Society and has proven useful in moving 142 for maintenance. It belongs to Don Chaudruc who has also received an old pickup form the Black River which he has severely upgraded to the point of not being able to recognize it. Both engine and truck sport a “DRR” logo fashioned after the Pennsylvania Railroad “PRR”. We have always been caretakers of the right-of-way When an El Nino develops, winter tends to be milder and in 2016, it was a strong El Nino and particularly mild here. The real cold didn’t start until mid-January and despite one 2degree morning, February finished 4 degrees above average. The one solid snow, the blizzard, didn’t drop as much snow on the railroad as it did all around us. After two bad winters, this was a relief. Even with an early Easter and a minor threat of snow keeping attendance down a bit, the blizzard was really all there was for snow. The one cold morning of 2 degrees did cause three pull-aparts in the rail though. So it’s a bit ironic that it was a mild winter for work on 142 as well. No unexpected problems arose this year in the winter maintenance program. That is, until the June 12th test run when another leaking staybolt appeared as it was put away in the shop causing a further delay to June 25th to begin its summer season operation. June 24th and 27th, we provided a train for yet another film shoot to our credit. The tiny company called Random Hero Films was making a film called Anna Karenina, though it’s about the book itself, not the story within the book as with two earlier films. Meanwhile, on July 29rh, Figs For Italo played 30 miles down the river in the New Hope (PA) Film Festival. Yours truly participated in the after-showing discussion. when it comes to keeping it clean, so our brush cutter was out primarily working on the new section of track and further south into the next mile or two. But Don took it a step further. He raised enough money to restore a mile and a third out of Milford and took the 45-tonner, now number 146, to Milford with a caboose for Milford Alive day, a celebration of the town’s self. The response was overwhelming, from the donations received to the reception in town. So many people said they were thrilled to hear a train horn in town for the first time in 11 years. The donations continued to come in for getting the next mile of track rebuilt for next year and hopefully, a bigger train. With only 15 seats available in the caboose, we ran on Sunday of that weekend also, carrying 435 passengers over the two days. It was ironic that Don explained to one group how much resistance he got from the power plant in Holland where he obtained the engine. When the engine and caboose crawled south on the out-of-service track past the power plant, it looked like everyone in the plant turned out to the front gate to see it. Two of them have worked there long enough to have actually used the engine in plant service, moving oil cars into position. When the plant converted to gas, the engine sat, out of a job for thirty years rusting away. Just to recap on the track work, as we push south, Every year we rebuild one of the passenger cars, this year it was the 533. To accomplish this we first remove all the seats and their pedestals, strip off the old tile floor, and clean and repair the wooden sub floor. Once this is accomplished we install the new carpeting and clean the entire car. The ceilings, walls and stainless sides all get cleaned and polished. At this time all worn and ripped seats are reupholstered and the seats are then reinstalled. Once we are done the cars look brand new! Start to finish this takes about three months to complete. Work on the GE 45 ton loco continued with wheel grinding and brake work. The engine is now leased to the 18 we have been running into ballasting problems with the track upgrade. First was the foundation of the right of way sliding downhill toward the river, which was fixed. Then came the trees where the roots were picking up and twisting the rail. A tree cutter went to work on them in February He also took down a large tree leaning toward the track in a place where the train leans toward the tree in an area we already use. This “teepee” was starting to rub the train in the middle of the bi-levels. As of this writing, we are only a quarter mile from the crossing that marks entry into Riegelsville and just minor work remains on that section. Once in Riegelsville, we will finally be able to service Villa Milagro Winery without the use of a bus as the winery property is adjacent to the railroad at this point. One theme we’ve always been about is that it’s not just a train ride. Train have always been historically about having a place to go. So when we closed the gem mine operation to make renovations, it hurt business early in the season when it took longer than we cared to finish. We finally reopened the mine on July 8th for the Thomas event. It featured an improved platform for a station now named “Snyders” for the host family of the corn maze. It also saw a rearrangement to the mine layout to improve customer flow and some better picnic tables. While Riegelsville is yet to be reached and
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