Andy Kromer reports that 2203 will be receiving general maintenance over the next month or so. Coach 5805 continues to see progress each Saturday at the TSY under the direction of Sam Walker. A number of window shade boxes have been stripped of paint, varnish and shellac by Stan Bogacz, Win Bissell, Bill Sample and Lou Beres in recent weeks. Other projects include the completion of priming of the inner lower walls and insulation installation and preparing the battery boxes to receive a heavy-duty gasoline powered generator. More help is always welcome.
Flatcar NH 17504 awaits final painting and deck installation. It will also receive two new wheel sets to replace sets that were found to be defective. Of course one wheel set on each truck were the defective ones! The replacement wheel sets are now at the shop.
Electricians Stewart Fritts and Jack Tarter continue to make strides in wiring the shop. At least
six of the overhead light fixtures have been installed along the eastern side of the building, and the temporary lighting in that area has been removed. A weekday crew of Tony Pratt, Lou Beres and your editor worked one night to clear the way for the John Cerreta and Don Chepurna carpentry and painting operation, now being completed in the final two bays of the west wall
Saybrook Yard Report
Nice weather – especially for February – certainly encouraged an excellent turnout on Saturday the 2nd - and Howard Pincus reported he was very happy with the result of the efforts – getting 95-98 percent of the scheduled work completed. 24 members turned out, plus 5 members of the Friends of the Valley Railroad including Tom Krulikowski also pitched in. The major work done included the final preparations for moving the CPR 1246 – which included the removal of the temporary roof over the coal bunker, moving various parts to one of the freight cars, and reinstalling the handrails. The BAR and PRR boxcars had their cargoes prepared for the journey, and the W221 shop car had a crew working inside a good part of the day rearranging and cleaning up the interior. Also, a squirrel was evicted from the NH 3040 before it could do much damage.
Thanks to H Pincus, H Reiser, R Hart Jr, D DiTullio, J Chase, R Harrington, G Pfeiffer, W Hermann, J Cerreta, T Pratt, B Bette, L Beres, D Kornfeld, L VanIderstine, S Paribello, S Bogacz, M Lawson, S Lent, G Roraback, T Reed, D Watson, D Hunt, M Salit, and W Sample plus the Friends of the VRR crew.
The following week a smaller crew returned for some final preparations – including removing 220V wiring from the shop car and setting up 110V connections, removing remaining tarps and covers from the NH 0401, and clearing out all of track 9 and the portions of tracks 5 and 11 needed for switching. D DiTullio, J Chase, S Fritts, D West, S Butterworth and W Sample were on this crew.
Both weeks also included the loading and movement of many items from various cars and sheds from Saybrook to the Chase and Thomaston Shop yards at the Naugy. Walt Hermann’s brush clearing work effectively cleared the entire site any brush and tree growth, vastly assisting the rediscovery and movement of various items that had been stored throughout the site. We have contracted with Spencer for Hire trucking of Southington to assist with heavy material transfer.
—Bill Sample
