After many years, Railroad Museum of New England (RMNE) volunteers finally have a building to work in. The 11,700 square foot restoration shop is nearing completion after seven years of planning and construction. With two through tracks, an inspection pit, wide work areas, good lighting, full insulation and heating, the modern 65 x 180 foot shop will enable restoration and maintenance work to take place year-round on RMNE's collection of vintage locomotives and cars. All that work has taken place outdoors up to now, with very little being done during the cold winter season.

Read the full article at: http://www.rypn.org/articles/Thomaston-Restoration-Shop/

How great is this?! Awesome shop building, wonderful article...congrats to all involved!!

A great article Howard, thanks for putting this all together!

PC

Congrats to Howard P. and all those who helped it happen!! What a giant step forward for all those who labor to make that a showplace!!
Shows what vision,hard work and perserverance can accomplish!!!
Ross Rowland

One of the absolute joys of working in the building is the amount of natural,diffused light afforded by both the roof and wall mounted skylights and the acres of white insulation panels. Note that the halide lighting fixtures have not been installed yet, so all the interior photos are lit by nothing more than natural light.

Another byproduct of all that insulation is the fact that indoors can remain quite temperate during the 'dog days of summer.'

A final note: as soon as the facility was placed in service, the rise in 'productivity 'was not only noticeable-but startling.

In IMHO, every feature of the building seems to have been well thought out and well executed.

Dave

Howard, that was a fantastic article and it looks like an awesome facility.

You left out some pertinent info, though! What was the approximate cost of the shop and how did you raise the funds to build it?

I can imagine how 'productivity' has jumped now that you have the 'tools' to do some of the heavy work, which as you well know is awkward and slow to accomplish when you are 'in the dirt'.

Walter
ARHS

First, thanks to all for your kind comments. We are kind of proud of the Shop project and we're pleased to share it with all of you who have an appreication for this sort of thing.

Now, as to "how much?", the shop project was funded entirely by RMNE and its members. There are no federal or state funds in this, nor is there any debt financing (a mortgage; which we do have on our Comfort Coach at Thomaston Station). At this stage of the project, we have over $400,000 in it. A lot of money was spent on site work-- a dense forest of big trees had to be cut and removed, extensive rock blasting and rock crushing, site grading, material moving and compacting all had to be done before the foundation could be formed and poured. For a while, it seemed like we were an annuity for every site contractor in central Connecticut!

There were two foundation contractors, because the first one left the job when it was 3/4 complete. The second one finished the perimeter foundation and the pit, and then went out of business before he could return for the floor forming and pouring-- that was done by a third concrete outfit.

The building shell was bought and delivered in 1999; our project manager at that time thought the site work would be done in 6 weeks and we should have the building ready to put up then!! Well, that didn't happen, but steel prices sure went up in the interval between 1999 and 2005! The building shell cost us $72,000 delivered, which included the insulation, but not the four big track doors.

Bear in mind that this project is taking place in the Expensive Northeast, and is subject to CT Dept of Transporation project inspectors (the shop yard site is part of our long-term Naugatuck Railroad lease). We are subject to CT building codes-- that's why we have to have TWO toilet facilites, one Men's and one Women's, both with showers (if the Men's has one, the Women's has to also) and both handicapped-accessible. I envy those groups that have those big, flat, open fields in the Midwest-- no ledge, no blasting, lots of room!! We're at the bottom of a rocky river valley that's been settled since the 1700s-- all the good flat spots were taken many decades ago!

With all the agita that was endured, we estimate that by acting as our own General Contractor, we have saved about $200,000 to date, over the cost of having a GC do the whole project. We have a tremendous amount of talent in our group-- people with the skills needed to move a project like this along by either supervising the outside subcontractors, or by having the ability to do the work themselves. I suspect most any preservation group has those people and those skills within; it's just a matter of motivation. Our people are pretty motivated, as you can all see.

Finally, on behalf of the Volunteers of RMNE, I'd like to invite any RyPN members to stop by for the full tour. As is customary, weekends are best, and it might be a good idea to contact us first.

Howard P.
MP 6, TSY (Thomaston Shop Yard)

Howard,

That is pretty impressive to see, I think I will have to try to stop by one day, I see the signs for your museum off of 84 I think it is in waterbury all the time. I was wondering thou, is it correct that you guys own the 2 inoperable steam locomotives down in Essex? If so what is with them. I happened to be passing by Essex this summer and saw that the Canadian National or is it Pacific locomotive had been moved from its prominent spot where it once looked might proud and set back a bit. Further more she didn't look to be in the best of condition. Any plans for her? It looks like you guys have a nice shop for a locomotive restoration.

Congratulations on the new shop.

Adam

Thanks for the additional info, Howard. I hope to be able to get up to CT in the near future and check out the shop in person!

-Walter

Howard,

now that you have a nice dry place to put it; don't forget that you have a Hood Milk car stored at the Western Railway Museum and waiting to be moved back to your collection.

I was back your way in june and had Hood milk on the greakfast cereal. I did not know that the company was still in operation!

You all did a great piece of work there.

Ted Miles

Mention was made about the increase in productivity the shop has brought-- as an example, this past Saturday had a five person track crew working outside extending the tracks south of the building, three people working on FL9 2002, two people working on dropping, resealing and reinstalling a traction motor gearcase on U23B 2203 (Crater grease is one of the nastiest substances known to mankind!), and one additional person fabricating and welding a new walkway section into 2203. Three others worked on the interior of coach 5805, two others worked on the building's electrical service installation, and one volunteer made lunch for everyone else on the gas grill. A lot of activity!

This weekend, another 66 feet of track was completed (extending the east shop track south of the building), including ballasting, and ties and rail for another 66 feet to extend the west shop track were laid out and the joints bolted up. In early October, we expect to start construction of the next turnout leading to the three west side yard tracks. After that turnout is complete, yard track will start working its way south along the building's west side.

Adam, as to the two steam locomotives-- Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 1246 and Sumter & Choctaw 2-6-2 103--- they are both owned by RMNE, and will eventually move to Thomaston. 1246 is attended to by an RMNE work crew every year; they oil and grease the loco and check for deterioration. Both locomotives had their insulation and boiler jackets removed decades ago, and 1246 has a roof over the coal bunker to keep the weather out.

Ted, we have not forgotten about the Hood car; just been a bit busy lately....

And again, thanks to all for your kind comments. Our troops were rather pleased about the RyPN article and the compliments posted.

Howard P.
MP 6, TSY

Howard -

What's the condition of the two steam engines? Disregarding monetary considerations, are they in good enough shape that they could run again someday?

PRR 3750 asked:
"Disregarding monetary considerations, are they in good enough shape that they could run again someday?"

The short answer is "yes". But restoration of either 103 or 1246 to operating condition is not on our list right now.

To bring the shop project up to date, each of the two tracks that extend south out of the shop are now complete for about 150 feet in length, and rolling stock is now stored on those tracks. Additional electrical and interior work has taken place every weekend and some weekdays. The perimeter fence and access gates are now complete and in use.

Over the next few weeks, we will be constructing the next yard switch; if anyone is interested in participating, stop by any Saturday or Sunday. Also on the October project list is the restoration of a cast-frame, one-piece NH flat car, which will be scaled, painted and re-decked with new lumber. Freight car enthusiasts are encouraged to participate!

Howard P.
MP 6, TSY