Myself and 2 friends/co-workers spent Friday and Saturday with the Ohio Central steam crew. all I can say is,WOW!!
In 26 years of being invovled with railway preservation. (started at 14 years old) I have never been made to feel, so welcome, needed, and part of the team so fast. (i.e.instantly)Not to mentioned well fed and had a great time.
John, Jason, Scott, and the rest of the crew are top shelve people to work with.
One other addded bonus was the fact I learned more about steam locomotives and there operation than I had in all the years before. Being there to see all the things I have read about and having people more than willing to answer my questions brought so much into perspective I can't begin to say thank you. On top of that no one made you feel stupid for asking.
When the next blitz is planed and announced you owe it to yourself to attend. you won't be sorry you did.

irss@eriecoast.com

I forgot to mention one other aspect of this past weekend until I read the post below this. Putting the faces with the names. T. J. you are my brother in law's twin. I thought you were him at first. He live's in the same city as John.Maybe someday John will walk up to him and say T.J. what are you doing here L.O.L. Still don't know how to express my aprecation for this past weekend!

irss@eriecoast.com

Jack-

Ditto on everything you said. Again, it is always great to put faces to names, but even better when you do so while working towards a common goal. Ryan, (the other Michigan connection) Greg, Steve, Mark, aw heck, everyone
there was great. Jack said it best --- rarely have I been a begineer in a program where those who have been there a long time treat YOU as if you had been there forever as well. There was no back-biting; no clicks; no "he's new to the group, so forget him." Everyone there made us feel welcome, and if we didn't know how to do a job or use a tool we were shown how and quickly learned. Awesome experience.

Although neither John or Jason would like this, the success was also in no small part due to the fact that those always had an eye out for potential projects for us as well, and directed us to them the minute that they saw we were done with a project. There is nothing worse than going to volunteer and having a bunch of people standing around with nothing to do because their is no direction. All of us have been in situations where there were too many cooks; this was the exact opposite. You had guys doing all of the following, and all seemingly in unison:

1.) Priming and painting #33
2.) Welding in the firebox on #33
3.) Needlegunning the firebox on #1293
4.) Prepping the firebox on #1293 for inspection
5.) Greasing the rear of #6325's cab
6.) Lubing the #6325 and #1293 for moving
7.) Needlegunning or other wise cleaning repairing #33's tender

And that's only a small window of time; there was a heck of a lot more done before I even got there on Friday. Mix that in with classes on boilers, injector's, how they work, the different types and general discussions on OUR opinions on projects, etc. and it was a one full week/ weekend. And always, ALWAYS saftey first. That slogan is not mute at OC: the live and breathe it, and its more than just the stenciling you see on the overhead crane or above the note board in the shop: you are taught and reminded every minute that this is dangerous work not to be taken lightly in any way, shape of form. For a

Jack's right. You have NO idea what you missed.

TJG

Ohio Central Steam Program

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Jack,

It was awesome to meet you and your crew too! It sure was a great time. Thanks for showing me how arc welders work (that was fun and entertaining hehehehe!!)

I have been a volunteer up there for about 3 years (although I do not have nearly enough time in as most of the others) and this past weekend ranks as one of the best yet...

Long live steam!

See ya soon

Jason Hissong

jhisson1@columbus.rr.com

> Myself and 2 friends/co-workers spent
> Friday and Saturday with the Ohio Central
> steam crew. all I can say is,WOW!!
> In 26 years of being invovled with railway
> preservation. (started at 14 years old) I
> have never been made to feel, so welcome,
> needed, and part of the team so fast.
> (i.e.instantly)Not to mentioned well fed and
> had a great time.
> John, Jason, Scott, and the rest of the crew
> are top shelve people to work with.
> One other addded bonus was the fact I
> learned more about steam locomotives and
> there operation than I had in all the years
> before. Being there to see all the things I
> have read about and having people more than
> willing to answer my questions brought so
> much into perspective I can't begin to say
> thank you. On top of that no one made you
> feel stupid for asking.
> When the next blitz is planed and announced
> you owe it to yourself to attend. you won't
> be sorry you did.

What? No mention of the wonderful meal provided Thursday night in the White Castle!?

*lowers head in disappointment*


G

greg@skittercreek.com

> What? No mention of the wonderful meal
> provided Thursday night in the White
> Castle!?

> *lowers head in disappointment*

> :-)

> G

Hey, I only heard about it, as I didn't get there until Friday. My one experience was with Bill's culinary expertise, which was quite good, but nothing compared to his answer to your questions on his preference for firing ;-)


tjgaffney@phmuseum.org