Saturday, March 1st

On Saturday, March 1st, the CMRR will hold its rescheduled entry-level rules class in Phoenicia.

This rules class is for new volunteers, 2006 volunteers who did not pass the rules class last year, or those who need a brush-up on the rules. It will be held at the ESRM's Station in Phoenicia. The class will begin at 10am, and a light lunch will be served. The class is expected to wrap up about 4pm. A test will be held at the end of the day.

A second class for more experienced volunteers will be held prior to the start of the operating season.

The only work crew on Saturday will be George Peck leading a crew doing work in the Phoenicia yard and possible boltwork meeting in Phoenicia about 9-9:30am. The Cornell Street Yard in Kingston will be closed.

Although the weather is expected to be good Saturday, there is a storm expected for Friday. If it looks like this will affect the class Saturday, I'll post a cancellation Friday night.


Sunday, March 2nd

On Sunday, March 2nd, Earl Pardini will lead a crew at Cornell Street continuing to move the fence to expand the yard. Most likely this will involve relocating fence to the new fence location west of the yard, and relocating yard equipment. They will also work on converting flat 213 to passenger service. Earl will open the yard at 9am.


Weather is expected to be sunny with a high of 24 on Saturday and sunny with a high of 34 on Sunday.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Rules Class CANCELLED.

The latest forecast for Phoenicia is 3-6 inches of snow tonight, with the storm wrapping up at noon tomorrow. Because of this, we are cancelling the rescheduled rules class once again. All workparties for Saturday are also cancelled.

However, our Sunday schedule is unaffected, and Cornell street yard will open as usual there at 9am on Sunday, March 2nd.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday March 8th

On Saturday March 8th, we will have three crews working, and an abbreviated rules class in Kingston.

In Phoenicia, George Peck will lead a crew cleaning up the Phoenicia Yard from the snow, and inspecting the line for flood damage. He will be meeting in the Phoenicia Yard at 9-9:30am.

George Liucci and Al Johnson will also be in Phoenicia working on Coach 702, starting around 10am.

In Kingston, Earl Pardini will lead a crew starting at Cornell Street at 9am continuing work on the fence and moving equipment around the yard. He will conduct a rescheduled rules class in the caboose starting after lunch at 1pm for all new volunteers, or 2006 volunteers who did not take the test last year.

Sunday, March 9th

Cornell Street Yard will be closed on Sunday, March 9th.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday March 15th

On Saturday March 15th, we will have three crews working.

In Phoenicia, George Peck will lead a crew inspecting the line for flood damage. He will be meeting in the Phoenicia Yard at 9-9:30am. George would ask that anyone with a chainsaw join him for the inspection so that overhanging trees can be cut, especially about 20 trees just west of the iron bridge near cold brook station that must be removed to permit clearance for the coach. There are some trees near Rock Cut that need to come down.

Al Johnson will also be in Phoenicia working on Coach 702, starting around 9:30-10am. Glass for the new windows has been delivered, and Al could use help in the installation of that glass.

In Kingston, Earl Pardini will lead a crew starting at Cornell Street at 9am continuing work on the fence and continuing maintenance on equipment in the yard. Projects include finishing work on the scarifier and tie handler, as well as the crane.


Sunday, March 16th

Earl Pardini will be opening the Cornell Street Yard on Sunday, March 16th at about 9:30am. He will continue maintenance work and work on the fence relocation.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday, March 22nd:

On Saturday, March 22nd, we will have two crews working.

In Phoenicia, Al Johnson will continue work on window installation on the 702. He could use extra help. He plans to start about 10am.

In Kingston, George Peck and Dave Mason will be using the gradall and tie handler to start removing ties from MP 3.91 behind Herzog's west. He will start about 9:00 am and work west. George also plans to mark ties for replacement all the way to Washington Avenue. To help him with this, he could use some hands with weed-wackers and clippers to clear light vegetation off the tracks from the west end of Kingston Plaza to Washington Avenue. He could also use hands for other work in preparation for resuming tie replacement.

Cornell Street Yard will be officially closed, though those who would like to work on projects that day should contact Earl.

Sunday, March 23rd

Due to Easter, Cornell Street Yard will be closed.


Upcoming Events

Thursday March 27th and Friday March 28th

Win Goodier will be leading a large crew cutting brush from the right of way starting in Kingston and working west towards Phoenicia. George Cook, Todd Syska and Joe Marsh plan to bring their track cars to help out. Tentative plans are to start at Washington Avenue at 9am Thursday and Shokan at 9am on Friday.

March 29th and March 30th

Trackwork will resume on March 29th, and the Cornell Street yard will be open both days.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Today, we had two crews working:

In Kingston, George Peck led a crew removing ties with the gradall and tie handler from MP 3.91 to MP 4. They removed 75 ties in this section in preparation for tie insertion next weekend.

Another part of the crew removed light vegetation from the tracks from the west end of Kingston Plaza, MP 4.15 to Washington Avenue, MP 4.37, in preparation for tie marking and removal on this stretch.

The crew today consisted of George Peck, Gregory Peck, Dave Mason, Jason Markowitz, Chris Bigham, Bob Blake, Peter Fluchere, John Patane, John Tuma, and Mark Glaser.

In Phoenicia, Al Johnson, Ed Palmatier and Thom Johnson continued work on the windows for coach 702.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

This weekend we have work parties scheduled on 4 days, Thursday to Sunday.


Thursday, March 27th

On Thursday, March 27th, Win Goodier will lead a crew with several track cars cleaning the ROW of brush and logs from Kingston to West Hurley and beyond.

Win asks that everyone meet at Washington Avenue in Kingston in the Holiday Inn Parking lot at 9am. Crews will be working on clearing light vegetation off the tracks behind the dutch village, and from the Holiday Inn to 209. Several track cars will be dispatched to Hurley Mountain Road to clear the line from 209 to West Hurley and beyond.


Friday, March 28th

On Friday, March 28th, Tom Healy and Earl Pardini will lead a crew in Kingston inserting ties from MP 3.91 to MP 4 with the scarifier and tie handler. Dick Wilhelm and Jeff Otto will be joining them. Any extra hands can help with tamping the newly installed ties. They will meet at Cornell Street at 9:30am and will start working behind Herzog's at MP 3.91 by 10:30am.

Win Goodier will also lead a brush crew continuing work to clear the line from West Hurley to Shokan. The main crew will set on at the siding just west of the West Hurley Station site at about 9am. Track cars may load alternately at Shokan and work west once they have checked in with Win. At the end of the day a crew will be dispatched to Cold Brook to cut some more trees down west of the iron bridge.


Saturday, March 29th

On Saturday, March 29th, Earl Pardini will lead a crew continuing trackwork in Kingston starting at 9am behind Herzog's, MP 3.91. Plans are to tamp, plate and spike all ties inserted Friday. Tie removal will begin west of Fair Street, and plates and spikes will be removed up to the O&W switch. If all ties are spiked up to Fair Street, Earl will bring the 401 across Fair Street to open up the crossing for the first time in many years.

In Phoenicia, George Peck will be working on repairing the backhoe. Any brush cutters available Saturday should go to George who will instruct them what needs to be cut between Phoenicia and Cold Brook. Al Johnson will very likely be working on the 702 (contact him to confirm).


Sunday, March 30th

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


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Work Schedule Change - 3/28/08

There has been a change of meeting place for tomorrow, March 28th. Everyone should meet at the Holiday Inn parking lot off Washington Avenue at 9am. Crews will be dispatched from there to various parts of the line. Trackwork is still on in Kingston.

Work Report - 3/27/08

We had a great turnout today. Win Goodier led a crew today which consisted of Gary Lowe, Steve Kijak, Chris Bigham, Debra Thompson, Joe Marsh, Mike LaLonde, George Cook, Mark Glaser, John Patane, Peter Fluchere, Dick Ray, Jason Markowitz, and Al Johnson.

The bulk of the brush crew focused on the area from Hurley Mountain Road to West Hurley, widening the ROW in several places and clearing the line of debris from the winter.

Joe Marsh led a crew that went up to Andrews Lane, and worked from there east to the reservoir.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Today we had another great turnout in Kingston.

Earl Pardini led a track crew inserting ties from MP 3.91 to MP 4. He was joined by Dick Wilhelm, John Patane, Tom Healy and Jeff Otto. They inserted 75 ties, and removed about 20 west of Fair Street.

The brush crew was led by Win Goodier, and consisted of Mark Glaser, Gary Lowe, Chris Bigham, Debra Thompson, Joe Marsh, Peter Fluchere, and Dick Ray. They cleaned the ROW from the Dutch village apartments all the way out to Route 209 before lunch. After lunch, they joined the track crew and tamped about 50 ties inserted earlier.

Tomorrow, everyone plans to meet near MP 4 to finish tamping and spiking the ties up to MP 4. After lunch, the crew plans to bring the 401 up to Fair Street and break the asphalt on the crossing. This will be the first crossing of Fair Street in over 10 years.

The crews got nothing but cheers from the passersby today, who all said they were looking forward to train service resuming in Kingston this summer!

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Today we had another great turnout, completing trackwork to MP 4 in Kingston. Earl Pardini led the crew, which consisted of Jeff Otto, Peter Fluchere, Win Goodier, Debra Thompson, John Watson, John Tuma, Ron Epstein, Dave Baker, Joe Marsh, Steve Kijak, Jason Markowitz, Bob Blake, PJ Hintz, George Cook, Dick Ray, Mark Glaser, Gary Lowe and newcomer Chester Hartwell.

The crew attempted to break the asphalt on Fair Street by bringing the 401 across, but the asphalt was too thick. Only about 6 feet of the 40 foot crossing were cleared. A special saw will be required to fully open the crossing, which will be done on the next work session.

Some photos:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 928142.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 028171.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 528228.jpg


In Phoenicia, Al Johnson, Ed Palmatier, Bill Kaba and George Liucci continued work on the 702, and George Peck, Gregory Peck, Derek Stapleton and Jason DiTolla did a line inspection to Cold Brook and later completed repairs on the Phoenicia backhoe.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Miss your photos, Ernie. When are you going to return to showing photos of y'all's work?

Just posted a few above. More are coming later!

EH