Thursday, August 7th

On Thursday, August 7th, Joe Marsh will lead a maintenance run on the reservoir with Win Goodier. Their goal is to cut the 20-30 trees that are still blocking the sickle bar at various areas on the reservoir. They will have two track cars with room for extras, so bring chain saws if you can. They also plan to take a close look at the washout at Butternut Cove.

They plan to meet at Shokan from 10-11am; they will be at Cornell Street at 9am cutting brush on Ora Place before heading up to Shokan, so you can join them in Kingston first if you can get to Kingston by 9am. After this work they plan to head to Shokan and load at the DEC crossing (the crane is east of the crossing now).


Friday, August 8th

In Phoenicia, Win Goodier and I will be leading a crew cutting at Herdman Road west of Phoenicia, to continue cutting where we stopped last year, working west towards the CMRR quarry. Plans are to meet at the Phoenicia station about 9am, and start work just west of Hummingbird Lane at about 9:30-10am. Bring chain saws and brush cutters! We hope to run Win's track car on this stretch - the first rail traffic in over 30 years!


Saturday, August 9th

On Saturday August 9th, George Peck, Win Goodier and I will be organizing a brush cutting party to clip overhead branches interfering with train operations. If you have a chain saw or pole saw you can bring, we will really need it. George will be at the yard at 9am, with the crew leaving the yard between 9:30am and 10am. We plan to work from the 26 curve (where the crew stopped last week) to Phoenicia station.

The 702 crew will be working on the interior of the 702 continuing paint and vestibule work on the interior starting about 10am Saturday.

Cornell Street yard will be closed Saturday.



Sunday August 10th


George Peck will be in the Phoenicia yard Sunday morning starting about 9:30am.

Earl Pardini will open the Cornell Street yard at 9:30am Sunday. The main project will be further preparation work for siding construction.


Next Week: August 16 and 17

The VRA is coming!

The VRA is planning a two day visit to the CMRR on Saturday August 16th and Sunday August 17th. They plan to meet at the DEC crossing at Shokan at 10am on the 16th and do a maintenance run to clear and widen the line east all the way down to the cars at route 209. They plan to bring with them their mowing machine for the grassy sections. They plan to continue east of Shokan on Sunday, but return to Phoenicia to catch the last train at 3:15 and enjoy the new Cold Brook Extension. They plan to camp in the Phoenicia yard the night of the 16th. This should be a fun and exciting weekend for the CMRR and the VRA. More details next week.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Thursday August 7th

On Thursday August 7th, Joe Marsh and Win goodier led a crew consisting of John Patane, Steve Kjak, Al Schoessow, Dick Wilhelm, and Debra Goodier, who cut brush at Ora Place in Kingston in the morning, loaded track cars at Shokan an noon, and ran to Mt. Pleasant and Phoenicia in the afternoon, where they cut a significant amount of overhead brush from Mt. Pleasant to Phoenicia.

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Friday, August 8th

Win Goodier and I led a crew consisting of Mike LaLonde, Chris Bigham, Peter Fluchere, Zef Fessendon, and Debra Goodier. We continued cutting west of Hummingbird Lane at MP 29.58, removing some fill on the tracks at MP 29.62, cutting the segment from MP 29.9 to MP 30 that we did not get to last year, continuing at MP 30.1 west to about MP 30.17. Win also did some work clearing vegetation at Bridge Street in Phoenicia.

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Saturday, August 9th

George Peck and Win Goodier led a crew consisting of Mark Glaser, Peter Fluchere, Ron Epstein, Derek Stapleton, Burr Hubbell, Chris Bigham and myself, clearing out vegetation from Bridge Street in Phoenicia to the end of track at MP 27.89.

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A small group also did finish work at Herdman Road, opening the line to MP 30.19, a small private crossing. This makes .61 mile of track now open west of Hummingberd Lane, MP 29.58, for MOW equipment.

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The 702 crew continued painting on the interior of the 702. The crew consisted of Ed Palmatier, Al Johnson, Debra Goodier, and Tom Healy.

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Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday, August 16th

The VRA (Volunteer Railroaders Association, www.vratrips.org) will be assisting the CMRR in a major brush cutting session from Shokan, MP 16.2, to the washout west of 209 at MP 5.4 on Saturday August 16th and Sunday August 17th. On Saturday, the VRA and CMRR crews will meet at the DEC crossing east of the crane at Shokan at 10am and work east. The crew will be opening the line fully from Shokan to the washout, widening the ROW as much as possible, and mowing as much as they can with their mowing machine. This should be a very productive joint workday for the CMRR and the VRA. The VRA will be camping in the Phoenicia yard on Saturday night. Peter Fluchere will be in charge of track car operations on Saturday. Volunteers should bring chain saws, brush cutters, shovels, and pole saws.

Also in Saturday, George Peck will be working out of the Phoenicia yard starting at 9am.

Also in Phoenicia, the 702 crew will be finishing interior painting of the 702 and continuing vestibule work starting about 10am Saturday.

Cornell Street yard will be closed Saturday.



Sunday August 17th

The VRA plan to return to Shokan on Sunday morning, starting around 9am. This time and place will be subject to change. They do plan quit cutting by 2pm or so so they can take the 3:15 train to Cold Brook.

George Peck will be in the Phoenicia yard Sunday morning starting about 9:30am.

Earl Pardini will open the Cornell Street yard at 9:30am Sunday. The main project will be further preparation work for siding construction.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday August 16th

On Saturday August 16th, the VRA visited the CMRR, and brought up their mowing machine anc cut from Shokan, MP 16.2, to the body shop crossing at MP 6.3, almost ten miles. The line looks great!

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The VRA members who came were Craig and Shirley Hartman, Mike and Robin Whipple, KC Smith, Charles Roselius, Larry Ten Hoeve, Justin Kerstner, and Carolyn Hoffman. CMRR members were Peter Fluchere, Ron Epstein, Thom Johnson, Joe Buonfiglio, and Bill Brosnan.

In Phoenicia, George Peck, Greg Peck and Derek Stapleton repaired a washout at MP 23.5. Jason DiTolla and Al Schoessow repaired the lights on the Route 28 crossing gate in Mt. Pleasant.

Also in Phoenicia, Ernie Gehrer and George Liucci kept working on the west end vestibule, and Ed Palmatier and Tom Healy kept painting the interior of the 702.

Sunday August 17th

The VRA did a second run from Shokan to West Hurley, recutting several areas from the day before. The same crew came as Saturday except for Charles Roselius. The CMRR crew consisted of myself. They re-mowed to West Hurley, and Craig and Shirley Hartman and I ran all the way to the washout at MP 5.6 and back to Shokan for a line inspection.

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In Phoenicia, Tom Healy worked on finish-up painting on the 702.

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In Kingston, the CMRR crew, led by Earl Pardini, continued work on siding construction.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

What do the letters "VRA" stand for?

Peter,

The VRA is the Volunteer Railroaders Association, http://www.vratrips.org.

Ernie Hunt

Saturday, August 23rd

On Saturday, August 23rd, there will be several crews working in Phoenicia:

George Peck will lead a crew repairing the blocked culvert at MP 23.5. He will be leaving the Phoenicia yard around 9:30am.

The 702 crew will be working on the 702, finishing painting and the vestibules starting at 10am.

I will be leading a crew cutting brush and overhanging trees from Mt. Pleasant to Phoenicia. We will meet at Phoenicia station at 10am.

There will be no crew working in Kingston on Saturday.

Sunday, August 24th

George Peck will be working in the Phoenicia yard beginning about 9:30am.

Earl Pardini will lead a crew at the Cornell Street yard starting at 9:30am. Main project will be siding construction.


Future Events:

CMRR Volunteer Party - Saturday, September 6th. Train ride to Cold Brook leaving about 5:30pm and food afterwards.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Hey Ernie,
How much track is still in tact on the line that you don't have cleared yet. and how is the gauging ?

Looking good.

Len.
Pottstown,PA.

Len,

There are two sections of track we have not cleared:

In Phoenicia, from MP 27.9 (Rte 28 bridge) to MP 29.58 (Hummingbird Lane): 1.68 miles

West of Phoenicia, from MP 30.19 (Private Crossing) to MP 38.90 (Giggle Hollow Bridge) 8.71 miles

So, 10.39 miles. We keep cutting away in between other projects. We are currently working west from Hummingbird Lane and plan to go east as well. Gauging is generally pretty good.

EH

August 23, 2008

In Phoenicia, Tom Healy, Ed Palmatier, and Al Johnson continued work on Coach 702:

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Also in Phoenicia, Ron Epstein, Peter Fluchere and I did some brushcutting and weed wacking in the Phoenicia yard before joining the track crew at Cold Brook.

At MP 23.5, George Peck led a crew consisting of Dave Mason, Jason DiTolla, Greg Peck, and Joe Buonfiglio repairing a culvert. They were later joined by Ron Epstein, Peter Fluchere and I:

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We later met the regular train at Cold Brook Station:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBPE_iFe9-I

We later took the work train to the Boiceville Trestle:

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Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Sunday, August 24th

On Sunday, August 24th, the Cornell Street crew took the 401 out on the main line past Washington Avenue for the first time in many years:

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Greg Vaughn sent in this report from Cornell Street:

"Present were Bob Blake, John Patane, Ernie Klopping, Al Schoessow, Joe Klapkowski, Tom Healy, Earl Pardini and me. In addition to showing the flag, we cleared trees/brush at O'Neil St fence, moved rail to the yard for Earl's trailer and the new generator base, did some trouble-shooting on the air problem on the side dump (it has some very minor but perfectly placed derailment damage that make it hard to operate), mounted the rail on Earl's trailer and disassembled the scarifier for the move to PA, cleared the clearance brush from 4.1 to 4.25, Tom bought and delivered the rest of the major materials for the new MtP sign, and we used our finely tuned 120 ton pavement remover to break Fair St and Washington Ave."


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday, August 30th

On Saturday, George Peck will lead a crew doing tie insertions just east of Cold Brook Station, finishing up the Cold Brook extension. George will have the tie handler, gradall, and scarifier to help. If there is extra time, we will fix some of the rougher spots on the track towards the Boiceville Trestle. The work train will leave Phoenicia at 9am, so those coming later should go directly to Cold Brook Station.

In Phoenicia, Al Johnson will be working on the 702, finishing painting starting at 10am.

There will be no crew working in Kingston on Saturday.


Sunday, August 31st

George Peck will be working in the Phoenicia yard beginning about 9:30am.

There will be no crew working in Kingston on Sunday.


Monday, September 1st (Labor Day)

No crews scheduled.


Future Events:

Friday September 5th - Friday workday to replace ties in the main line near the 26 curve.

CMRR Volunteer Party - Saturday, September 6th. Train ride to Cold Brook leaving about 5:30pm and food afterwards.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

August 30, 2008

Yesterday, August 30, 2008, George Peck led a crew that completed the Cold Brook Extension to MP 22.1. The crew consisted of Derek Stapleton, Peter Fluchere, Ron Epstein, Mark Glaser, Bob Blake, Joe Klaplowski, Paul Hintz and Greg Peck.

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After that we went to MP 21.93, and fixed a small washout there:


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In Phoenicia, Tom Healy, Ed Palmatier, Al Johnson, Ernie Gehrer and George Liucci continued work on the 702. They finished interior painting and installed the first set of steps on the west vestibule:

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Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Thursday, September 4th

Dick Ray will be foreman for a brush cutting crew meeting at the DEC crossing at Shokan about 10am and working east towards Hurley Mountain Road. The goal will be to widen the ROW to the full 7 foot width off the ties so the CMRR sickle bar can be run there. There is limited space for additional volunteers, but please email Dick directly if you wish to join him. Be sure to bring a chain saw!


Friday, September 5th

George Peck will be leading a crew beginning tie replacements on the main line near Milepost 26. Since the regular train will not be running on Fridays in September, George will bring the tie handler and scarifier out to dig out and insert new ties. Please meet in the Phoenicia yard at 9am, and if you come late just meet the crew near Milepost 26 (accessible from Route 28 ).


Saturday, September 6th

On Saturday, George Peck will continue tie replacements on the main line, tamping, plating and spiking ties inserted Friday. Please meet him in the Phoenicia yard at 9am, and if you come late, go directly to Milepost 26.

In Phoenicia, the 702 crew will be working, either painting seat parts or working on the exterior vestibules. They will start about 10am.

If there is no rain, Chris Bigham will lead a brush cutting crew Saturday. He will meet the crew at 10am at the Phoenicia station. Bring loppers and chain saws. Remember, if there is rain, brushcutting (only) will be cancelled.

CMRR Volunteer Party - The annual volunteer party will start with a train ride to Cold Brook leaving about 5:30pm and food afterwards.


Sunday, September 7th

George Peck will be working in the Phoenicia yard beginning about 9:30am.

Earl Pardini will be working in the Cornell Street yard Sunday on siding construction. The yard will open at 9:30am.




Future Events:

Friday September 12th - Another Friday workday to replace ties in the main line near the 26 curve, followed on Saturday by tamping, plating, and spiking ties inserted Friday.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

September 4, 2008

Dick Ray led a crew today at Shokan consisting of Tim Kane, Dave Sigafoose, George Cook, Joe Marsh, and Burr Hubbell. Earl Pardini joined the crew at the beginning of the day, dropping off new head block timbers for West Hurley, a switch frog and many ties for Shokan.

The crew removed the old switch timbers at West Hurley, but unfortunately the new timbers were too short, so the switch was left spiked to the main. The rest of the day was spent widening the ROW to the standard west of Shokan, which is 7 feet off the ties. The crew also did some cutting east of Hurley Mountain Road down to the washout at MP 5.4.

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Friday, September 5th

On Friday, September 5th, George Peck led a crew consisting of Dick Wilhelm, John Patane, Paul Hintz, and John Prestopino, that inserted 23 ties from MP 25.8 to MP 26 in the mainline between Phoenicia and Mt. Pleasant.


Saturday, September 6th

Al Johnson. George Liucci, Ed Palmatier, and Bob Blake finished cleaning out coach 702 in preparation for window sill installation by Al Howes.

In Kingston, Al Schoessow, Joe Marsh, Earl Pardini and Greg Vaughn worked on the tamper and put the first coat of paint and stain on the sign parts.

Later that day, the annual volunteer party was held in Phoenicia - about 50 volunteers and their families came for a ride to Cold Brook station and food afterwards at the Phoenicia station.


Sunday, September 7th

Earl Pardini led a crew consisting of Burr Hubbell, Greg Vaughn, Joe Marsh, Al Schoessow, John Patane, John Tuma, Bob Blake, Joe Klapkowski, Ernie Klopping, George Peck, Greg Peck, and Ken Darmstadt.

Sunday's projects included installation of the frog for the coach track, assembly work on the tamper, repair of the damaged side dump, a second coat of paint and stain was put on the new Mt. Pleasant sign parts, and the first coat of black paint was started on 23's tender tank.

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The crew also took the 401 down to Washington Avenue and back:

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Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR