I am currently a volunteer for the Catskill Mountain railroad in Kingston, NY. While I have thoroughly enjoyed myself up there with the "crew", and will continue to be a part of that organization, I can only make the eight hour trips once or twice a year. Photos of the incredible progress they have made can be seen here: http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail ... ountain_RR Also the corresponding Railroad.net discussion board: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

Virginia is not exactly a hot bed of excursion rail lines and I had wondered if there was anything close to Richmond where I could volunteer and do railroad work.

What I found is The Old Dominion Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, and it is located in Richmond Virginia. As with most volunteer organizations, more volunteers are always needed. There are many opportunities to do a variety of work. They run the Old Dominion Railway museum in the City of Richmond. They run excursions a couple of times a year on the Buckingham Branch Railroad. http://www.buckinghambranch.com/Excursions.htm

And they also do railcar and locomotive restoration at their Hallsboro Yard. Photos of some of the railcars, locomotives, and other projects can be seen here:
http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?order= ... %20Chapter
I will be posting further pictures of projects and their progress as they happen.
What I found at Hallsboro was the same passion for railroading that I had found up in the Catskills, and a great bunch of guys, with a lot of talent and expertise, but not enough hands to do the work. Some of the projects for this year include trackwork, car restoration, and basic yard maintenance. All levels of skill are needed and it looks like a great place to learn. No experience is necessary.
To find out more, their web site is: http://www.odcnrhs.org/ . Or send me a message and I will try and get you in touch with the right people.

Win

Lots more progress made today at Hallsboro yard. Put new batteries in the Former RF&P 15 ton Pettibone crane. After the batteries were put in we found out it has a bad starter. Getting closer to sucess though. See photos here: http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?order= ... %20Chapter

Maintenance work was done on other yard equipment to make sure everyting is running well and dependable, and work was done to put the track in gauge at the track 3 and 4 switch. Engine work was done also on the HM-6, Also in the last stages of winter brushcutting and cleanup.

Win

We continue to run our fall excursion which are sold out way in advance. Photos are posted on the Nerail site:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?order= ... %20Chapter

Check out the repaint of our RF&P 101. (then scroll down farther back in the pictures to see what it looked like before!)The orginal color codes from RF&P was found and so it should match up perfectly.

In other news, the new grates on the 0-6-0 had been hanging up, so they will be removed next week and the Machine Technology class at Hermitage Technical Center will be machining them as a class project.

the next work day will be October 27th at Hallsboro yard, we should be there at 9. Any new volunteers are always welcome. (Having a skill is not necessary) If you would like directions, please email me.

Quite a nice operation. Makes me wish I lived down there!

Later!
Mr. Ed

ODC WORK DAY 10/25

Gates will open around 9 am. Projects for today will included grinding some of the old tar off of the roof of the 1202 N&W RPO car in preparation for patching and painting the roof to prevent leaks. Also removal of the firebox grates from the 0-6-0 so that they can machined. Any new volunteers are welcome, email me for directions to Hallsboro yard.

Win

Also, for ranyone wanting to take photos of the excursion train, it leaves Dillwyn @ 9:30 am and 1:30 pm, and gets to the James river bridge an hour or so later.

ODC Workday 11/10 at Hallsboro Yard

Yard will open around 9. Work being done: remove the grates, grate bars and frame from the 0-6-0 in order to have them reworked. Work on track three replacing ties and tamping same. Working on the ladder track to replace the ties that will be within the boundry of the fencing. Putting the loader back on the tractor, and whatever else may come up. Send a message if you need directions.

Win

While you have the grates and associated parts out of the engine, would you mind taking some photographs of them? As someone who is involved with a 50 ton oil burning Porter 0-6-0T, I would be interested to see how the coal burning engines were set up.

Andrew Durden
Atlanta, GA

Sure, I think we should have them all set up in the shop when we are machining them. I plan on taking a bunch of photos of the progress as well as them set up in the racks.

Win

ODC Work report 11/10

From Kevin Frick:
Saturday the 10th, we were able to get the grates, grate bars and frames out of the 0-6-0. Randy Ridgley found out what it is like to work inside the firebox. He is a great help in a lot of things at Hallsboro. Once the grates were out they will be picked up by Win Goodier and taken to the Hermitage Tech Center where the machinist class will fit them properly into the frame.Steve McIntyre will be the student doing this work as a class project under the supervision of the Machine Tech teacher.We went to the ladder track after lunch and removed the dirt and old ties that had been removed earlier. The stone was placed in the excavation and six new ties were installed, tamped , spiked and gauged completing this area of the repair. There are still more ties to be removed but we are taking a few at a time in order to keep the gauge properly set.Keith Crump, Sam Watkins and Tom Hardesty were out working on the 494.

After running our 0-6-0 this summer, we encountered a problem with the new cast grates. They were hanging up and not swinging freely to dump the ashes out of the firebox. We knew that they would have to be removed from the engine and machined. The Machine Technology Class at Hermitage Technical Center has taken this on as a class project under the direction of Instructor Steve Fletcher and the work is primarily done by two students, Stephen McIntyre and Joseph Gersch. The frame and grates were removed by Randly Ridley and Kevin Frick, then brought over to tthe Tech Center, reassembled, and then each grate with be smoothed on either side and beveled at either end. Photos can be seen here:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 216329.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... %20Chapter


http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... %20Chapter

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 516359.jpg

From Kevin Frick:

The last three weekends have yielded eight more ties removed and replaced on the ladder track. They are yet to be spiked and tamped but have been placed. We have marked six ties in switch # 1 that will be replaced with the existing ties we have at Hallsboro, there will be many more needing replacement in this switch alone. Randy has continued his work on the roof and side of the 1202. He has removed a lot of the old paint and primed the entire roof with rustoleum. We will be putting a aluminum based roofing paint over the rustoleum to help seal any leaks that were not caught. The regulator and broom have been placed next to the wheel sets and are ready for loading. We will be erecting the fence along the back side of the property after the first of the year. We will have to get an estimate for the cost of the material and then a check to pay for it. There are plenty of things to be done if anyone has some free time they would like to use, come on out .


Win

From Kevin Frick:

I would appreciate anyone that could help Saturday the 5th of January to come out and give us a hand. We have eight ties in the ladder track that need tamping and spiking, six to be removed and replaced in switch # 1, and I need help repairing the engine on the HM-6. I think a freeze plug has been knocked out but the engine and transmission must be separated in order to find out. Randy Ridgley has been working on the roof of the 1202 and has sealed and painted the entire roof . He also has repaired some of the holes in the side of the car preventing anymore water from seeping in. We have lots of projects to go around to anyone wanting to take a project and run with it, Thanks

We will be having a work day at the Hallsboro Yard tomorrow (2/1). Gates will open around 9. There will be track work as well as work on some of the cars.



Win

ODC WORK DAY Sunday, 11/23

It's been way too long since I have posted anything. We will be at the Yard starting at around 9:00 am. We have a variety of projects going on, including getting the HM-6 running again. We've had a summer full of equipment repairs (tractor and boncat), so we're getting back on schedule now. Our N&W 1202 RPO car is now almost completely primed and looks 100% better. I'll post some pictures soon.




Win

Randy Ridgley has been a one man restoration team this year. He has painted the roofs of numourous cars, but the big accomplishment is the patching and priming of our Norfolk and Western RPO car, the 1202

here is a before picture:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... %20Chapter

and after pictures:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... %20Chapter

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... %20Chapter

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... %20Chapter

I was also able to get into one of our Southern Pullman cars , the "McGirth" and take an interior shot, you can see some fire and smoke damage. This was done years ago when the cars were parked behind Broad Street Station in Richmond. (Now the Science Museum). The fire was caused by a homeless guy that had broken into the car and started a fire to keep warm. Actually the damge isn't too bad. It looks worse than it is.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... %20Chapter


If anyone is interested, the yard will be open on 12/27, just send me a message and I will give you directions.

Win