Nickel Plate engineer on 7-2-11

Hope you had a good day at HVRM today.  And that you have a good one "flagging" tomorrow.  As for me, I left about 1:30 and stopped at 2100 South to watch the second of the photo runbys with the 765.  Were you on the ground there, or did you stay on the train?  There was a "white shirted" guy at the throttle of the Berk when it left North Judson.   One of the Ft. Wayne guys said that he was a former NKP engineeer and he was 87 years old.  One of the last of the engineers still left that ran the Berks in regular service!  I guess that would probably be right considering that they stopped running them in 1958.  That was 53 years ago now!  He would have been about 32 years old at the time the 2-8-4's were withdrawn.  Pretty young for an engineer at that time.  My guess is that he hadn't been promoted from a fireman too long before the end of steam came.  Well, glad that at his age, he was able to still pull the throttle and send the Berk on its way.   I zonked out once I got home.  Didn't do much actual "work" today, but just being in that heat takes a lot out of me these days.  I checked the thermometer at the museum before I left and it read 96.  Probably close to accurate, as that was the same temp on my thermometer when I checked it when I got home.   Sold out 10:00 train and pretty close on the 1:00.  There were still a lot of space on the 4:00 train when I left, but maybe they did okay on that one too.  A good day revenue wise for sure!  Now just the "throttle time" tomorrow and we can kiss the 765 goodbye!   Les

NKP 765 Throttle Time at HVRM 7-3-11

Great day at HVRM for the NKP 765 throttle time (TT). After yesterdays hot, humid, explosive
weather, today was much calmer, dry, typical July weather.
 
Yesterday, going to 4:30am today, was a movie/actor/train shoot, an added bonus to
the 765 operations and HVRM. Old cars and period dressed actors worked on different
scenes till almost day light. I heard it went quite well, even a volunteer HVRM member
played a conductor, whom it was is unknown. Everything and everybody was gone by
6:30 am when I arrived for crossing guard duty.
 
4:30am came early to get ready for today. I wanted a donut from Fingerhut,
but were still closed when I came into deserted North Judson. The NKP 765 was being
serviced down by the east shop, wheels greased, and other little adjustments done.
 
The 7am time came and went, the 765 was not ready, both TT participants were
at the museum. Finally the 765 moved, to couple up to the work car and water canteen
to be pulled up to the east shop. Dropped an left at the east shop door, 765 backed
down to the main line, coupled on to Erie bay window and Bessemer & Lake Erie
cupola caboose and did its air tests. The work car had all the wet containers of
NKP merchandise, taken out and dried during the day out in the sun. The water canteen
was cleaned of remaining rust, getting it ready for the trip to Train Festival.
The water canteen will be filled with water to provide ample supply water on the long
trip to Rock Island IL. Remaining coal will be loaded in the tender when 765 is steamed
up again for the trip.
 
The 765, with both drivers in the engine, cabooses coupled up and ready to go around
8am. It was decided that once on the C&I main, the engine an cabooses would stop
at HVRM switch and change TT people at the west shop area for the rest of the day,
avoiding the switch and backing to the depot. It was no problem, as most of the crew
members were already at the west shop and it worked very well all day. It gave better
photography as the day went on. It was sunny all day and still many showed up to
chase and photograph the short train.
 
Myself and Don? were flaggers till 1pm, we alternated between Toto Road and the other
two crossings and had an hour to come back for eating or refreshments. I made a run
to eat breakfast at 10 am, so I had plenty of time before the 11am departure.
 
When I left about 3pm, things were still going well, everything running cool, and
the water canteen and NKP work car moved by Erie 310 to the depot area to be filled
with water from the fire hydrant after its cleaning or rust.
 
For Saturday, it was hot, humid and down right nasty weather wise. The last run of
the days photo run by went well, no one got wet, but rain was on the way. North Judson
received hail, wind and lots of rain. Water was everywhere when we got back after
the last run. Cept for the wet rain, lightning & thunder on Fridays for the photogs special,
it went off okay. Everyone was soaked, engine crew, photogs and any one else associated
with helping out was just about beat.
 
Due to some problems with equipment, the WCHX tank car, C&NW boxcar and PRR
flat car did not participate in the freight train.
 
Next week, regular HVRM tourist trains will be back running normal schedules.
 
Little River Rail Road in Coldwater MI will be having its steam festival (5) operating
engines over a 4 day period, starting 14 thru 17 July, multiple steam excursions running.
Checkout LRRR web site for more details.
 
July 21 thru 24 is the Train Festival up at the Quad city area in IL. Lots of steam, diesel
and other activities will take place.
 
Many thanks to the NKP 765 crew for the tireless work performed over the last month
to make steam possible. Mid America out of INDY provided passenger cars that were
a riding pleasure to all the visitors over the period. Thanks to all the HVRM members
who volunteered to help out with the excursions.
 
Keep checking the HVRM web for upcoming train activities for the rest of the summer.
 
Tom  

HVRM 6-25-2001, Dinner Train a Big Sucess

Greetings to all. Hot day at HVRM yesterday, well into the upper 80's and then some.
Nice blue sky, something we have not seen in a while, cept for liquid sunshine.
 
MDT 13385 scrubbing is done, well on one side, save the north side for cooler days.
Les and myself worked again yesterday all day to finish it. Wore out countless
SOS scrubbing pads, 2 wire brushes, arms, hands, shoulders. Everyone is very sore
this morning. Sun was more intense than the cool temp on friday. Detailing of rivets
and hinges are things to do yet, we just did not have the time to finish it. One more
volunteer would of made the difference in getting it completely scrubbed.
 
Tie gang at La Crosse continued, 90 ties now installed, spiked and tamped. Crew worked
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this past week. HOT and HARD work. Over the 3 days,
Cory, John, Mark, Joe, Matt, Dave all worked on track. Great job guys.
 
Good crowds for the tourist trains today. I kept seeing people coming an going all
day.
 
The dinner train was a great sucess. Loretta an her crew did an excellent job in
the serving car dishing out a great BBQ sandwiches, coleslaw and potato salad.
She said that 69 people rode and paid, maybe even more could of been on the train,
but space necessiatated it being cut off. Originally I heard 90 was the reservations,
but not enough seating was available. Many thanks to Mid America and the use of the
air conditioned cars.
 
Next weekend will conclude the NKP 765 steam operations, saturday will be the last
day to ride behind the Berkshire. I saw a pile of rust outside the west shop and
believe that Richard Warner had the water canteen cleaned out of rust. Many thanks
to Richard an his elevator and John Deere tractor to load coal into the 765 tender.
It has been a rough session, but the joy of seeing steam run has been another wonder
of the NKP 765 group.
 
Upcoming events in the area for July, 14-17 Little River Railroad will be hosting 5 steam
locomotives over a 4 day event. Google LRRR get all the info.
 
Train festival in Rock Island IL July 21-24 is going to be another large event of steam
engines, should be a good show.
 
A couple of projects in the shop buildings, C&NW boxcar is being prepped for paint along
with patching holes in the body. Steve Newland continues on getting the stairs to the
upper level of Grasseli done. If you like to paint wood, Steve will get you fixed
up to paint.  Matt continues to work on track, putting insulators between rails for
the signal system. A new security program for the depot was installed week ago friday.
Doors will be rekeyed and instructions given to key holders on how to alarm and disalarm
the system later on.
 
Word had it that Wendt of Mishawaka might be donating a DT&I caboose to the museum.
The board of directors have not discussed it yet, but certainly another cupola caboose would
be welcome to the museum, especially a Wabash heritage built car with stream lined
cupola. Lets keep hoping it will happen. The car has been inside a wire fenced in lot,
for years, no vandalism, nor major issues, cept for faded paint. It must be complete
inside, as it was never turned into an office of sorts for the Wendt company. I will let
everyone know the outcome, but Joe Kingsbury already knows we want it. Lets not have
this slip threw our hands
 
Thats about it for now, come on out next weekend for steam action at HVRM.
 
Tom

6-24-201 HVRM Report

Greetings,
 
Sort of a quick report for a Friday. Les got to HVRM at 10am and started washing the
MDT reefer with TSP. Les had completed a lot of scrubbing by the time I arrived. After
a quick run over to the scrap pile to drop off tin and aluminum, we procedded to the
Nickel for a quick bite, meeting up with Gary Rosemond. Good meal and back to
work. Steve Newland and a group of others were working in the shop area.
I had noticed that another load of ties had arrived during the week for tie replacement
near La Crosse. Usually Mark K arrives about 3pm, but did not show, I got the feeling
they were replacing ties today. Well ties were being replaced Thursday and Friday,
another 75 were put in, and 25 need to be tamped tomorrow morning. Saturday
25 more ties will be replace, for a total of 168 or so. Cory, John, Mark, Joe, Matt
were the team today. Tomorrow morning we will complete scrubbing the south
side of the MDT reefer. Will leave the north side for after the NKP photo freight.
Both of us quit at 6pm and headed for home. Tomorrow is the dinner train at
4pm. Maureen and Brianne will come down about 3pm to meet me. Should be fun.
 
Tom

HVRM Friday 6-17-2011, Another Bad Day

Greetings to all,
 
Thursday afternoon, the NKP 765 crew was working on the throttle with the
steam dome off and resetting a copper ring to seal the steam in. Actually copper
heated expands and becomes soft. This ring is then placed on the steam dome
and when tightend down, it seals the cover. Lots of heavy work, high off the ground
and not much room to work in the west shop. The injector worked on during the
last 2 weeks and seems to work fine now.
 
Jason Annen moved the MDT reefer down to the display track across from the
Erie shed. I had moved the manlift to the area next to the caboose track in anticipating
the caboose was going to be moved there today. Les showed up and moved the manlift
over to the brick walk way to work on the MDT scrubbing it down with TSP. Les made
consider progress with cleaning the car today. I can now take my smaller scaffolding
down and get the lower portion of the car maybe next week. I have an idea to use
a tarp, silver reflective, put over the top of the car and tied off at some point, to provide
shade against the brutal sun. I did not anticipate Les to show up today, but he did and got
much accomplished. I was scheduled to be a flagger for road crossings from 1pm to 7pm
for the throttle time engineers. Events later in the day made that job null for the day.
 
Noted Cory, Matt, Mark working on putting insulated rail joints in the main line
for signals. One complete joint was completed and the second was started with
Cory cutting the rail with a gas driven grinder. It was not as easy as it looked, because
Cory could not get the sliver of steel cut. At 11am I climbed on the NKP caboose as
under instruction with Conductor Fred Boyer to see how the flaggers were stationed
as the train passed by. I returned at 11:20 am. I climbed down and watched the
2nd throttle time engineer took the 765 out for its 3 mile run.
 
At approx 11:26 am, while talking with Doug, both of us heard a noise and turned to see
the train derail on the C&I welded rail main line. The engine stopped in very short space,
with the gon and boxcar at odd angles. Upon closer inspection the rails had spread
starting with the engine, derailing drivers R-1 and L-4, both tender trucks, right side
of truck on rail, 2 axles on left side dropped down to the tie, boxcar both truck wheels
on right side off rail, gon west truck on the ground. Rerailing commenced with getting
the boxcar stabilized with air jacks to prevent any possibility of turning on its side.
The gon was next, with jacks and lots of manpower and metal guage bars, the truck was
with a rerailer pulled back on the spread rail with IBCX 7042, that was fairly easy.
With the boxcar stablized, again hand jacks were used along with metal guage bars
pulled the rail together and got the boxcar back on track, pulled away with 7042.
Now to the 765 tender trucks, that was a little more difficult. Andy Cornwall did a lot
of the grunt work under the axles jacking up to assist getting outside jacks to lift wheels
back on the rails. Success, with pulling rail together, wheels were back on rails
to support tender. Now to the drivers, blocks of wood and steel tie plates piled
up and with an assist from 7042 and one good push by 765 herself, the drivers
went right back on track. At 5:13pm approx, all cars were rerailed and after some
more track work, 765 moved to the HVRM switch and was back on home rails.
Throttle time for the rest of the day was cancelled and the engine was taken to
the depot for watering. Tender water was dumped earlier to  lighten the weight of
the tender. The 7042 proceeded to move the NKP tool car and Erie 310 to the east
shop and tool car was put back on with the mobile water canteen. 7042
moved to the east end of yard to pull the Mid America passenger cars out and
position them on the depot track for Saturdays trains. Passengers will load out
of the depot track vs the C&I main line due to the bad condition of the C&I main line
east of the HVRM switch. The diesel generator car was running and a/c was running
in the cars to cool them down after the high temps on Friday. All train excursions
are a go for Saturday and Sunday
 
Many thanks to all who participated in the rerailing process, Cory, Matt, Mark, Andy
Cornwall, C&I crew, Donny, Jessie and one other. Much hard work was appreciated
by the NKP crew to rerail their engine in a very timely amd safe manner. Hot and humid
conditions contributed to the misery of everyone working. Many were happy when the
sun set lower in the sky and finally got some shade from the trees.
 
End of a long day. Lets hope tomorrow (Saturday/Sunday) will be better. Many sold
out trains for tomorrow. Les will be a car host on Saturday and I will be a car
host on Sunday. I have some home projects for Saturday, so may not get to
HVRM till later in the day. I look forward to a nice A/C passenger car Sunday.
 
Tom

Special Report 6-15-2011 MDT Reefers Getting Ready for Photo Frieght

Greetings to All,
 
Busy Monday 6/13 and Wednesday 6/15 working on MDT Reefers. Work session by myself and Les
Monday. Started out with the MDT cars at the east end of the storage track. I got the
scaffolding set up on MDT 14070 south side to grind and prime door. Had the generator
in the back of the van for electricity. Les had to get a block of wood to stand on to get
the very top of the door. Scaffold was not high enough, and it was down in a ditch.
 
Jason Annen showed up and was going to wash Mid America cars. Talked him
into moving the 14070 over 1 track and the 13858 down by the east shop access to
water for TSP'ing on Wednesday.
 
Got both cars moved and I got most of the door primed till I ran out of paint. Still need
to do the levers to open/close doors. But really the primer makes the car look good.
Les had painted the north side earlier with yellow, but needs another coat sometime,
but for now is okay.
 
Today started out very rainy with lots of lightning and thunder till 9:30am. After it stopped
I got the key to the manlift and moved it down next to the south side of the car.
Got the hose out, water turned on, and TSP cooking in the buckets and the scrubbing
began. ARMs are very tired along with sore hands and fingers. Made a serious dent
in scrubbing off the grime before quitting at 4PM.
 
In the mean time, a semi load of new ties came in to be unloaded about 3pm.
100 new ties were delievered from Galesburg IL. No La Crosse tie work this weekend as
big steam weekend with NKP 765.
 
EMD Model 40 got TAGGED out by IN 10 in the last couple of days, will go out an
spray some black paint on the yellow spray paint on the engine. Won't see it at all from
the highway.
 
Friday is NKP 765 Throttle day from 7am to 7pm. Saturday/Sunday are 765 excursions
and another throttle day will be around the beginning of July with one more excursion
day July 3rd.
 
Little River Railroad in Coldwater Michigan, July 14-17 will be having 5 steam locomotives
steamed up for steam weekend. LRRR 110, LRRR 1, Flagg 75, Viscose 6 and Lehigh Valley 126,
LRRR newest steam engine.
 
July 21-24 will be the Rockford Train Festival, many big steam engines will be there.
 
Lots of action at HVRM this weekend, Come on out and join us.
 
Tom

6-11-2011 HVRM Report, Weather, One Extreme Condition To Another

Greetings to all,
 
What a week weather wise it has been in NW IN. From blistering heat in the upper 90's
to lows of 58 today. Scorching sun, monsoon rains, fog, you name it, we had it. But at
least it cooled off today.
 
Thursday I had drove to North Judson to pick a cake at Fingerhut, stopped at Gary
Rosemond to chat, and on leaving I made my way thru HVRM. Mark was at his building
and I stopped to talk. Friday morning a crew was headed up to La Crosse to put in new
ties from CR 875 West towards La Crosse. I declined as I had prior commitments. Friday
started out with thunder/lightning/rain and stayed around most of the morning. Don't
think it was good working weather, but yes they did manage to put in new ties. Saturday,
I went thru Wellsboro over to US421 and down to La Crosse. Drove to 875W and could see
them but no way could I drive to them, you have to come in at the crossing on IN8 in
La Crosse. So I parked an walked down to the crew. Cory, backhoe operator, John L,
Dave C, Mark K, Matt track workers. Felix had marked 357 ties needing replacing on the
old siding, jointed rail. Tie replacement started at 875 West and continued west. The crew
has replaced 68 ties as of this afternoon. Still a lot of manual work, but the back hoe attachment
makes things a lot easier removing and installing ties. Figured about 20% completed. Those
68 ties were spiked down, tamped with the big air compressor. The ties were monsters,
but Monday more ties are arriving, a more normal size tie. Don't know when the
crew will return, back hoe was stored in La Crosse and rest of the equipment brought
back to North Judson in the afternoon.
 
Today was truck and tractor day at the museum. Good turnout for the displays,
including a semi truck and trailer housing a display of small models of trucks. Lots
of International/John Deere tractors were on display.
 
Grasseli tower has the steps and railings on all the way to the top platform. Painting still
needs to be done and would be nice to help Steve out with this small project.
 
C&O 2789 was pulled outside the shop by Interlake diesel for display.
 
NKP 765 people were doing some maintenance on the engine inside the shop area.
 
Not much else to report, but I did get the train crew to move the MDT reefers to
the end of the string of cars on the east end for painting Monday and cleanup of car
sides. At least the south side is in the clear now, not blocked by the other line of
cars on the next siding.
 
Attended the annual North Judson fish fry at the new fire station, great fish and lots
of patato salad, cole slaw, bread, buttter and 3 choices of beverages. Excellent dinner
and the fish refills was hot and plenty. Good to see a lot of people from the area show up
prior to the Mint Festival next weekend, 17 18 19 of June.
 
Come on out and help out on the train crew, car hosting, selling tickets, or just
stand around and somebody will have something for you to do. Track crew is desparate
need of bodies to complete this tie project in a timely manner. Yes its hard work, but just
removing spikes and ties plates helps, not a real difficult job. Shoveling, tamping spikes,
and tamping ballast is hard dirty work. But if you can relieve the person for 5-10 minutes
it gives them a break to get a drink of water or cool off.
 
Take care, drive safe and have a good summer riding trains.
 
Tom