Feature Articles 3 Departments 2 The NYS&W Snowplow Nanette Ferreri President’s Message John Stocker 10 Bel-Del News Les Coleman A s I sit here to write this, we are over halfway through our 2011 season. We had a successful Easter season and a Day Out with Thomas is now behind us. We now look forward to our Corn Maze Trains, our Great Pumpkin Trains and then the POLAR EXPRESS! The M-1 is now in P-Burg. As Martin and I were putting it down by the Baer shop, I realized we are taking a trip to the past, back to where it all started. I look at all we have and think it started with a small group of dedicated Volunteers and the M-1. Just goes to show what can be done when you put your mind to it and have the help of good people. I look forward to seeing the M-1 run on the BelDel. As always there are tons of things to do and so little time to do them. Your help will make it happen. Come out and give an hour or a day, it all helps. Don’t forget about the 4039 Railfan Day on Saturday November 5th. Help will be needed staffing trains, etc, let Chris know if you can help. Upcoming work in 2011. Finishing the 5-Year inspection on the 142. Getting the M1 ready for service. Bringing the M-2 and 4 to P’Burg Creation of a Snack Car Brush cutting along the ROW Painting the Gift Car Let’s continue to work together and make 2011 a Great Year for all aspects of our Society! As always, my “door” is always open to you, our members. President John Stocker Chief Mechanical Officer Matthews hard at work inside the firebox of #142. Gary is busy drilling out the bad stay bolts. 2 12 Maywood Station Historical Committee Ed Kaminski 14 Shop Talk Martin Den Bleyker Covers Front: NYS&W plow #91 on the WS-1 in Rochelle Park NJ on February 2, 2003. Photo: Ed Kaminski Rear Top: On October 29th 2011 we had quite a snow storm . It’s rare for us to have steam and snow, let alone steam, snow and Pumpkins! Here we see #142 on “The Great Pumpkin Train” Photo: Gary Matthews Rear Bottom: NYSW #3012 on the SU-100 in Ridgefield Park NJ 11-1-10 Photo: Ed Kaminski
T he NYSW generally carries rubbish, fondly known as discarded building structures, from Northern New Jersey to Binghamton, New York. It also transports bricks, corn syrup and lumber, and, on occasion, I have seen them transporting new cars past my house, which is on the most congested part of the railroad in Bergen County, NJ. Earlier in its inception it was a single track passenger line, from Jersey City to Stroudsburg, PA. There is talk of it becoming part of a light rail system from Hackensack to Hawthorne, NJ because of the lack of cross county rail lines. So far that hasn’t started. A railroad faces many challenges getting its freight and passengers from point A to point B, but none more daunting and uncontrollable as the weather, snow in particular. Drifts can form as high as the top of a car, ice forms in the flangeways at crossings and in switches. Given the makeup of track, with ballast, ties, and rails, it would take at least a foot of snow to completely cover the track. When an area gets a large amount of snow that the plowblade on the engine can’t clear, it sometimes becomes necessary for the railroad to bring in special equipment to move it off the track. Enter the snowplow. On the Susquehanna most of the need for plowing occurs on the Northern Division between Binghamton and Syracuse, 3 Utica and Binghamton and along the Southern Tier from Binghamton to Port Jervis. There is the occasional Southern Division snowfall that requires a plow also. The Susquehanna owns three plows and a Jordan spreader, and keeps them in Binghamton, Utica and Little Ferry. Once the snow has stopped falling, the railroad decides if it is necessary to send out a special X train with a plow. The crew consists of an en(Continued on page 4)
(Continued from page 3) gineer, a conductor, and two MOW employees, who work together to run the train, clear the snow, operate the wings and flanger, and occasionally get out to shovel crossings and switches. While the train can generally run at track speed, care is taken at crossings and switches in anticipation of ice buildup in the flangeways, which can cause the plow or an engine to derail. These events bring out the railfans, who risk life and limb to get trackside when everyone else is busy trying to dig out from under. The pictures that follow tell the story better than I can. Russell Snow Plows are the most dangerous trains to operate. Visibility out the engine windows is totally obscured by snow as soon as they drop the flanger (cleans out between the rails). Your lucky if you get a glimpse of the number on the back of the plow. Your only perception of speed was what the speedometer said. The Plow operators whistled for the crossings. The train is obscured by the flying snow making it hard to see by automobiles at crossings. The older Engineers stated that when a Russell Plows derailed it had a history of turning around and then taking the front of the engine off. Above: Three of the crew get out of the NYSW #91 Plow to help solve the problem. As far as I could see it was a slight ice block created by street plows and the track itself. In this photo you can see how close the plow comes to the track surface. Perhaps the flanger is caught or caked with snow. While standing on the bridge at West Mountain Avenue we hear the mellifluous low tones of the pusher CSX engine and catch this rear shot as it passes past Lake Grinnel, New Jersey 4 Above: Baird’s Farm is the most scenic area on this southern route. Anywhere you look, railroad North or South, you will find a picturesque rural scene.
Top: Our third stop is in Franklin Junction, New Jersey. As the horn blows around the bend the plow powers to remove the crusty ice just before crossing the grade. You can see the wing blades in full profile. It has been a tough winter for the New York Susquehanna & Western but the tracks must be cleared and safe. Above: We can see that the flanger has done it’s job, clearing the center of the track. Mission accomplished and a job well done! The tracks are ready to roll. Left: We are looking railroad South. The right of way curves like the tractor path in the mid-ground, then hugs the closest tree on the horizon along the river. Right: Our fourth stop is Baird’s Farm, Warwick New York. Just as the plow hits the grade, there seems to be something wrong. They stop as the plow hits a bump on the roads edge. 5
crew and Joe Trench, a local contractor, friend and volunteer (when he isn't building things for us) we got it done in time for the Easter Bunny Train Ride! Some features of the new car are a beautiful all Maple interior with almost twice the shelf space as the old car, a storage room, carpeting and a new computerized point of sale system. Top: Looking down at the floor, wait, there isn't any! The whole length of the car we had to replace the support beams and floor pan. T his winters big project (other than the steam locomotives 5 year inspection) was the rebuilding of the gift car. It was the only car of the fleet that was never rebuilt. These cars are known for having problems with leaks resulting in rusted out floors. The first thing we did was demolish the old interior and then pull up the linoleum so we could inspect the floor. Surprise! There wasn't any (floor that is)! The linoleum, rust and crumbled concrete was about all there was. CMO Gary Matthews worked very hard making the car water proof. For the first time in years we have nice new windows you can actually see out of! The job included demolishing the old interior, ripping out the rotted flooring, welding in a new floor pan, new side purlins the length of the car, new “rock wool” insulation covered by welded in expanded metal topped off with a half inch of concrete. On top of the concrete we fastened 3/4 inch of marine grade plywood topped off by 3/4 inch of exterior finished plywood. The result was a very strong floor! The most amazing part of the project was that it had to be completed in 2.5 months! With the help of the NYSWTHS shop 6
The new purlins, floor pan and “rock wool” have been installed. Devin busy needle gunning rust off the side wall of the car. In this picture you can see the extent of the damage to the floor. Above: Gary is fabricating and welding in a new floor pan.. John Stocker donated a bunch of sheet metal that worked perfect for this job! The “Cement Team” pose with their finished product. Ken, Gary, Miles, Devin and Kurt look happy its done! Next came the installation of two layers of 3/4 inch plywood. 7
The beginnings of the new interior. The new design yielded a 6 inch wider hallway and a 12 inch wider interior aisle! One other nice feature are large windows on the hallway for viewing the merchandise. The old car was half gift shop and half snack bar. In the next months we will be converting one of our unused LIRR cars into a full length snack bar car. This year has been very busy and the last thing we need is another project , but we must have a snack bar car for the Polar Express!
Top: Two views of the new interior. The top left picture is actually taken from the hallway looking in. There are two very large windows in the hallway so our passengers can view all the goodies we have for sale. The custom shelf system is made of 100% maple hardwoods, no cheesy particle board here. The car now has much more storage space as well. Below: In this picture the photographers back is to the new storage area which spans the width of the gift car. The storage area has a secret back door so you can add stock without disturbing customers in the store. In this view down the length of the store you can see there is up to three feet more interior space than there was in the old car. We also have a nice new inventory control/point of sale system . You may notice the carpet, does it remind you of a casino? Well it should as it was an overrun from the Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas!
about a month to put this together. So the clock is ticking, find out next issue how we did. Society Happenings 2011 has been a very busy year on the BelDel. As you have read, the gift car got a complete overhaul and the 142 got a late start due to the gift car, its 5 year inspection and annual stay bolt issues. So much for the mechanical side of things, but a big thank you goes out to all those who worked on the gift car and 142 to get them back into service, notably Gary Matthews, Chris Cotty, Steve James, Ken and Kurt Christenson, Jon Andreason, Devin Stasek, Joe Trench and newcomer Dylan Vietes. Apologies to all the others who helped not mentioned here. On to operations, the year started off with record numbers riding the Easter Bunny trains. While these have always been popular, they were never the sellouts that Thomas and Polar Express were. That changed this year, with 10 of the 12 trips selling out. People were wowed by the new gift car, and sales there showed their appreciation. The regular season numbers were down slightly, no doubt due to the absence of the 142, the economic climate and some nasty weather. But once September came around, the Scouts came out, Cub and Girl, to ride and enjoy the corn maze. Then in October the pumpkin patch opened, larger than ever thanks to the efforts of Bill Lammers. You now have a clear open view of all 15 historic lime kilns from the train. Thomas and Sir Toppam Hatt came back to town in July and packed the house again, and this time the River/Mine train showed substantial increase in ridership. The professionalism of the Conductors Jim Stevens, John Stocker, Wayne Jennings and the entire train crew was noted by many. Thanks also to Kean Burenga for his help and leadership. As of presstime, the next big challenge of the year is still to come. By redoing the gift car we took out the snack bar area, and need one to handle the Polar Express. We have a car that has been prepped in Butler that needs to move to Phillipsburg, and have the vestibules renovated and an interior counter area put in. As usual, we only left ourselves We have had a very busy and productive year. The 7 SPV cars and 4 of the Long Island coaches we bought 10 years ago have been scrapped, turning unused equipment into needed cash. The M-1 finally left home rails to be used in Pburg. The old MCC Plymouth #18, which has been used as the Butler shop switcher, has also been moved to Pburg to see rehab and new life there. In addition to all the work going on in Phillipsburg, we have had a separate team working all spring and summer in our enginehouse in Butler. A crew consisting of Les Coleman, Chuck Parodi, Nick Zisa and Rory Lovelace have spent many days stripping the old cars for parts, cleaning out the 501 (new snack car to-be) of seats and garbage, cleaning out and prepping the M-2 and M-4 for movement to Phillipsburg. All 3 cars have had substantial brake work done with the help of Rob Mangles, Chris Cotty, Dylan Vietes, and Nick Zisa. Due to renovations to the Wyckoff Library, we had to find a new place for our bi-monthly meetings. Bev Shea came through for us and got us the Maywood Library Meeting Room to use. If you haven’t been there yet, you need to make a meeting. The room is nice, with all the digital AV needs available onsite. An aerial view of this years Corn Maze. The maze is thirteen acres and is cut by a GPS enabled tractor. There are two mazes in total in the design with over 8 miles of trails! 10
Top right: M-1 leaving Butler and NYW rails, possibly for the last time. Top Left: going into the enginehouse for brake work and prep for movement to the Bel-Del Bottom left: Plymouth MCC 18 going into the enginehouse for work prior to moving to Phillipsburg Bottom right: theinside of the NYSW M1 ready for movement to the Bel-Del Long time member Steve Hovey passed away on July 21 2011. Steve was a great volunteer and could usually be found manning the cash register in the snack bar on our many trips. For years Steve was in charge of the meeting site at the Wyckoff Public Library. Steve always had the best railroading stories as he traveled quite a bit. The NYSWTHS will miss a great friend and volunteer, may he rest in peace. 11
The Vinegaroons Performed at the June 15, 2011 Maywood Station Museum Open House By Ed Kaminski Maywood Station Receives 2011 Bergen County Historic Preservation Commendation Award On May 26, 2011, the Maywood Station Historical Committee received a 2011 Historic Preservation Award from the Bergen County Historic Preservation Advisory Board for its work on restoring New York, Susquehanna & Western ALCO S-2 Locomotive #206, which is currently on display at the Maywood Station Museum in Maywood, NJ. The MSHC's restoration effort was cited to receive an award in the category of Preservation or Restoration of a Structure, Object or Site. The historic locomotive is listed on both the National and State of New Jersey Historic Register's. Bergen County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan and the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders presented the Commendation at an Awards Program held at Historic Church on the Green in Hackensack, NJ. The MSHC now has the distinction of being fivetime recipients of County of Bergen, New Jersey Historic Preservation Awards. The MSHC has previously received awards in the Preservation or Restoration of a Structure, Object or Site category in 2004, the Historic Leadership category in 2005; and the Preservation Education category in both 2008 and 2009. The award also marked the 32nd award, lamation or resolution received by the MSHC since 2002. procThe Vinegaroons, played a concert on the Maywood Station Museum grounds during the Wednesday evening, June 15 Open House. The band featured Maxine Montany on guitar and vocals; Kayleigh Kaminski on guitar and vocals; Joey D’Ulisse on bass and vocals; Amanda Pappas on keyboards and vocals; and Eric Scardino on drums and vocals. The band played a mix of classic rock songs to the large audience. DeeJay John “J. B.” Brown entertained the crowd before and after the concert. The free concert was part of the Maywood Station Museum Backyard Summer Concert Series that will be held on Wednesday evening Museum Open Houses this summer featuring local bands. The Vinegaroons performed a live concert at Maywood Station on at the Museum Open House on June 15, 2011. The band featured Maxine Montany on guitar and vocals; Kayleigh Kaminski on guitar and vocals; Joey D'Ulisse on bass and vocals; Amanda Pappas on keyboards and vocals; and Eric Scardino on drums and vocals. DeeJay John "J. B." Brown entertained the crowd before and after the concert. (Above two photos by Ed Kaminski) A lSome of the Maywood Station Museum members with Maywood Mayor Timothy Eustace; members of the Bergen County Cultural & Historic Affairs Division; and members of Bergen County Freeholders and State of New Jersey Assembly before receiving the Bergen County 2011 Historic Preservation Award at the Historic Church on the Green in Hackensack, NJ on 5/26/2011. (Photo by Julie O’Brien) 12 Maywood Station Museum Kicked Off the 2011 Open House Season on May 15, 2011 The Maywood Station Museum kicked off its 2011 season with an Open House on Sunday, May 15. The weather was beautiful and an exceptional turnout by the public welcomed in the 2011 Open House Season after the cold and brutal winter. An assortment of displays, artifacts and photographs were on exhibit and
visitors had the opportunity to climb aboard restored Maywood Station Museum Caboose 24542 to see the operating model train layout and additional displays. Copies of the books, "Maywood - The Borough, The Railroad, and The Station" and "New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad in New Jersey", were available for purchase in the Museum Store and author Edward S. Kaminski was on hand to sign copies if requested with all proceeds going towards further preservation of the Maywood Station MuseumIn the spring of 2011, MSHC member Vince Molodowec carefully restored two original "S-Type" Hayes track bumpers that were once found on the Maywood Station team track siding installed them at the end of the panel track beneath Maywood Station Caboose 24542. This view of Vince's completed project was taken on May 15, 2011. (Photo by Robert P. Pisani) Work continued through the first part of 2011 on the operating model train layout inside Caboose 24542 including the addition of a protective glass enclosure around the front of the display. The progress is shown in view that was taken on April 27, 2011. (Photo by Mike Szymanski) 2011 Maywood Station Museum Open House Dates The Maywood Station Museum will be open of the following dates and times in 2011: Sun., May 15 - Noon to 3pm Weds., Aug. 24 - 7pm to 9pm Weds., June 15 - 7pm to 9pm Sun. Oct. 2 - Noon to 3pm Weds., July 20 - 7pm to 9pm Sun., Nov. 6 - Noon to 3pm *Sat. Dec. 10 - 10am to Noon (Santa at Maywood Station) Summer 2011 MSHC Membership Meeting Schedule The membership of the MSHC meets twice monthly for work sessions at Maywood Station on Wednesday evenings starting at 7pm. Membership Business Meetings will be held quarterly starting at 7:30pm. Membership will be notified in advance of each meeting date. MSHC Membership News David Percival visited family in Great Britain for two weeks in March…….Ed Quinn has been appointed Town Historian for the newly-formed Township of Rochelle Park Historical Commission…….Pat Reynolds has been constantly training and will be running in the Annual ING New York City Marathon this November. This will be Pat’s fifth time that he has participated in this event…… In late March, Ed Kaminski visited Hilton Head Island, SC for a business conference……In late April and again in early June, Joe Katzenstein and his wife Diane visited family in Florida ……Rich Kugel made a sizeable donation of books for the Maywood Station Museum Library and numerous H.O. scale models for the museum displays. Thank you, Rich!!........Ed Quinn reports that progress is continuing in developing the North East Region Scout Museum in Rochelle Park, NJ. For several years, Mr. Quinn has been spearheading this effort to create a scouting museum……Rob Pisani visited China on business in early June…..Keith Smollin was spotted wearing a Yankees jersey. Hey, Keith – what gives? Did you give up on the Mets this year already?......Rob Pisani visited China on business in early June…… Condolences to Rob Pisani and his wife Dana on the on the passing in mid-June of Rob’s mother-in-law….. 13
A new floor was put in and new selves installed. The interior wall was moved to make more space in the by-pass hallway, yet there was also more room in the shop itself as the shelves did not take up the same depth. The car was almost completely rewired to include new lighting, making it more cheerful. Carpet was laid on the entire floor, not just to hide the holes. The windows were replaced as part of the water leak mitigation and you can see out of them now. There is no longer a snack bar. That only got use during Easter and Polar Express and it was decided to use one of our stored coaches to make a snack car in a later project. Instead, that area became a storage room for the merchandise. A permanent sound system area is also located there. The exterior got body work done and it was ready First, I have to make a correction to the last edition. There is a serious lag time from when I submit a story to when it is actually published. As soon as one story is published, I begin the next and write as things happen. Unfortunately, I neglected to remove an “update” in the last edition that was anticipated, but did not occur, namely the arrival of M-1 at the Bel-Del. After submitting my story, yet another logistics problem came up that stopped the move and was not resolved until July. Only then did movement begin and the car arrived in early August. On to the winter of discontent. It was time for 142 to get a five-year inspection, which meant removing the lagging and inspecting the staybolts. Upon giving it a hydro test, 18 bolts were weeping, only two of which were inside where we would have seen them anyway as in the past few years when one to three were replaced. After some extensive drilling, grinding and welding, 142 got another hydro when a dozen more wept. Suspicious, Gary performed an ultrasound test, which is more than the government asks of us, and found 63 additional cracked bolts. Now, keep in mind that this May, 142 turned 22 years old, just three years shy of antique status. What we are experiencing is not unusual and it demonstrates the depth of maintenance required, as well as why today there are so few people who run steam engines. But we pride ourselves on being one of the few who do and on doing it correctly, so the decision was made to replace all the suspect bolts and be done with this problem… for now. Meantime come May, the trains had to run, with a diesel, and it was a bit depressing that lasted all the way to the Thomas event in July. The next hoped-for target date was a railfan day in August that, ironically, was to benefit the restoration of 4039, the ex-MCC engine in Whippany with which so many of us are familiar. That was postponed. That only left one deadline – the busy season right after Labor Day through October. I’ll let you know next issue how that turned out – no speculation this time. But the winter news isn’t all bad. The Gift Shop had become a disaster. It was a rite of November that, for Polar Express, we had to patch the holes in the floor from the use all summer. The shelving was also fading fast from all the water leaks in the car. The decision was made to overhaul it completely. The car was gutted and the rusted out metal in the floor removed, leaving us a wonderful view of the track below. 14 for the Easter trips looking a bit like a camouflaged tank. It managed to get primer paint by the Thomas event, but ultimately, the paint job and lettering will match a 1940’s NYS&W style that will shame the other cars by comparison. That means each other car in time will have to get the same body treatment to match. And that brings me to the usual closing point. We are a diverse Society with many functions. When we say “Technical”, we refer to, amongst other things, the restoration of rail equipment. The more people that turn out to help out, the more we accomplish. Like running the trains, we Chris Hutsebaut and Gary Matthews busy drilling out stay bolts. train as we go, so don’t shy away because of a lack of experience. We make it as easy as we can to pitch in. Contact Mechanical@nyswths.org for info or look at the “Members” section of our web site nyswths.org for scheduled work sessions, which are typically (but not always) Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays starting 8 am at Baer Shop. There are occasionally work sessions elsewhere as well.
Top left: Dylan Vieyles is busy fishing out the old stay bolts from inside the wall of the firebox. Top right: Joe Hart was busy casting new firebrick for the firebox. Middle right: Joe Hart is grinding the stay bolt ends nice and flat so that we could do ultra sonic testing on the bolts. Above: This is a shot of the fireman's side of the firebox. In the picture ,the yellow areas are newly inserted stay bolts. A stay bolt is a bolt, or rod, connecting opposite sheets in a firebox so as to prevent them from being bulged out when acted upon by a pressure which tends to force them apart, as in the leg of a steam boiler. Several stages of the repair can be seen here, the flat grinding of the old bolt for testing, drilling out the old bolt, and finally countersinking the hole in preparation for welding. The bolts that appear to have raised rings around them were replaced last year. 15
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