This weekend we have work parties scheduled Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, April 5th

On Saturday, April 5th, Earl Pardini will lead a crew continuing trackwork in Kingston starting at 9am just west of Fair Street (MP 4). Plans are to remove spikes and plates all the way west to the O&W switch, insert ties with the scarifier and tie handler west of MP 4, and tamp as many ties as possible. If Earl gets the pavement at Fair Street pre-cut, he may make another attempt to bring the 401 across Fair Street to open up the crossing for the first time in many years.

Those arriving before the tie handler and scarifier come down from Cornell Street Yard should focus on removing spikes and plates to the O&W switch.

The CMRR will have its first revenue run in Kingston Saturday from 1pm to 5pm, when a group organized by Otto Vondrak have chartered the 401 and caboose 675. The charter will run from Cornell Street to the west end of track.

In Phoenicia, George Liucci (and probably Al Johnson) will be working on the 702, continuing work on the windows. As always, they can use additional help.


Sunday, April 6th

On Sunday, April 6th, Earl Pardini will open the Cornell Street Yard at 9:30am. Plans are to continue installing the new west fence, and doing heavy maintenance on the tie handler and other machinery.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Yesterday, Saturday, April 5th, we had a record turnout of at least 31.

In Phoenicia, George Liucci, Al Johnson and Ed Palmatier continued work on the 702.

In Kingston, the day started out early when Mike LaLonde, Earl Pardini, Joe Marsh and Todd Syska arrived at 6:30am to cut open the Fair Street crossing in Kingston with Todd's asphalt saw. Todd, Mike and Joe then went to the Route 28A crossing in Stony Hollow, and cut open the asphalt crossing there as well.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 721681.jpg

About 9am, the rest of the crew arrived in Kingston to start trackwork west of Fair Street. Present were, in addition to Earl, Mike, Joe and Todd: Bob Blake, Joe Buonfiglio, Ron Epstein, Mark Glaser, George Peck, Otto Vonrdak, Dave Mason, Jason DiTolla, Greg Peck, Peter Fluchere, Paul Hintz, Thom Johnson, Dave Baker, Jom Kinns, Jeff Otto, Walt Otto, Jason Markowitz, Mimi Pardini, Ray Farrell, John Patane, Steve Kijak, John Tuma, Tom Healy and myself.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 121570.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 623284.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 223367.jpg

After lunch, Earl Pardini, Walt Otto, Paul Hintz and Jason Markowitz went to Cornell Street to run a charter train of railfan photographers sponsored by CMRR volunteer Otto Vondrak. They brought the 401, flat 201 and caboose 675 to Fair Street, and crossed Fair Street for the first time in at least ten years:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 023210.jpg

While the railfan charter was running from Cornell Street to MP 4, the crew continued removing old ties, scarifying, inserting and tamping:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 123453.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 023418.jpg

The results for the day: 125 ties removed, 122 scarified, 74 inserted, and 58 tamped and plated (to MP 4.1).

At the end of the day, the 401 crossed Fair Street again and posed at MP 4.05:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 923496.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 123526.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 123569.jpg

Another productive day on the CMRR!

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Photos from the Railfan Charter last Saturday:

http://www.nanosphoto.com/blog/2008/04/ ... the-rails/

EH

This weekend we have work parties scheduled Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, April 12th

On Saturday, April 12th, Earl Pardini and Jeff Otto will lead a crew continuing trackwork in Kingston starting at 9am just west of Fair Street (MP 4). Plans are to insert ties all the way west to the O&W switch and beyond, tamp and plate as many ties as possible, and start spiking just west of Fair Street.

Those arriving before the tie handler and scarifier come down from Cornell Street Yard should focus on tamping ties west of where we stopped last Saturday (around MP 4.1).

In Phoenicia, Al Johnson and George Liucci will be working on the coach 702, continuing work on the windows. They will start 10-10:30am. As always, they can use additional help.

Also in Phoenicia, George Peck will be leading a crew starting at 9am. They plan to take the gradall, dump truck and work train to MP 23.7 and make minor track repairs working east. They could use any extra hands available. Anyone wanting to cut brush should meet George in the morning for instructions cutting between Phoenicia and Mt. Pleasant.


Sunday, April 13th

On Sunday, April 13th, Earl Pardini will open the Cornell Street Yard at 9:30am. Plans are to continue installing the new west fence, and doing heavy maintenance on the tie handler and other machinery.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

On Saturday, April 12th, we had three crews working:

In Phoenicia, George Liucci, Al Johnson and Ed Palmatier continued work on the 702.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 022129.jpg


Also in Phoenicia, George Peck, Jason DiTolla, Derek Stapleton and Dave Mason ran the worktrain to Cold Brook and worked to get the line in service for opening day.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 222184.jpg


In Kingston, Earl Pardini and Jeff Otto led a crew working to complete trackwork in Kingston to Washington Avenue. The crew consisted of Peter Fluchere, Raphael DeMeglio, Dick Wilhelm, Bob Blake, John Patane, Chris Rittner, Joe Marsh, Tom Healy, Ron Epstein and myself.

First the crew spiked ties from Fair Street to MP 4.05, and 1/2 spiked to MP 4.1:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 732118.jpg

The crew then inserted about 50 ties from MP 4.15 to MP 4.25:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 932154.jpg


Then the crew tamped and plated ties from about MP 4.1 to the O&W switch at MP 4.25, tamping and plating some ties inserted about 15 years ago as well:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 632085.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 632314.jpg


Earl Pardini and Dick Wilhelm also dug out and scarified ties from the O&W switch to about 1/2 way to Washington Avenue:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 732259.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 032214.jpg

Here is the final view west of the O&W switch, with a look-back to 2 years ago:


http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 232279.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 731964.jpg

Next week we should be spiked to the O&W switch, and have ties inserted all the way to Washington Avenue.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

This weekend we have work parties scheduled Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, April 19th


Kingston

On Saturday, April 19th, Earl Pardini and Jeff Otto will lead a crew continuing trackwork in Kingston starting at 9am just west of Fair Street (MP 4). Plans are to insert ties from the O&W switch all the way west to Washington Avenue, and spike ties from just west of Fair Street to the O&W switch.

Phoenicia

In Phoenicia, Al Johnson (and probably George Liucci) will be working on the coach 702, continuing work on the windows. They will start 10-10:30am. As always, they can use additional help.

Also in Phoenicia, George Peck will be leading a crew starting at 9am. They plan to take the gradall, dump truck and work train to MP 23.7 and make minor track repairs working east. They could use any extra hands available.

Also in Phoenicia, Dave Baker will be leading a crew cutting brush in the Phoenicia yard, along Bridge Street, and from Phoenicia to Mt. Pleasant. Steve Gollow is planning to join him. They plan to meet at the Phoenicia yard at 10am and could use extra hands.


Sunday, April 20th

On Sunday, April 20th, Earl Pardini will open the Cornell Street Yard at 9:30am. Plans are to continue installing the new west fence, and doing heavy maintenance on the tie handler and other machinery.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

April 19, 2008

On Saturday, April 19th, we had crews working in Phoenicia and Kingston.

Phoenicia

Coach 702 - Al Johnson, Bill Kaba, Ed Palmatier, Terry W. and George Liucci continued work on the 702. Writes Al Johnson:

"George started working on the vestibule on the West end and we assembled 6 windows and installed one."

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 825943.jpg


Brush Cutting - Dave Baker, the new CMRR brush foreman, cut brush around the Phoencia Yard:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 126010.jpg

Meanwhile, George Peck, Dave Mason and Derek Stapleton worked on the gradall getting it ready for track use soon.

Kingston

In Kingston, we had a crew of 20, which conisisted of: Earl Pardini, Jeff Otto, Raphel DeMeglio, Todd Syska, Thom Johnson, John Patane, Jr., Ray Farrell, Bob Blake, Joe Marsh, Mark Glaser, Peter Fluchere, Ron Epstein, Tom Healy, Dick Wilhelm, Al Howes, Jimmy Kinns, John Tuma, Greg Vaughn, newcomer Joe Klapkowski and myself.

The crew spiked ties from MP 4.05 to MP 4.2, fully opening the line to that point. All ties were removed from the O&W switch to Washington Avenue, and 115 were inserted in their place.



Some photos:


http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 026151.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 526955.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 126433.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 226733.jpg

A very productive day for the CMRR.


Sunday, April 20th

This past Sunday (the 20th) the following folks worked at Cornell St: Earl, Ernie Klopping, Joe Marsh, John Patane, John LaBarre, Mark Glaser, Chester Hartwell, and Jeff Otto.

Writes Jeff Otto: "We completed the steering repair on the crane, reinstalled the journal brass on #401, straightened the bracket for one of the lifting jacks on the tamper, figured out how to adapt the new air compressor to the tamper, finished welding the first West end track gate, scrounged hinges for it from the defunct gates under the Elmendorf St overpass, sorted spikes and tie plates picked up from the track near Washington Ave the previous day, and straightened a bunch of bent spikes."


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

I can not remember the last time I saw a cable inserter working. It looks like you are about to get out of town and the urban scenery. That should give your passengers something more interesting to look at. Good work.

John Bohon

Friday, April 25th

Earl Pardini will be leading a crew continuing trackwork in Kingston this Friday, April 25th. The plan will be to finish inserting the rest of the ties to Washington Avenue, cleaning the area of debris, and beginning to tamp ties starting just east of the O&W switch and working west. Earl will start at 9am between the O&W switch and Washington Avenue.

For any of you who are available this Friday, if possible please let me know by email if you can come, and/or call Earl and let him know.

Saturday April 26th and Sunday April 27th

I will announce full workplans for the weekend this Wednesday evening.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

This weekend we have work parties scheduled Friday, Saturday and Sunday.


Friday, April 25th

Earl Pardini will be leading a crew continuing trackwork in Kingston this Friday, April 25th. The plan will be to finish inserting the rest of the ties to Washington Avenue, cleaning the area of debris, and beginning to tamp ties starting just east of the O&W switch and working west. Some work may also need to be done at the Fair Street crossing area. Earl will start at 9am between the O&W switch and Washington Avenue.


Saturday, April 26th

Kingston

On Saturday, April 26th, Earl Pardini and Jeff Otto will lead a crew finishing up trackwork in Kingston starting at 9am just east of Washington Avenue. Plans are to continue tamping and plating from the O&W switch all the way west to Washington Avenue.

Cold Brook

In Cold Brook, George Peck and Dave Mason will be leading a crew starting at 9am in Phoenicia, with plans to start at the iron bridge at Cold Brook about 10am. They plan to take the gradall and dump truck and begin ballasting and tamping track from the iron bridge west. They need as many hands as possible as this work is vital for us being able to open the Cold Brook extension by opening day.

Phoenicia

In Phoenicia, Al Johnson and George Liucci will be working on the coach 702, continuing work on the windows. They will start 10-10:30am. As always, they can use additional help.

Also near Phoenicia, Dave Baker will be leading a crew cutting brush between Campground Curve and the 26 curve (across from Russ's Country Kitchen). Steve Gollow is planning to join him. They plan to meet at the Phoenicia yard at 10am and could use extra hands.


Sunday, April 27th

On Sunday, April 27th, Earl Pardini will open the Cornell Street Yard at 9:30am. Plans are to continue installing the new west fence, and doing heavy maintenance on the tie handler and other machinery.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Friday, April 25th

On Friday, April 25th, Earl Pardini led a crew consisting of John Patane, Dick Wilhelm, and Joe Marsh.

Earl worked between Washington Avenue and the O&W switch with his backhoe, and fully inserted all the ties leftover from last weekend.

Dick and Joe went to Cornell Street and worked on the MOW equipment. John Patane worked on the new west gate for the Cornell Street Yard.



Saturday April 26th

On Saturday, April 26th, we had four crews working:

Phoenicia

The 702 crew (Al Johnson, Ed Palmatier, Terry W. and Bill Kaba) installed an additional five windows in the coach. George Liucci and Ernie Gehrer removed the west end vestibules, and prepared new steel for replacement. Here is the latest photo:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 326142.jpg

Also in Phoenicia, Dave Baker continued brush cutting in the yard, and George Peck and Dave Mason continued work in the yard towards the new season. They also received a load of 400 ties for tie replacements between Phoenicia and Mt. Pleasant.

Kingston

In Kingston, a crew led by Jeff Otto tamped all the ties inserted last week and on Friday. The crew consisted of: Joe Marsh, Mark Glaser, John Patane, Raphael DeMeglio, Ron Epstein, Peter Fluchere, John Tuma, Bill Brosnan Bob Blake and myself. We tamped 139 ties from MP 4.2 to MP 4.37, Washington Avenue. All that is left in Kingston is plating and spiking these ties, and generally cleaning up the ROW.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 026500.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 326475.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 512318.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 412356.jpg

Tom Healy and Al Schoessow worked separately in Kingston with the Tie Handler to finish cleaning up the ROW from MP 4 east.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 312385.jpg


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

April 27, 2008


Phoenicia/Cold Brook/Boiceville Trestle

Today, George Peck, Paul Hintz, Gregory Peck and Steve Gollow took the worktrain east from Phoenicia, cutting overhaning tree growth. Additionally, they cut nearly all the trees needed to open service to Cold Brook station.

Just east of Cold Brook Station, they inserted 4 ties near the former siding there, and eased the work train further east. They had no problem at MP 22, and stopped briefly at a small washout at MP 21.9, which they repaired with two ties and some stonework. They continued with the worktrain to the washed out culvert at MP 21.7, cutting overhanging trees the whole way. They continued cutting all the way to the 28A bridge at MP 21.59.

Once the washout at MP 21.7 is repaired, George is confident he can get the worktrain all the way down to the west end of the trestle at MP 21.32, only .38 miles away. Stay tuned!

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 123151.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 323214.jpg


Tom Healy also removed grafitti at Mt. Pleasant, and replaced some of the lighting there.


Kingston

In Kingston, the following worked: Earl Pardini, Ernie Klopping, Joe Marsh, Walt Otto, Raphael DeMeglio, Greg Vaughn, John Tuma, Bob Blake, Chester Hartwell, and Al Schoessow.

The frame for the second new West-end gate was completed, and both gates hung. Diagonal braces were added to two fence posts, the heights of various posts were adjusted, and the top rail installed. Joe Marsh and Ernie Klopping continued to work on the tamper with new parts that were machined. The new generator was connected to the machine shop boxcar.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

What's the heritage of this railroad? It reminds me of New York Central, kinda like SMRS' Clinton branch.

The CMRR leases the former Ulster & Delaware line in Ulster County, which was absorbed by the New York Central in 1932. I wrote an article about a year ago that gives some historical details:

http://www.railroad.net/articles/railfa ... /index.php


EH