Saturday, March 31st

On Saturday, March 31st, we will have three crews working:


Phoenicia Track Gang, March 31st, from Jason DiTolla:

This Saturday, March 31, we are asking that all free volunteers meet us in Phoenicia Yard at 9am, as we are planning on going to Rock Cut, MP 24.1, to clean up from the area from our downed tree. We will be taking the Gradall and work train with us, but there is also some hand work to be done there as well. In the same location, there are some light areas of brush that need to be cleared and this will be incorporated into our project.

Also, I am going to need a hand removing the turntable pistons from the Ballast Regulator. Any help with this would be appreciated....

Safety apparel is required. Please bring any hand tools that you are comfortable working with, as we are limited to the amount we have. Shovels will be very helpful.


Engine 29 Repaint, Phoenicia, March 31st:

Also on Saturday, March 31st, George Liucci will be leading a team starting the repaint of engine 29 on Saturday in the Phoenicia Yard. He will start with scrapping and wire brush work and removing the headlights. If any one wants to help he will be there by 10:30 am if it's wet he will remove the lights and door panels. George asks volunteers to bring scrapers and brushes if they have them.


Kingston - Saturday, March 31st

On Saturday, March 31st, the main brush crew led by Earl Pardini will be cutting brush starting at Washington Avenue, and working both east and west from there, starting about 9:30am. Bring clippers (best is the Corona Clipper Compound Action Lopper, 2"Capacity, Model FL 3420 $26.98 at Lowes), chainsaws and powered brush cutters. Earl will be bringing the County chipper. This area was cut last year, but needs to be cut back further for the spray truck expected in May. In the afternoon, we may go up to Ashokan and chip the trees we cut last weekend.

Weather is expected to be sunny Saturday with a high of 54 degrees in Kingston and 49 degrees in Phoenicia.


Sunday, April 1st.

On Sunday, the Steam Team will be meeting in the Kingston yard off of Cornell Street at 9:30am. Plans are to continue painting the 401 and redecking flat car 213, and continue work on the hi-rail dump truck and Engine 23 tender.

Weather Sunday is expected to be cloudy and a high of 54 degrees.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain Railroad

On Saturday, March 31st, we had a great turnout in Kingston to clear the line of brush between Washington Avenue and Kingston Plaza.

Present were Earl Pardini, Ed Palmatier, Chris Bigham, Ron Epstein, Peter Fluchere, Burr Hubbell, John Patane, Jr, John Mech, Freddie Rasmussen, Travis Rapp, new volunteer Phil Cosmo and myself.

We widened the ROW considerably in this area. Unfortunately the county chipper was not available, but we will return on 4/7 to chip what we cut.

This area looks really good now. Our next section to cut is west of Washington Avenue near the holiday inn. There, we need to cut several pine trees that are too close to the ROW. We also have quite a few junk trees on the south side of the tracks we need to cut.

Here is a "before" photo, looking east from MP 4.35:


http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 516387.jpg

Here is an "after" photo:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 216548.jpg

Here is part of our work for next week:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 918660.jpg


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain Railroad

Saturday, April 7th

On Saturday, April 7th, we will have three crews working:

Phoenicia Track Gang, April 7th:

The Phoenicia Track Gang should be working on Saturday, starting probably around 9:30am.

Engine 29 Repaint, Phoenicia, April 7th:

George Liucci will be working on the Engine 29 repaint. However, this will be cancelled in case of rain or the temperature going below 40 degrees. He will be starting at 10:30am.

Kingston - April 7th:

On Saturday, April 7th, the main brush crew led by Earl Pardini will be cutting brush near Washington Avenue, starting between 9 and 9:30am.

The first order of business will be chipping what we cut last weekend, and doing some additional cutting near Kingston Plaza. We will definitely have the County chipper this weekend.

After this area is chipped and cut, we will start working west of Washington Avenue towards the Holiday Inn.

Win Goodier will be coming up from Virginia Friday night, and will be bringing his tractor and brush hog. He plans to cut the entire area from the Thruway to Washington Avenue - we will need to cut the larger trees too big for his brush hog. Be sure to bring clippers or a chainsaw if you have one.

If we have time, in the afternoon we may go up to Ashokan and chip the trees we cut two weeks ago.

Weather is expected to be sunny Saturday with a high of 43 degrees.


Sunday, April 8th.

On Sunday, the Cornell Street yard will be closed due to Easter Sunday.

However, Win Goodier will continue cutting with his brush hog up the line towards Phoenicia. Chris Bigham will be helping him, and any other volunteers are welcome to join them. They plan to start around 9:30 or so in Ashokan, or further up the line at Mount Pleasant or Phoenicia. Contact Win Saturday night to find out where to meet him exactly.

Weather Sunday is expected to be sunny and a high of 44 degrees.


Monday, April 9th

On Monday, April 9th, Win Goodier will continue cutting with his brush hog up the line towards Highmount. Chris Bigham, Jason Markowitz, and Steve Kijak will be helping him, and any other volunteers are welcome to join them. They plan to start around 9:30 or so in Phoenicia or further west. Contact Win Sunday night to find out where to meet him exactly.

Win will be staying at the Super 8 by the CMRR tracks at Washington Avenue in Kingston. You can leave a message for him there at 845-338-3078 if you want to work with him Sunday or Monday.


PS - the Trolley Museum will be having a track repair weekend on April 7th and 8th. Any CMRR members that have some extra time and would like to help are encouraged to assist them.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain Railroad

Today we had a great turnout in Kingston to chip what we cut last week, and cut more brush near Washington Avenue.

Present were Earl Pardini, Mimi Pardini, Burr Hubbell, Bob Blake, Ron Epstein, Travis Rapp, Chris Bigham, Greg Vaughn, Win Goodier, Peter Fluchere, George Cook, John Voelcker, Phil Cosme, and myself. Jason DiTolla, Freddie Rasmussen, and George Liucci stopped by to say hello.

We chipped all the material we cut last week, and cut quite a bit more between Washington Avenue and Kingston Plaza, widening the ROW considerably through this section. We chipped everything we cut today as well.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 011204.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 381475.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 001501.jpg


After lunch, part of the crew started cutting west of Washington Avenue near the Holiday Inn:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 321577.jpg


Win Goodier, our member from Virginia, brought his tractor and brush hog and used it to cut from the Thruway to Washington Avenue and back with the result being similar to the sickle bar cutter cutting "in-gauge".

Win went on to cut from Hurley Mountain Road to the farmer's road at MP 5.67 and back:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 331730.jpg

He then went to Stony Hollow to cut that area with his brush hog as well. He plans to continue cutting up the line towards Phoenicia tomorrow and Monday.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain Railroad

Saturday, April 14th

On Saturday, April 14th, we will have three crews working:


Phoenicia Track Gang, April 14th:

The Phoenicia Track Gang will be working on Saturday, starting probably around 9:30am.


Engine 29 Repaint, Phoenicia, April 14th:

George Liucci will be continuing work on the Engine 29 repaint. He will be starting at 10:30am. He could use some additional volunteers painting the 29.


Kingston - April 14th:

On Saturday, April 14th, the main brush crew will be cutting near Washington Avenue, starting between 9:30 and 10:00am.

The plan is to continue to cut trees and brush to widen the ROW from Washington Avenue west.

Be sure to bring clippers and/or a chainsaw if you have one.

Remember to get the "official" CMRR clippers available at Lowe's for $26.98: Corona Clipper Compound Action Lopper with a 2" Cutting Capacity Model FL 3420.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... 731-FL3420

Weather is expected to be cloudy Saturday with a high of 45 degrees.


Sunday, April 15th.

On Sunday, the Cornell Street yard will be open; Burr Hubbell will be in charge in Earl's absence. Burr should be opening the yard between 9:30am and 10am.

The main effort will be to continue re decking the flat car, repainting the 401, and repairing the hi-rail dump truck.


Weather Sunday is expected to be cloudy and a high of 43 degrees.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain Railroad

Saturday, April 21st

On Saturday, April 21st, we will have two crews working:


Phoenicia Track Gang, April 21st:

Here is the work plan from Jason DiTolla:

This Saturday, the PTG is planning on returning to the MilePost 26 area to finish the culvert work started there last week. Also, George has begun marking out ties in the curve there and would like to start replacing them this week also. If we get enough crew together, I am going to head up a second crew to work down at Andrew's Lane on the culvert that is plugged up there. Along with all this work, there is brush that can be cut in these areas as well. We ask that ALL AVAILABLE MEMBERS meet in Phoenicia Yard at 930am. Bring any tools that you are comfortable working with. We have approx 5 weeks until we open, and there is ALOT that has yet to be done.... ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Kingston - April 21st:

On Saturday, April 21st, the main brush crew will be cutting near Washington Avenue, starting at 9:30am. Earl will be bringing the county chipper to chip what we cut last week, and what we cut Saturday.

The plan is to continue to cut trees and brush to widen the ROW from Washington Avenue west. Please meet in the Holiday Inn parking lot behind picnic pizza. We hope to wrap up our brush cutting work in Kingston this weekend.

Be sure to bring clippers, a chainsaw, and/or a powered brush cutter if you have one.

Remember to get the "official" CMRR clippers available at Lowe's for $26.98: Corona Clipper Compound Action Lopper with a 2" Cutting Capacity Model FL 3420.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... 731-FL3420


Weather is expected to be sunny Saturday with a high of 64 degrees - perfect!


Sunday, April 22nd.

On Sunday, Earl will be opening the Cornell Street yard at 9:30am.

The main effort will be to continue re decking the flat car, repainting the 401, and repairing the hi-rail dump truck.


Weather Sunday is expected to be sunny and a high of 66 degrees.


Upcoming Weekends:

Saturday April 28th - tentative plans are for all hands to the 26 curve to help the Phoenicia Track Gang repair this section of the line before the operating season begins.

Saturday May 12th - rules class and test for all foremen and those wishing to be qualified as operating personnel.

Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR