Catskill Mountain. RR Work Day – Saturday, November 4th

On Saturday, November 4th, Earl Pardini and I plan to lead a crew putting cribbing in the washed-out track under the passenger cars just west of the Route 209 crossing outside of Kingston. We also plan to start moving the cars out of the section of washed out track (Earl will move the cars with his backhoe). We will need picks and shovels for this work, so please bring these (and extras for others) if you have them. We plan to start about 9:30am.

To find this location, exit the Thruway at Exit 19 in Kingston, and head west ½ mile on Route 28 until you reach the intersection Route 28 and Route 209. Turn south on 209. The crossing is about 6/10ths mile south. We will park on the east side.

There may be additional brushcutting to do around the cars, so if you have a chain saw or weed-wacker, bring these also if you have room.

Weather is expected to be sunny with a high of 45 degrees Saturday with a little wind. There is a chance of a morning shower, but it is expected to be generally a dry day.

Be sure to bring work gloves, heavy boots, and a hard hat if you have one, plus vests and flags, if you have them, for signaling traffic on route 209 if we move some of the cars to the other side of the highway.

New volunteers are welcome as always.


Ernie Hunt

PS – the “Steam Team” will be having a session on Sunday, November 5th starting at 10am at the CMRR shops between Cornell Street and O’Neil Street in Kingston. They will be working on the No. 23 tender and the Davenport 0-4-0. New volunteers are always welcome.

Today we had a thirteen man crew working to shore up the tracks under the cars stored on the mainline at MP 5.5, just west of Route 209. We used bridge timbers originally from the Moodna viaduct for the bracing and cribbing.

The crew today consisted of CMRR Chairman Harry Jameson and CMRR President Earl Pardini, George Cook, Al Johnson, Ed Palmatier, Dave Baker, John Voelcker, Steve Kijak, John LaBarre, Tom Healy, Dick Wilhelm, myself, and our new volunteer Russell.

We put two timbers and blocks under the former EL MU 4322, former CNJ 1198 and 1204. Under the gondola, we put a double crib with four timbers under the east end, and a quadruple crib with 8 timbers under the west end.

The cars are now ready to be moved. We will do this next Saturday, to get them out of the way so the tracks can be repaired in this area.

Here are some photos from today:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail ... ountain_RR


EH

Catskill Mtn. RR Work Day – Saturday, November 11th

On Saturday, November 11th, Earl Pardini, Harry Jameson and I will be leading a crew to do a general cleanup of the line west of Downs Street in Kingston, and to begin tie replacement work towards Kingston Plaza. We plan to start at 9:30am.

George Cook is bringing his track car, and we plan to use this to haul a flat from Downs Street to Kingston Plaza to pick up any trash, and remove any obstructions in the ROW. After this is done we will start tie replacement so the 401 can run to Kingston Plaza. For the morning session, please bring any brush-cutting equipment you may have, especially weed-wackers, chainsaws, and loppers. For the tie replacement work, make sure you have a hard hat, gloves, and steel-toed boots.

From Exit 19 (Kingston) on the New York Thruway, take Interstate 587 east from the traffic circle to the end of this road, and proceed straight through the stoplight where the road turns into Broadway. After about ¼ mile, turn left onto Downs street. We will park near where the railroad crosses Downs Street.

Moving the cars off of 209 has been postponed to Sunday morning at 8am. This has been moved to this time as the traffic is expected to be minimal at this hour. Several cars may be pushed east across the road. Finishing cutting trees at the Ashokan site has been postponed until 11/18.

As always, any new volunteers are welcome!


Ernie Hunt


PS – the “Steam Team” will be having a session on Sunday, November 12th starting at 10am at the CMRR shops between Cornell Street and O’Neil Street in Kingston. They will be working on the No. 23 tender and the Davenport 0-4-0. New volunteers are always welcome.

Today, the brush crew became a track gang. We replaced 13 ties west of Downs Street in Kingston (MP 3.2), which will allow trains to run 250 feet west of Downs Street. CMRR President Earl Pardini dug out the old ties and inserted them with his backhoe, and CMRR Chairman Harry Jameson showed us how to tamp the ties. We will spike them next weekend.

We also bagged 12 large bags of trash from the ROW, and removed a full cartload of larger trash.

The crew today conisted of, in addition to Earl and Harry, Bill Brosnan, Dave Baker, Ed and Eric Palmatier, George Cook, Mimi Pardini, and myself. Pictures from today can be found here:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail ... ountain_RR

We plan to return here next weekend to spike the ties from today, and continue inserting ties further west. The CMRR will bring the flat full of ties and the 401 to help with the trackwork next week once we finish spiking the ties inserted today.

We also have postponed the car move off 209 originally scheduled for tomorrow at 8am because of rain, and that most of the volunteers would not be able to come. It has been rescheduled for next Saturday at 8am. I will post information confirming this by mid-week.

We all had a great time today, and look forward to seeing the 401 get out on the line next weekend.

Ernie Hunt

Catskill Mountain. RR Work Day – Saturday, November 18th

On Saturday, November 18th, Earl Pardini plans to move some or all of the passenger cars stored west of 209 back across the highway to the east side so that repairs can begin on the track west of 209. Earl plans to start moving the cars about 8am. Although the State Police will be assisting us, we will need flaggers.

To find this location, exit the Thruway at Exit 19 in Kingston, and head west ½ mile on Route 28 until you reach the intersection Route 28 and Route 209. Turn south on 209. The crossing is about 6/10ths mile south. We will park on the east side.

After the cars are moved, we will reconvene over at Downs Street and continue tie replacement work west of there. Once we have spiked the ties we placed last week Earl plans to bring the 401 across Downs street for the first time in many years.

Weather is expected to be sunny with a high of 51 degrees Saturday with a little wind.

Be sure to bring work gloves, heavy boots, and a hard hat if you have one, plus vests and flags for signaling traffic on route 209 when we move the cars to the other side of the highway.

New volunteers are welcome as always.


Ernie Hunt

PS – the “Steam Team” will be having a session on Sunday, November 19th starting at 10am at the CMRR shops between Cornell Street and O’Neil Street in Kingston. They will be working on the No. 23 tender and the Davenport 0-4-0. New volunteers are always welcome.

Yesterday, we moved the six cars on the track west of 209 to safety; the diner "Lion Gardiner" and Ex-EL MU 4322 were moved to the west side of 209 so that we could access 4322 easily to obtain spare parts for the completion of the renovation of its twin, Ex-EL MU 4332 which is being restored to become CMRR 702.

The remaining four cars, CNJ 1198, CNJ 1204, an Ex-NYC hopper and an Ex-PRR gondola, were moved east off the damaged track so we could begin track repair.

This work was completed about 2pm; after lunch we went back to Downs Street and spiked the ties we inserted last week; we got 8 of 13 spiked before it got too dark to work.

We had a great turnout today - 17 volunteers. Besides CMRR Chairman Harry Jameson and President Earl Pardini, there were George Cook, Al Johnson, John Voelcker, Ed Palmatier, Greg Vaughn, Bill Brosnan, Steve Kijak, Dick Wilhelm, Tom Healy, Thom Johnson, Jimmy Kinns, Burr Hubbell, Freddier Rasmussen, Travis Rapp, and myself.

We plan to finish spiking the ties next Saturday, and continue replacing ties west.

Pictures from yesterday can be found here:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail ... ountain_RR

Ernie Hunt

This weekend excellent weather is expected, and there will be projects on all three weekend days.

Friday, November 24th

On Friday, November 24, the Phoenicia work crew will be working to complete the Phoenicia section house roof starting about 10am. The section house is located about 500 feet east of the Phoenicia Station.

On Saturday, November 25th, there will be two crews working.

Crew 1 - Stripping EL 4322 for Parts for CMRR 702

George Liucci and Ernie Gehrer will be meeting at Route 209 (just west of Kingston at MP 5.4) between 9:30 and 10am to disassemble the seats and racks from former EL MU Trailer 4322, and could use help in taking these off the coach and loading these on the trailer. This is one of the two cars moved across 209 last weekend. The parts will be taken to Phoenicia for storage. These parts will be used to complete restoration of CMRR Coach 702, former EL MU Trailer 4332 (twin to the 4322). Anyone interested in helping George and Ernie complete restoration of the coach over the winter is strongly encouraged to come. George and Ernie will be there rain or shine.

To find this location, from Exit 19 (Kingston) on the New York Thruway, head west ½ mile on Route 28 until you reach the intersection Route 28 and Route 209. Turn south on 209. The crossing is about 6/10ths mile south. They will park on the east side.

Crew 2 - Track Restoration West of Downs Street

Earl Pardini and Harry Jameson will be leading a crew at Downs Street (MP 3.2) in Kingston to continue replacing and spiking ties as part of the CMRR's project to rehabilitate the line in Kingston. Earl will be firing up the 401 and bringing it across Downs Street to assist in the track rehab project. Earl will be starting about 8am, firing up the 401 and getting the track materials together, and work is expected to start between 8:30 and 9am at Downs Street working west.

Be sure to bring hard hats, heavy work boots (preferably steel-toed), and work gloves, and any shovels (especially flat ended) and picks you may have.

To find this location, from Exit 19 (Kingston) on the New York Thruway, take Interstate 587 east from the traffic circle to the end of this road, and proceed straight through the stoplight where the road turns into Broadway. After about ¼ mile, turn left onto Downs street. We will park near where the railroad crosses Downs Street.

Sunday, November 26th

On Sunday, November 26th, the Steam Team will meet at the Cornell Street yards at 9:30am to continue work repainting the 401, working on the Davenport 0-4-0, and completing No. 23's tender.

As mentioned above, weather is expected to be excellent this weekend - Sunny on all three days with highs in the 50's.

As always, new volunteers are welcome.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator, Catskill Mountain Railroad

Phoenicia Yard has a 1909-vintage section house that suffered from very porous, very fragile roof. The North and West sections of the roof are generally in good shape, but the East and South sides were very deteriorated, with the eaves on the East elevation partially collapsed.

Earlier this month, Earl Pardini cut out new eaves supports replicating the originals. George Peck and Dave Mason installed those and also installed the hardware to return the sliding track car door to operation.

On Friday, under the tutelage of Erik Morehouse, Erik, George Peck and I replaced rotted sub roofing, and began the process or re-shingling the shed roof. Interestingly, we found crayon markings under the old shingles that indicated the last time the House was reroofed was in 1943! Work continued on Saturday, with still some more to go before the project is completed. Even on so small a structure, a flared hip roof is an adventure to deal with - especially for newcomers to the roofing trade! ;^)

In this view from early in the day, the nice clean planks in the roof bear witness to just how much subroofing needed replacement:
http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... ountain_RR

New eaves supports and subroofing replace the collapsed portion of the East elevation:
http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... ountain_RR

Putting on new shingles:
http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... ountain_RR

The CMRR had a very productive work weekend over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

On Friday, the Phoenicia Track Gang finished rebuilding the structural elements of the Phoenicia Section house. Shingling is done on the east side and started on the south side.

On Saturday, Ernie Gehrer and George Liucci, with help from Dick Wilhelm, Thom Johnson and Bill Brosnan, removed most of the seats and some windows from former EL 4322. These will be used on the completion of the 702 in Pheonicia, the former 4332.

Also On Saturday, A big track crew spiked the 5 ties from last weekend, and replaced and spiked 10 more ties to Elmendorf Street, opening the line to that point. The 401 and two flats came across Downs street to deliver ties to the work crew. The crew consisted of Earl Pardini, Harry Jameson, Dave Baker, Thom Johnson, Ed Palmatier, Eric Palmatier, Jason DiTolla, John Mech, George Cook, Al Johnson, Bill Brosnan and Burr Hubbell. Also joining the crew were Evan Jennings, Travis Rapp and Freddie Rasmussen of the Trolley Museum.

On Sunday, the "steam team" continued work on the 401, the Davenport, and the tender tank. The hi-rail dump truck was brought down from Phoenicia for repairs. It will be used to fill in the washouts in the track west of 209 and east of Stony Hollow.

Pictures from the weekend are posted here:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/show/?byrail ... ountain_RR

Weather looks good for next weekend!

Ernie Hunt