Cold greets last Santa trains of season 12/19/15

Hi folks!

Bright sun but cold temps and bitter wind at Hoosier Valley today.  Temps in 20's and low 30's all day and the wind made it feel much colder.  All three Santa trains sold out with a lot of kiddies meeting Mr. Claus and telling him of their Christmas wishes.

John LaOrange was engineer on EL Alco # 310 today with Doug Kosloske as conductor.  Greeting riders in their authentic railroad uniforms were Joe Kingsbury and Bud Tibbie (see first photo; that's Joe on the right).

Bob Jachim and I shared flagman duties at the Mulberry Street crossing today, with Steve Henrichs the flagman out at the other road crossings up to English Lake.

In last weeks report, I included a couple of photos of the efforts being done to put the sand dome back on Kanawha # 2789 but wasn't around to see the final result.  Since John DeGan had GE diesel #11 fired up and idling today as it served as the back up unit for number 310, I asked John if he would pull the 2-8-4 out of the Shop for some photos.  John, with Steve acting as conductor, pulled the locomotive out and I got a photo (see number 2 below).

Managed to make it into the Shop and found the boys hard at work on C&EI tool car #A-1054.  In the third photo, Dave Cook is shown cutting a new piece of steel to replace a rusted out section.  The next photo shows Tom Rainford trying out a new window for the A-1054 to see how it fits (that's Rich Warner behind Tom).  And then we see Rich in the next photo, welding the window frame itself into place. The next shot shows Cory Bennett cutting off a piece of rusted out steel on the end of the car.  And then we have Tom trying to straighten out a different window frame on the car.  Tom looked in the Shop for a heavy C clamp, and actually found the one in the photo.  There has been a lot of the new floor put into this car too, and this work should probably move ahead more quickly now that the last passenger trains have run this season.

Finally, the radiator on GE #11 has been leaking badly and the decision to pull it and send it out for a rebuild has been made.  As the last Santa train was on its way back to North Judson, John DeGan was preparing to drain the water from the unit.  The last photo shows him dragging some of the excess water hose back into the East Annex of the Shop.  There are days that will seem to drag this winter.  One way to overcome that feeling is to come out on a Saturday and spend a few hours helping out at HVRM.  Skill is not necessary.  We WILL find something for you to do!  Give it your consideration.

And now, as we enter Christmas week, I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas.  Have a great one!

Les  

         

Big move at HVRM 12/12/15

Greetings!

Old man winter is apparently still on vacation as the above average temps continued at Hoosier Valley this past Saturday.  Got up to 63 degrees according to the thermometer on the Road Crossing Shanty!

Speaking of the Shanty, the nice weather enabled me to work on the second section of the lettering on the door (see the first photo).

Paul Bunyan, er, correction....Mark Knebel, continued cutting down trees along the right of way northwest of Arlington Street between the track and English Lake Road.

Santa trains continued and all 3 trains were sold out again.  Motive power was EL Alco # 310, with John DeGan at the throttle and Bob Albert the conductor.  Bud Tibbie and Joe Kingsbury in their conductor uniforms, handled the crowd in Long Island passenger coach 2937, assisted by Rich Warner.  Santa of course, was there too.  Loretta says a few spaces are available for just one of the trains next Saturday, and those will probably be gone early this week.

Since I was working on the Shanty lettering, I didn't get a chance to take any photos although I did walk back to the West Annex of the Shop and noticed that there was work going on in C&EI tool car #A-1054 on the floor and that the center section of concrete had been poured earlier in the week between the rails on the track section.  Photos coming in the future.

Later in the afternoon, I noticed activity down around out in front of the east side of the Shop.  First, GE diesel #11 had pulled number 2789 outside.  Then Cory Bennett and John LaOrange were working with the payloader on a steel light pole.  And then when I looked down there...holy cow!  Grabbed the camera, and the results are shown in the other photos.   The one on the left shows the sand dome being lifted up onto the boiler with John LaOrange on the running board and Scott Griffith up on top and Cory at the controls of the payloader.  At this time, it was realized that the brackets holding the sand dome in place, needed to be put on.  Not remembering this is not surprising because I have been at Hoosier Valley since 1991 and the dome has been off of the Kanawha's boiler all of this time!  A search found the missing brackets, bolts were unscrewed and in the second photo, Scott is shown putting one of the bottom dome brackets on.  Finally in the last photo, Scott is shown on the top of the boiler putting one of the domes side brackets in place while John LaOrange and Matt Lasayko work on other parts and Steve Newland is shown climbing up the steps to help out while Cory and Tom Travis watch from the ground.  I had to get back to my lettering at this time to try to finish up, but it's my understanding that the sand dome was successfully put into place.  A long time coming, this is great news for the continued cosmetic restoration of the Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4. 

Have a great week everyone.  Supposed to get back to winter temps by the end of this week.

Les

      

First day of Santa trains at Hoosier Valley 12/5/15

Greetings!

Cold day for the first Saturday of Santa trains at HVRM.  Never got much above the mid-30's all day.  All three trains were sold out; the museum using only LIRR coach # 2937 for passengers.  EJ&E 184, our handicap accessible caboose was in the consist but not needed.  Motive power was Erie S-1 # 310, with the 95-ton GE fired up and acting as stand-by power.

Although the Santa trains were the main source of attention today, there were a few other things going on at the museum.  The first photo shows Bob Jachim giving a talk on C&O 2-8-4 # 2789 to some of the riders.  The second photo shows that a crew spread sand for the other portion of the concrete pour for the floor in the back end of the West Annex.  The wire mesh was not put down because this coming week, concrete will be delivered to cover the track itself between the rails.  The part with the forms and sand will have concrete installed a bit later. 

Mark Knebel recently sent out an e-mail showing museum members in Watervliet, Michigan, dismantling track that had been donated to Hoosier Valley. That got me to thinking about all of the places we have done similar operations through the years.  Mark filled me in on a couple that I didn't know about or had forgotten.  Since the activity at HVRM was a little light today, I thought I would recap these places where we secure rail and components in this museum report.  Here is the list:

1.   Leroy, Indiana (grain elevator spur off of the old Pennsylvania Railroad)

2.   Cravens plant siding (North Judson off of New York Central)

3.   Vanek Elevator siding track (North Judson off of New York Central)

4.   Hammond, Indiana (storage yard tracks off of the old Nickel Plate Road)

5.   Monticello, Indiana (Toledo, Peoria & Western 1600' siding)

6.   Chicago, Illinois (one or two semi-loads of rail from ACME Steel)

7.   Monticello, Indiana (NIPSCO siding)

8.   Wanatah, Indiana (Packaging Corp. of America spur off of old Pennsylvania Railroad)

9.   West Lafayette, Indiana (13 sticks of 90# rail from Purdue University)

10. Watervliet, Michigan (from closed paper plant)

11. Kingsbury, Indiana (industrial park unused track)

12. South Bend, Indiana (Studebaker plant building)

Some of these were small donations but others were quite large.   HVRM has been quite blessed to have received these donations through the years of the museums existence.  It is always looking for more track, and especially for switches (turnouts) at this time.  If anyone knows about abandoned track that might be available, please let the museum know about it.

Thanks.  And have a great week.

Les  

 

     

A Rube Goldberg type "invention" highlights HVRM 11/28/15

Greeting to All,
 
Photos were provided by Les Beckman. Pretty well shows the activities of the past week an this
past Saturday. Les came up with the Rube Goldberg saying. Its an idea of using a furnace fan to
help move the heat at the ceiling around the buildings lower levels.

Photo 1 - New concrete pad in the West Annex-Was poured last Tuesday. Approx 7.5

yards was used. Workers were Cory, Dave, John an unknown other person.

Photo 2 - Dave Cook and Cory Bennett at work on the "invention" in the West Annex over the wood furnace.

Photo 3 - Cory and Dave set the "invention" (blower) in place.

Photo 4 - By gum, it works!  Congrats to Cory and Dave!

Photo 5 - Oil tank beneath C&EI tool car #A-1054 which needs to be removed. While the floor

is open, torching off the old kerosene or fuel oil tank was performed. Could be used to store

fuel for some machines.

Photo 6 - Cory with torch, cutting off the supports for said tank.

Joe Kingsbury worked on the tool car floor putting floor supports in. Every one needs to be

cut to the profile of the metal in the car. A very tedious job. Some of the flooring is down,

providing a stable place to stand on.

 

Bob Barcus & Bob Jachim were her early to open up the depot, Margret provide lunch for

the workers.

 

Next weekend will be busy, the Santa Claus Trains will  start. I'm sure a lot of members will show

up to provide assistance. Come on out an enjoy the Christmas spirt at HVRM

 

Everyone have a good week. Hard to go back to work after being off for 5 days, but it

will be a short 3 weeks till Christmas vacation for school workers.

 

Tom Travis

Green light for snow at HVRM 11/21/15

Greetings!

Tough going to get to Hoosier Valley today.  Had to keep the speed down due to the first big snow of 2015 coming in late last night and this morning!  Would guess over 6 inches on the ground.  Depot platform was shoveled at least three times that I know of, one of which I did after I finally arrived.

Needless to say, the snow curtailed outside museum activities although Mark Knebel was out cutting wood into chunks for the wood furnace in the West Annex of the Shop.  Speaking of which, the inside temp of the Main Shop/East Annex was at 41 degrees each time I walked by the thermometer.  In the meantime, the temp in the insulated West Annex stood at a nice comfy 60 degrees!

In the depot this morning, Loretta Kosloske, Louis Kingsbury and daughter and granddaughter, and Margaret Cook and granddaughters, were working on Christmas decorations to use for our upcoming Santa trains which will be operated the first thsree Saturdays in December.  Loretta talked Bob Albert into drilling some holes in the hats of some small ceramic Santa's so that string could be pushed through their hats!  I gave Bob a hand on one of the displays he is setting up in ICRR caboose # 9914.  He has about half of the displays for the car planned. 

Bob Barcus was manning the depot gift shop this morning and pointed out that someone had apparently dropped to O gauge scale model of our Pullman Troop Sleeper damaging one end.  Bob is looking for someone who might be able to do a repair to the car.  Wish I could help.  The Troop Sleeper is paired with a U.S. Army Kitchen Car and our O gauge Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0 as a display in the gift shop.  

Todays snowfall is shown in the first photo looking east with our Erie searchlight signal 908.2 showing a high green.  The green is an indication of the museums future!  The Bi-monthly membership/business meeting was held this afternoon and the snowfall didn't stop members from attending.  Lots of interesting things discussed including the operator of our short line connecting railroad.  Other info will be in the upcoming museum newsletter.

I was looking for something else up in the storage shelved in the East Annex of the Shop and was surprised to find three glass number boards in steel frames.  Could these possibly be three of the missing number board from our Whitcomb diesel?  Walked over from the Shop to where Whitcomb # 509 was parked and yes, the whole fit the studs exactly!  These studs are all broken off and will have to be drilled out and new steel studs installed.  Not a job for a winter snowfall day!  Not sure where the fourth number board is; my guess is that it's probably missing.

The second photo shows the area prepared for a concrete pour in the north side of the West Annex.  Discussing the upcoming pour are (from left to right) Cory Bennett, Bud Tibbie, Fred Boyer, Jeff "Heff" Back and Dave Cook.  The concrete truck is due early next week.  After this section is poured, then the section on the other side of the track will be next and then finally, the cement over the track itself.

The next three pictures show work going on inside of the C&EI tool car #A-1054.  The first of the three photos shows Doug Kosloske taking some measurements for the new floor joists while Dave looks on.  The second photo shows Joe Kingsbury hammering a plywood section over to make a tight fit, and the last shot shows Rich Warner (in the window) discussing with Cory, the new steel window frame he made.  I believe there are 14 windows in the car and Rich wanted to make sure that the frames would work.

Although the temps tonight are supposed to drop into the teens and highs will only be in the 20's tomorrow (Sunday), a warm up is due next week with 60's in the forecast.  So the snow WILL melt.  At least this one!

Have a great week everyone.  And have a most enjoyable Thanksgiving!

Les   

HVRM Moves NKP 344 to Shop, 14 Nov, 2015

 Greetings to All,

 

Pictures were taken of the move of car NKP 344 down to the roundhouse track for

easy access. Scott Griffith is going to start putting appliances back on the C&O 2789.

The last picture is Fred Boyer moving the motor car back into the shop area. The gas

tank was filled up by Cory, an some members took a ride down to IN 10 on the C&O line.

Believe it is the first time used by HVRM since tie replacement program over the summer.

 

Did not attend the board meeting, but arrived to help fill batteries on the GE with distilled

water. The engine crew moved the LIRR coach back down to the tourist train track. Work

continues on the air conditioner/heating unit.

 

Mark called into the Wooden Nickel for a lunch of broasted chicken, cole slaw, potato slices,

an biscuits. Joe Kingsbury brought a cake for desert.

 

Engine crew in record time, moved the NKP 344 to near the shop area. Done by 2:30pm.

 

The track diamond has been situated near the tower on ballast, for display.

 

The day started out cold, 25 degrees, but warmed into the 60's by afternoon, nice for sitting

in the sun on the depot deck. Of course, a couple of people showed up for a train ride, but instead

just looked around the grounds. At least they got to see some train action.

 

Next week is membership meeting at 1pm 21 November in the depot. Last chance to sign up

for a board member position  5 December.

 

Hope to see you at the meeting.

 

Tom Travis

November 7, 2015 HVRM Small Projects

Greetings to All,
 

---

Here are  the photos from today.  First one shows Cory and Dave (partially hidden) working on door in NKP kitchen car.  Second is of Joe Baker working on electric at NKP kitchen car.  The

third is of Fred Boyer grinding off old paint on levers in Grasselli Tower.  Last is C&EI tool car #A-1054 with Rich Warner using torch to cut off rusted steel with Joe Kinsbury in the background working on putting insulation in between new floor joists.

 

Thanks to Les Beckman for taking pictures yesterday.

 

I sort of got down to HVRM later in the morning, upon arrival, in the shop, a crew

had taken off the old west end door on the kitchen car. I think John LaOrange

donated a uses door an it was being sized up to the old kitchen door. After many

ideas, a 2x4 was added to the bottom to extend the door length. Door brought back

to the kitchen car, inserted to see how it fit, exactly right. Now came chiseling out

wood for the hinges. With the door now attached, it still would not close, so shaving

off some of the other edge finally got the door to close. Installing the outer board

was much more difficult. The steel was extremely tough to drill thru, resulting in

broken drills. After what should only took 10 minutes, resulting over an hour

trying to get screws into the wood to the steel plate. Finally got it closed up.

 

Joe Baker got another LED light up to 16 foot outside of the kitchen car.

 

Fred Boyer an Les worked on grinding paint off the switch levers in the tower.

A slow tedious project.

 

Joe Kingsbury an Richard Warner worked on the LIRR coach electrical system

for the upcoming Santa trains. After lunch, they worked on the tool car in the shop

working on the floor insulation panels.

 

Just sort of a catch up day on little projects around the museum. Next Saturday

morning will be the monthly board meeting. The following Saturday will be the

membership meeting at 1pm in the depot.

 

The engineer program had at least 5 or 6 drivers for the day.

 

Take care, have a good week.

Les & Tom