65 Makes its Debut

We're excited to report that Car 65 made its first public service trip since 1997 Friday night. Galen and Kelly would like to thank the crew who worked so hard with them this past month to make this Holiday miracle happen- Wil, Jayden, Justin, Roger, Mike, Jeremy, and Adam. The car was upgraded in status from emergency replacement for 1326 to desperately needed to keep Winterfest running smoothly as 5645 had to be placed out of service this past week due to truck damage, leaving 836 the only operational high passenger capacity closed car.

65 came out a wonderful success, taking 2 trips Friday night and another 5 or 6 on Saturday without any major issues. The car remains under shop supervision at this time and will only run in limited service. 5645 will be switched up to the shop after the ice melts so the truck can be reviewed to determine the extent of the damage.

65 on North Road curve before its first passenger trip Friday night

65 waits for its second night in service Saturday afternoon

On another happy note, progress continues on reverse engineering full series/parallel segments for car 836. Kelly 3D modeled a second approximation for what an unworn segment would look like and Wil got it 3D printed thanks to his school. They and Jayden test fitted it into the car yesterday and it is looking good. It needs a bit more tweaking to replace lost material and match a factory scale sketch, but is a marked improvement over prototype #1.

Segment prototype. Wil Gambardella photo

Test fitting the prototype into 836

65 is Back in the Shop

Minor repairs have been completed on 836 and 5645 and now all 5 regular service trolleys are ready for Winterfest. That work complete, Adam, Kelly, and Galen performed the necessary switching work to bring car 65 into the shop. 65 will be prepared as a reserve status car for Winterfest, substituting for car 1326.

The crew immediately set to work on the car. Galen and Adam worked on the faulty west end whistle valve, finally locating one in stores that works. This resolves one major issue in putting the car into service. Wil and Jayden began the process of cleaning the windows and vacuuming the flooring. The car has collected a lot of dirt and oddball debris in its decades of rest. Brian re-affixed some loose trim and Kelly began removing deteriorated car cards. The car needs a lot more love before it will be ready for its Winterfest debut. If you'd like to help, please reach out to Kelly.

Wil works on cleaning windows

Jayden painstakingly vacuums out the grooves in the floor

Brain re-attaches trim

Car Beautification and More

The shop would like to thank the Operations Department for all their hard work on beautifying the fleet in September. We're sorry we're so late in doing this. Thank you Justin Chasse, Mike Luzzi, Jeremy Stager, & Roger Pierson! Also thank you to Aiden Nies and his team for painting all the car floors this year!

Painting 16's controllers and handbrakes. Justin Chasse and Mike Luzzi photos

New car signs for 4. Mike Luzzi photo

Newly painted floor on car 4. Mike Luzzi photo

Touching up paint on car 4. Justin Chasse photo

Preparing 836 for paint. Justin Chasse photos

Fresh paint on 836's controller. Justin Chasse photo

In other news, John is working on truck repairs for 3001. The second armature has been repaired and will be picked up this week. Galen repaired thrust collars on car 4. Kelly documented and disassembled a replacement arc shoot set for line car 1. This set will be cleaned up and reinsulated over the winter then installed in the spring to replace the decayed set in the car's west end.

Car 1326 has been placed out of service for the rest of the year due to its reoccurring gear issues. Car 65 will be brought back to the shop for final preparation for running during the Winterfest season. Anyone who would like to help with preparing car 65 is encouraged to reach out to Kelly and Justin.

John works on 3001's trucks

Disassembled replacement arc shoot set for line car 1

Justin and Jeremy have also been at work scrapping out the remains of the boxcar that had been in Newbury siding. The car is mostly gone and will be fully removed this month.

Bringing the boxcar remains in from Newbury Siding. Justin Chasse photo

Scrapping in front of Northern Barn. Justin Chasse photos

S193 Gets a New Running Board

The Operations Department is back at work on the cars. Motormen Mike Luzzi and Jeremy Stager and Chief Superintendent Justin Chasse have begun tackling improvements on S193. Much of the old paint has been scraped down in preparation for fresh coating. Mike is working on recreating the car's graphics. Last week a new running board was installed on the south side of the car. The hand rails were reinstalled and all railings received a fresh coat of black paint.

New boards and painted rails, body prep work is in full evidence (Mike Luzzi photo)

Freshly painted grab bars (Mike Luzzi photos)

Graphics recreation in process (Mike Luzzi photos)

Fall Maintenance Complete Thanks to Troop 818

The shop would like to thank the 9 members of Scout Troop 818 who came out last weekend to help finish fall fleet maintenance. Cars 355, 4, and 16 were cared for. You were awesome and we hope to see you again.

Repairs to car 1326 are completed and it returned to service yesterday afternoon. Car 4 has come to the shop to have some preventative work done. We're applying fresh lacquer to the motor windings. Car 4 will be out of service for several weeks while the repairs happen.

OPs Progress on 15

The Operations Department continues to work on PCC 15, removing old paint and putting on a fresh coat of protective primer.

Chief Motorman Roger Pierson pauses while applying fresh paint to 15 (Ryan Trombly photo)

Motorman Sully Mrowka works on removing old paint from 15 (Ryan Trombly photo)

Fall maintenance has begun for the operating fleet. Kelly and Adam cared for car 836 then jumped up to the shop to help Galen and Rob Brogle with 5645. These two cars are now ready for the special events season. Galen, John, and Rob repaired a damaged brake beam on 5645 yesterday. Car 1326 is back in the shop with more motor gearing issues. It will be out of service for several weeks while the repair is made and additional preventative actions are taken. Maintenance work for the fleet will continue next weekend.

The first armature for car 3001 has returned from refurbishment.

Roofing Started on 1

Galen, Brian, and Tim began the installation of the roll roofing onto line car 1. All material is laid down. It will need to be tucked and trimmed at the edges and the seams sealed. They began marking out positions for the roof cleats.

Roof in place on 1

Galen and Brian work on fitting roofing (Tim Lesniak photo)

John continues work on 3001's air piping.

New east end piping in 3001

New west end piping

Car 1326 was returned to service. Motor repairs are complete and the car is running nicely.