/cantelope/grape fruit salad and a number of different deserts.   After lunch, Tom and I went back to the tank car to continue the last of the work on the bolts.  Then after finishing, we grabbed a paint can and brushes and started in on painting the crossing watchman's Mulberry Street shanty.  Again bright sun, and the small building only had two sides in the shade!  Bing Risley helped me shove the coal box away from the one side of the shanty so I could paint behind it.   In the meantime, the boys returned from putting ties in up near La Crosse.  Cory Bennett reported that 44 ties were tamped and 25 new ties installed.  He estimates that two more workdays should finish up the job.  Besides Cory, the tie crew consisted of Mark Knebel, John LaOrange, Dave Cook and I think Cory mentioned someone else, but I didn't catch who that other person was.   As Tom and I soldiered on in the sun (where are those clouds?), we got the usual comments about "it will start peeling next week" and "you missed a spot" and..., well, you get the idea.  The clouds finally arrived just after Tom left to take some scrap metal over to the scrap piles located behind the Shop building.  I walked down and put the can of light green paint back into the Shop then walked back to the shanty and grabbed the ladder and my paint brush and headed for the Erie building to clean up.  By the time I had finished, the sky was getting very ominous.  Signed out, and talked briefly with a couple of guys who had gotten permission to run their Milwaukee Road speeder over the museum trackage in North Judson.  I headed for home at 5:15 and wasn't more than two miles from the museum before the skies opened up!  Hope those guys in the motorcar didn't get too wet!      Have a good week everyone.  Schools are starting to go back, so be careful out there when driving.   Les