Today was another very successful day for getting #4 ready for service. We are very close to being able to light the first fire of 2012. Read Bob DeWachter’s report.
Today’s crew consisted of Gerry Bagley, Bob DeWachter, and guest appearance by Colby Miles when not to busy playing trains.
Was a good day with a welcome respite from the recent melt your face heat.
Fireman’s injector is installed. Piping, strainer and fitting were wire brushed, blown out, and flushed. There was mucho debris and rust crunchies removed.
The baffles, exhaust nozzle, blower, petticoat, screen have all been installed. Nearly all the fasteners upgraded to 3/8″ brass and never-seize on all. Only two 1/4″ brass bolts were used.
The front ring is clean and needle gunned. We have some pyro poxy that I want to apply and improve the ring surface but lack of a putty knife kept that from happening. This should be much better than furnace cement. Won’t absorb moisture and can be worked with a file.
The lubricator is set to go.
Gerry added packing to the brake valve after the stand install. It may be too tight, but this can be tweaked.
Colby came about 1pm after engineer job training and got an initial paint coat on the entire interior which killed quart #1.
The cab got cleaned up and Mike Moulison arrived with the newest stay so we are ready for Maine Boiler.
Didn’t connect engineers injector discharge as I figured we should do another hydro after final weld repairs.
Colby returned with a side kick after the last run and commenced doing the second coat inside the tank. After all his confined space playpen time we probably need to be nice to him for at least a few weeks. His friend is involved with a fire dept. and is going to see what hoses might be had. Most of ours are leakers…..the water crane needs repairs also.
We should be in good shape for steaming next weekend.

Mike Moulison
Track Foreman

So now for today’s work: the crew divided into two teams; one to work on removing more stays and the other to work on disassembling pieces on #8 to allow it to be moved into the museum. Joe, Jay and Bill worked on #4 and were able to remove 3 crown stays. So 17 of 20 stays have been removed. The final three will come out at our next work session in two weeks. In the mean time, Gerry, Krista and Hans worked on disassembling parts on #8 so that it can fit through the museum door when it is moved into the museum.

Roger Merrow also stopped by and gave us some advice on how we can prepare the engine house so that engines can be moved out. We have started to make alterations and will finish those up the next time we work on the engine house.

Our next work session will be 2 weeks on Saturday, April 14. The scope of work will be limited to Joe and Jay working on removing the last three stays on #4. The rest of us will be helping out with track weekend. There is lots of track work planned and we have a contractor coming in to help, so make every effort to come down and help out.

In the mean time, Jay worked on the valve packing. New packing material will be ordered so that this task can be completed.

Bob and others were able to move the old #7 water tank. This now makes for a clearer path for getting the office trailer removed. Bob also did some further measuring to see if #8 is going to fit in the museum. It is very close and will know more once a contracting company visits us and gives us their opinion on the feasibility and cost of moving #8.

At lunch time we had a group talk to bring everyone up to speed on things going on around the museum (relocation, Guest Engineer, #8 move, etc.) Everyone is very excited about steam running in 2012 and the Guest Engineer program. Look for the program to be on the MNGRR website in the next week or so.

Our next work session will be on Saturday, February 25 though staybolt work may continue on the 18th if there is any interest. The sooner we can finish the stay preparation on #4 the sooner we can get back to work on #7.

Saturday was a very productive day at the Museum.  The plan was to start getting the  museum in shape for the February school vacation week.  The first step was planning where everything should wind up in the museum.  Coach 19 will come into the building for restoration sometime this year, and space had to be found for her.  We used a scale drawing of the museum and cut-outs of the cars to find the best arrangement.  Then Nancy Hall and Dick Meyer went around identifying things that could be disposed of or otherwise moved out of the building.

On Saturday morning people started showing up shortly after 9 am.  Christina Aliquo was
there to coordinate things.  There was a Board of Trustees meeting at 10 am which took several people away for about an hour.

What was accomplished:

Track panels moved out of the museum.

Spare wood moved out of the museum space.

Wooden child train, pump car, and Vose car moved alongside Pondicherry.

All sorts of stuff thrown out.

Steering engine moved out of the way.

Special thanks to all the volunteers who helped:  Hans Brandes, Dick Bond, Lincoln Good, Donovan Gray, Nancy Hall, Sharon Hickey, Larry Perkins, and Fred Roberts.

Later in the afternoon Brian Durham and Fred Roberts helped Track Supervisor Mike Moulison check out a bad joint bar and search for replacements.  They also did a detailed inspection of the Trails West and Yard switches.

Kyle Collins and his friend Tim were removing hardware from Boxcar 60.  This car is being substantially rebuilt to make it weather tight so the mechanical department can safely store parts there.   Hans Brandes has the door he rebuilt in his garage, and Bob DeWachter
sand blasted and painted all the door mounting hardware.

Those in attendance today were: Joe and Jay Monty, Bob DeWachter, Colby Miles, Kyle Collins, new  recruit Tim Jones, (recruited by Kyle, thank you Kyle) and Hans Brandes. Not everyone could work on #4 so we tackled additional projects outside since it was a nice day and there was little to no snow on the ground.

Joe, Jay and Colby worked on the drilling staybolts. Colby and Jay took turns being inside the firebox while Joe was on the outside. The process was to drill using increasing drill bit sizes until the stay could be separated from the sheet. Once the stay was out, the sheet was then prepared using a cone grinder. Joe had determined which stays were to be removed. Once things got underway, stays started coming out. Today, we were able to removed 3 stays and we think we can do 4-5 day. Given, that we have to do 20 stays, we should be able to get through this during the spring,

In the mean time, work on box car 60 continued. Hans, Kyle, Colby and Tim were able to move all of the seat cushions to car 55 (the roof on 60 leaks badly). Once done, Kyle and Cobly worked on removing old tar and felt paper that was on the roof. The showed that a large portion of the roof is rotten and will need to be replaced. Some more siding was also removed. Bob finished powder coating the fittings for the new door. They look great.

Tim also did a good job of cutting up the pallets into firewood and putting it into the wood box car. We will continue to work on cleaning up the yard area by either cutting up, salvaging or getting rid of junk piles.

Bob and Hans looked potential ways to shore up the older portion of the engine house that has sagged. No real perfect solution at this time though it looks like using some of the extra ribs lying around will be the most cost effective way to go. No one wants to spend money on a structure on property that we don’t own.

Our next work session is officially in two weeks on Saturday, February 11 though there might be some people down there next Saturday. Until then.

Yes, the Museum is closed, the steam engine drained, and the cars in storage for the winter.  But that does not mean no one is working or that nothing is going on.

Here is what happens in a museum that is closed for the winter:  planning, organizing and training.  In fact, many of us like the winter months best because we can focus on planning and organizing for the year ahead.  It is hard to plan when you are running trains seven days a week or putting on a special event like Polar Express.

In June you may pick up a tourist magazine and see an ad for the museum.  That ad was placed in January or February based upon our operating schedule set in the first week of January.  Special events are put on the calendar and detailed planning starts.

In May we will have a new exhibit explaining who, what, when, where and why of the Maine two foot narrow gauge railroads.  That planning started in 2010, and included a
successful grant application to fund part of the exhibit.  We are now at the stage of final edits of text, photos and maps so they can go to the printers.

January is the time to review the past year and Polar Express to capture lessons learned, and revise our marketing and operational plans while the experience is still fresh in our minds.

The railroad managers have gotten together with the museum director and agreed our focus must be on the visitor experience and customer service.  This requires standardization of procedures, and training of everyone involved.  We will revise and simplify our operating rules, develop a passenger train standard operating procedure, and provide useful training to train crews before we start seven day a week operations in May.

The museum director, archivist and education director are taking a hard look at the museum space and the room freed up with Pondicherry moved out of the building.  The question is how best to use our museum space to create a family friendly environment
that provides an entertaining educational experience to our guests.  The museum is still a mild disaster after Polar Express.  It has to be cleaned up, painted and restored to order before the February school vacation week.

Sandy River Combine 14 is looking old and tired after years of birthday parties.  The restoration team is redoing the interior and benches.  We are also putting together a marketing plan to sell more birthday parties at the museum.

Since winter means no outside painting, we are looking around inside for painting and lettering projects.  A large sign will be place behind and above the ticket counter to hide the electrical boxes and help our patrons.  We are also going to re-letter the Mount
Pleasant, which includes sanding down for a smooth surface and re-painting. The Portland History Docents program starts in February and we are putting together our course materials.  We get between 5 and 12 new volunteers with docent training through this program every year.  This year we will tell the class we are really want all of them to come to us and qualify as conductors.

January is also annual budget season.  Our museum director, treasurer, president and
vice-president have put together a draft budget that will go to the board for approval this month.  We have also revised our accounting codes to better match expenses to programs and departments.

The beginning of the year is also the time we heavily research grant opportunities and deadlines to make sure we take advantage of every grant opportunity.  There is often
some back and forth between planning and grant writing.  We may have to modify our planned activities to fit the criteria of certain grants.

We are also designing a vibrant and entertaining program for school group tours.  We may use grant funding to hire a consultant to write the program, and then vigorously market that program to schools in the area.  At the earliest, this program would be in place this fall.

Contrary to popular belief, Polar Express did not really end on December 23, 2011.  Everything that went up or on the train had to come off, get boxed, be labeled, and stored away.  All our merchandise, furniture and exhibits at Ocean Gateway had to be returned to the Museum.  The gas stove, food preparation tables, and kitchenware had to be put away.  The North Pole station, Christmas tree, and Elf village had to be removed from City Property.  Steam engine Monson 4 had to be drained and put away for the winter.  Chef uniforms must be laundered and stored.  The list goes on and on!

Polar Express is a major special event that requires a lot of preparation, a tremendous effort to run for 15 evenings, and just as much effort to take apart and store.  We do
not have any elves or flying monkeys to come out at night to do our work for us.  The people who fired the steam engine, directed traffic, and collected tickets during Polar Express are also the ones who put up decorations and are now taking them down.

Here is what we have done since December 23^rd to put Polar Express to bed:

Roger Merrow has removed all the exterior and interior lights from the passenger cars, and swept everything out.

Lincoln Good, Brian Durham, Donovan Gray, and Fred Roberts have taken down, boxed, and labeled all the car decorations.  Larry Perkins has put the labeled boxes in
the Christmas trailer.

Griffin Bourassa, Brian Durham, Hans Brandes, and Larry Perkins helped Allison Tevsh Zittel and Christina Aliquo cleared out Ocean Gateway.  The building manager said he had never seen us get it done so quickly!

Joe and Jay Monty, Bob DeWachter, Kyle Collins, Hans Brandes, Gerry Bagley, and Roger Merrow drained the water out of Monson 4 and winterized her.  They also worked on the coolant heater on Engine 1.  Gerry Bagley had previously removed all the steam hoses on the train.

Lincoln Good mopped up the museum floor to get rid of all the spilled hot chocolate!

Donovan Gray is revising the Polar Express standard operating procedures based upon lessons learned and feedback received from the public and our volunteers.

Hans Brandes, Brian Durham, and Larry Perkins took down the 20 foot Christmas tree and moved it from the North Pole to the yard.

We are pleased to be a part of this fantastic program again this year!

For the seventeenth consecutive year, Portland area history lovers will have a unique opportunity to do something fun for themselves and good for their community. Starting February 9, 2012, free classes on local history, art, and architecture, as well as on public speaking will begin.

The Portland History Docent (PHD) program is a collaborative effort by Greater Portland Landmarks, the Maine Historical Society, Tate House Museum, Victoria Mansion, Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum, Spirits Alive – Eastern Cemetery, Friends of Evergreen Cemetery, and Fifth Maine Regiment Museum. These eight organizations are joining forces to provide a thirteen-week training program for new volunteer guides at each organization’s respective museum site. Each sponsoring organization gains trained volunteers, while students benefit from the information and instruction they receive free of charge. PHD graduates are asked to commit to a year of volunteer time at one of the sponsoring sites of their choice. In return they receive knowledge, experience, and friendships that will last a lifetime!

The 2012 class runs on Thursday mornings, 9:00 am to noon, at the Maine Historical Society in Portland beginning on February 9 and finishing on May 3, 2012.

Visit:  http://portlandlandmarks.org/Content/20.php for more information.