Saturday, January 5th.

On Saturday, January 5th, we will have two crews working:

Phoenicia/Mt. Pleasant

George Liucci will be leading a crew taking down the Christmas decorations on the 701 Saturday in Mt. Pleasant. They plan to have lunch at Russ's at 12:30 and move to the 702 in Phoenicia in the afternoon. Those who would like to join them should contact George beforehand. They will start at 10-10:30am.

George Peck may be leading another crew moving the train from Mt. Pleasant to Phoenicia, depending on crew availability and weather. Please contact him directly if you want to participate.


Kingston

The yard at Cornell Street will open at 9am. Projects include clearing the line of snow with the 401 down to MP 4 and removing a large Elm tree at Elmendorf Street, doing finish work on the N5B caboose, and preparing fence posts for the Cornell Street yard expansion.

Weather is expected to be good Saturday, with a high of 40 degrees.


Sunday, January 6th

The Cornell Street yard will be open at 9am Sunday. Plans are to continue finish work on the N5B caboose. Greg Vaughn plans to lead a crew digging out and placing fence posts for the new yard reconfiguration.

Weather is expected to be very good Sunday, with a high of 46 degrees.


Upcoming Projects

Because trackwork is on hold until the ground thaws, and the caboose is nearly complete, the following new projects will be worked on over the winter at Cornell Street, in addition to the ongoing MOW Equipment maintenance, Engine 23 and Davenport projects:

1) Fence Move to expand yard. Complete in January.
2) Panel Track/Siding Construction. Stub track first, then siding.
3) Equipment reconfiguration: Move box cars to new panel track (Track No. 2). Turn around Engine 23, and place it and its tender at the current location of CMRR 2361, which will be moved to the loading dock area.
4) Convert flat 213 to passenger service and redeck flat 201. Move container to 201.
5) CMRR RS-1 2361 Assessment. George Peck will lead this project. Contact him directly if you would like to join his team.
6) Assess/Scrap Lion Gardiner and move 3 coaches to Cornell Street for assessment.

We plan for the Cornell Street yard to be open all Saturdays and Sundays in January except January 19th (see below).


Saturday, January 19th

Annual Volunteer meeting at the U&D Train Station in Phoenicia, courtesy of the ESRM, 10-4pm.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday January 5th


Phoenicia/Mt. Pleasant

George Liucci led a crew consisting of Al Johnson, Ernie Gehrer, Dick Wilhelm and Tom Healy that started the day taking down decorations on the 701 at Mt. Pleasant, and then moved to Coach 702 where they continued work on window stripping and cleaning.

Phoenicia/Cold Brook

George Peck led a crew consisting of Dave Mason, Paul Hintz, and Derek Stapleton. They moved the regular passenger train back to Phoenicia from Mt. Pleasant, and took the work train down to Cold Brook for a track inspection in anticipation of starting bolt work east of MP 25.3 next weekend. They found the line is in good shape with no ill effects yet from the winter weather.


Cornell Street

Earl Pardini led a crew consisting of John Patane, John Tuma, Peter Fluchere, Raphael DeMeglio, Bob Blake and Jeff Otto, finishing work on the N5B caboose and started prepration work for the upcoming yard expansion. From Jeff Otto:

"Once we got the place shoveled out (and a lot of the ice removed), we seperated some spikes that were corroded to tie plates, built and installed the smoke jack assembly for the caboose (with a brace to the cupola roof), created smooth edges on the heat shield, rivited it together, and installed it behind the stove. We also fit the smoke pipe between the stove and smoke jack, and installed the interior smoke pipe brace. Finally, by transferring a shovel full of coals from the boxcar stove, we started the first fire in the caboose stove in many years.

Earl gave an informal introduction to operation (hand signals, concepts, etc)."



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Today, we had a very busy crew working in Kingston at Cornell Street, which included Earl Pardini, John Patane, John Tuma, Joe Marsh, Ernie Klopping, Tom Healy and Greg Vaughn.

From Jeff Otto:

"They finished the last details on the cabose stove, pulled some fence posts to be reinstalled in new locations, cut the new 6-inch gate posts to length, and fastened end caps and plates to them. They also removed additional snow and ice, including using the 401 to clear at milepost 4."

From Greg Vaughn:

"The final installation of the stove pipe in the caboose was done. A final design survey for the east end fence move was done ( we'll move and widen the east gate a bit), the new posts that were delivered last week were cut to length and prepped for installation, a handful of posts were freed and pulled out of the existing fence line for 'replanting' in their new locations.


Weather and crew permitting, we'll plant the posts in preparation for the fence move next Saturday, and if everything's in place by Saturday evening, we'll do the first move Sunday. We could use a good 5-6 people both days. "

Some photos from today, taken by Tom Healy:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 518661.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 588720.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 418785.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 498834.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 558965.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 379022.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 029132.jpg


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday, January 12th.

On Saturday, January 12th, we will have three crews working:

Phoenicia

George Liucci will be leading a crew cleaning all the window frame parts for the 702 in Phoenicia. Those who would like to join them should contact George beforehand. They will start at 10:30am.

George Peck may be leading a crew starting bolt replacement east of the Mt. Pleasant crossing. He plans to start about 9am in the Phoenicia yard. Please contact him directly if you want to participate.


Kingston

The yard at Cornell Street will open at 9am. Projects include finish work on the N5B caboose, and setting fence posts for the Cornell Street yard expansion.

Weather is expected to be good Saturday, with a high of 44 degrees.


Sunday, January 13th

The Cornell Street yard will be open at 9am Sunday. Plans are to continue finish work on the N5B caboose. Greg Vaughn plans to lead a crew digging out and placing fence posts for the new yard reconfiguration.

Weather is expected to be very good Sunday, with a high of 39 degrees.


Saturday, January 19th

Annual Volunteer meeting at the U&D Train Station in Phoenicia, courtesy of the ESRM, 10-4pm.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Yesterday, January 12th, we had three crews working:

Phoenicia

In Phoenicia, George Liucci led a crew consisting of Ernie Gehrer, Bill Kaba, Al Johnson, Ed Palmatier, Tom Healy and Dick Wilhelm working on coach 702. They continued to clean and repair window frames. Next step will be to laquer them. Glass is on order and will arrive in February.

Also in Phoenicia, George Peck led a crew consisting of Jason Markowitz, Jason DiTolla and others with the work train, starting bolt work east of Mt. Pleasant.

Kingston

In Kingston, Earl Pardini led a crew consisting of Greg Vaughn, Bob Blake, John Patane, Mark Glaser, and Peter Fluchere starting the fence move project in Kingston. The eastern permanent posts and gateposts were installed:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 715587.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 115658.jpg


Posts were installed for a temporary fence on the west side. The first stage will be done Sunday, installing the new east gates and temporary west fence. Later the permanent west fence will be installed.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Today, January 13th, Earl Pardini led a crew at Cornell Street continuing the installation of the new fence. Besides Earl, the crew consisted of Peter Fluchere, Mark Glaser, John Tuma, John Patane, Walt Otto, and Ernie Klopping.

The main accomplishment was the installation of the new east side vehicular gate for the expanded yard. This gate had previously been on the east side of Cornell Street, and no longer served a purpose there. It was rehabilitated and welded to new fence posts.

The next stage of the fence move will be the installation of the new gate for the RR tracks just north of the one installed today. Some photos:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 731739.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 431790.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 231856.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 331994.jpg



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday, January 26th.

On Saturday, January 26th, we will have two crews working.

Phoenicia

On Saturday, January 26th, George Peck will lead a crew doing boltwork on the line. They will meet about 9-9:30am in the Phoenicia Yard. They will be taking the work train to the Route 28 crossing in Mount Pleasant and be working from there east to Andrew's Lane. If you are running late, meet them east of Mt. Pleasant.

No work is planned on the 702 Saturday.

Kingston

On Saturday, January 26th, Earl Pardini will lead a crew at Cornell Street continuing to move the fence to expand the yard. He will open the yard at 9am.


Sunday, January 27th

Kingston

On Sunday, January 27th, Earl Pardini will lead a crew at Cornell Street continuing to move the fence to expand the yard. He will open the yard at 10am.


Upcoming Events

February 23rd - Entry Level Rules Class. Place to be determined.



Weather is expected to be sunny this weekend with highs in the upper 30's



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday, January 26th

Phoenicia

On Saturday, January 26th, George Peck took out a crew and did boltwork from Rock Cut west. The crew consisted of George Peck, Dave Mason, Jason Markowitz, Gregory Peck, and Derek Stapleton.

They also did an inspection of the line down to Cold Brook Station and found everything to be in order.


Kingston

On Saturday, January 26th, at Cornell Street the crew consisted of Earl Pardini, John Patane, Raphael DeMeglio, Mark Glaser, Bob Blake, Joe Marsh, Dick Wilhelm, and Jeff Otto. Writes Jeff Otto:

"We did some additional fence move planning, listed the parts needed, built the frames for an 8' long fence panel, a 4' one, and a 3' extension to a gate, installed the rebuilt starter in the scarifier, cut up a bunch of old pallets for firewood, and removed two stake pockets from the flatcar so they can be relocated in preparation for it's use for passengers."


Sunday, January 27th, Kingston

On Sunday the crew consisted of Earl Pardini, John Patane, Raphael DeMeglio, John Tuma, Bob Blake, Ernie Klopping, and Jeff Otto. Writes Jeff:

"We moved the container to the work flatcar and bolted it down, installed into it two half tire rims to hold the two air hoses, removed the vertical handrails from the other flatcar to be installed on the work flat, worked on the cooling system (and oil?) leak on the scarifier, and built a track gauge spreader pipe (replacing the log)."


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR