BelDel News Spring 2010 Operations As I reported in the last issue, we had a very busy and successful year in 2009. Well, 2010 has started right where we left off. We ran 3 days of Easter Bunny train rides, and had a 25% increase in ridership over last year (4100 riders), so much so we needed to add the bilevel cars to the train set to guarantee enough seats would be available. We actually sold out 2 trips, something we had never done before. Kean Burenga, owner of the Black River & Western and our partner on the BelDel, held a day of classes for all the operating personnel on both railroads one Saturday in April. It was a nice blend of information and socializing with the members of the BRRHT. In addition to the annual safety class and breakout classes by craft, a general history of both railroads and an address from Kean on safety and the history behind the different levels of communication/publications enlightened us all. The regular season started off on the first of May with diesel power (more on the 142 below) and has shown gains in ridAfter a long hard day of operating “The Easter Bunny Train Ride & Egg Hunt” the crew relaxes to a nice dinner at one of the local eateries. For many years we have dined together almost every Saturday night and this “family” tradition is looked forward to by all! 11 ership almost every weekend. May also saw the addition of BRW SD-9 #9581 as our diesel power, and has drawn rave reviews from the train crews for its ride, ease of operation and power. Planning for this year’s Thomas event started in January, with Chris Cotty and Les Coleman working with the Thomas people, the town and our various vendors/suppliers to make this year’s Day Out With Thomas even better than last year’s. I will let you know how it went in the next issue. 142 and the Fleet As I try not to duplicate what Martin says in his Shoptalk column, it is worthy to not e that this year’s winter 142 maintenance took on a whole new direction one quiet February afternoon. Gary Matthews, during his routine inspection of the boiler, found that the 2” flue pipes had decayed to the point of needing unscheduled replacement. There are 96 of these tubes in the boiler. Needless to say this took on the title of #1 priority, with the old tubes taken out, the superheaters inspected and repaired, new tubes had to be purchased, swedged, shipped to Phillipsburg, and installed. As usual, steam team members Ken and Kurt Christenson, Steve James, Greg Ruch, Devin Stasek and Larry , with newbies Joe and Tom Hart, did an awesome job getting this all done in record time. Due to the timeliness and long list of projects that needed to get done, the THS Board voted to hire Chris Hutsebaut full time, on a temporary basis, to assist. He has been a great re-addition to the team. You can find more details and pictures of the work on the 142 on railroad.net under New Jersey Railfan, Bel-Del thread. While this was happening the work on the tender and normal work on the 142 got done, and was up and running again by Memorial Day weekend. Great job guys! And please forgive me if I missed anyone. Not to get lost in all the goings-on, Don Chadruc has purchased and has been hard at work reviving an old 45 ton switcher engine with side rods. This engine has spent its entire life on the Bel-Del, working at the Holland power plant switching coal hoppers until they switched to oil about 10 years ago. It was spotted behind the quarry hut and he and others have been hard at work rebuilding the motors, scraping and painting and making it look brand new. Look for it to be handling switching duties at the shop later this summer. (more on railroad.net) After Easter, the 533 was put into the shop area for floor replacement. Many of the tiles had come loose as had the others before it. Chris Cotty and Devin Stasek spent a weekend tearing out the old floor and dismantling the counter, so Joe Trench could come in and tile the floor. When it’s finished, the counter will be reinstalled, this time with a hinge so we can have standup access behind. Also, Keith Dorn has returned to work his magic on the seats so they will flip over like the seats in the 530 he did last year. This makes 3 interiors done in the past 3 years, leaving just the 532 (Wine Car) left to be redone. Work on the last bilevel #201 was started, with cleaning and scrubbing off graffiti, fixing the ripped seat cushions and removing the luggage racks. New sliding windows
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