From the Presidents Desk
Well, the end of another running season is upon us, and time to winterize! If you have equipment remaining at the SCRR for the winter please make sure you have taken all precautions in terms of dealing with freezing through the winter and the pervasive moisture in the spring - large pieces of metal in the roundhouse (locomotives) will stay cold when the air warms up and starts carrying moisture, and there will be condensation to deal with.
As we shut down services for the winter, a plea - if you turn something on, remember to turn it off afterwards. Over the years we have seen high electric bills and broken water pipes from people leaving things turned on...
The Fall Meet was, I think, a resounding success. Thanks to Jack Anderson and crew for catering to the masses; thanks to all those who worked so hard to get our rails ready to run. Thanks to all our guests for coming and running on the rails!
Last I heard we pretty much broke even on the meet, which is always a relief for the treasury. The tent has now paid for itself and the tables secured by Doug Fine as a donation have pretty much wiped out any rental needs.
Thanks to Bill Schimmelman and Ken Miller for their service on the board in the past few years; both stepped down this fall. In the election for new members, Bob Pappa and Rich Krueger were returned and Jack Anderson came back for another session on the board after a few years R&R (that's Rail & Road, I don't think there was a lot of R&R in the usual sense!). Welcome back, Jack. Bob and Steve were also the recipients of the Broken Spike this year - thanks for all the work, guys!
At the end of October, we had the election of officers, at which Tim Kirby was returned as President, Dan Bissonnette as Vice President, Doug Fine as Treasurer and Steve Muscato stood up to take a swing at the Secretary role - thank you to all for your service!
We had some fairly heavy rains this summer, I'm delighted to see that the parking lot remained where it is supposed to be. The landscape is slowly recovering and we already have new members who never knew it any other way.
There are a couple of Fall/Spring projects around the property; we have fencing to put up, we have been digging out around the Lawson Building to try and address the water problems therein and we are going to extend the Johnson Tunnel (the short 7-1/2" tunnel) to the west by some sixteen feet as an alternative to building a heroic retaining wall to replace the failing ties. The culvert is on site, the work will most likely be done in the spring.
There should be a hard copy newsletter out yet this year with a current roster ... there will be some switch building over the winter, and some cars that need brakes installed. Expect to hear something from the people running all these projects for ways you can help.
For now I'll sign off and wish all the compliments of the upcoming seasons - we'll be in touch again soon!
Tim
Jottings
By Fred B. Wright
This summer has had its difficult days due to the weather, but if we look back, it probably wasn’t any worse than previous summers. Our public run days, the last Sunday of the month from April through October, are days that help pay for our club operation. Our main income opportunity through donations. We do very well when the weather is nice. Ask our Treasurer and I am sure he will tell you that if averaged out it would compare to past seasons.
This past October public day turned out to be great. The weather was perfect, the public turned out, 514 individuals and the donations exceeded $ 1000.00 dollars. The people that come seem to love it and are willing to stand in line for a ride. It is an amazing day and it is up to us to make it go better as it is our thing! That little miniature railroad south of Hudson, WI!
Every Saturday is a workday at the track. Projects are posted and generally, you’ll find something to do that you can do. Most of us just pitch in and get the job done. A side note to Saturday workdays is that when you participate you could learn new skills and get future credit on renting storage space for being there. Renting storage space has not materialized yet, but it may this next year.
Sundays if not designated can be run days, however, there must be two members or more present as a matter of safety. Weekdays are also popular with the retirees for work or play. Most of us know about all the run days and safety rules and in reading this are wondering why I’m mentioning the general routine that we most all take for granted. The problem is the lack of communications. If you don’t plan to have your friend join you in running your engine on an off day, you may end up making a trip for nothing, because you assumed that someone would be there and because of the safety rule. Do not work or play alone.
The lack of communications affects other things too. What you are doing, hobby wise, in your shop maybe ho-hum to you, but fascinating to someone else. Especially a new member or someone who needs to learn about the way you jacketed your boiler or even the type of paint you like to use. We need to share what we do in this hobby with our fellow members much more than just showing the finished product at a meet or hear what this editor is doing. Michael Dorin, contributing editor to this newsletter, and myself continually tell about the opportunity to use a shop and invite you to participate. Here is a way to tell others your story, maybe your techniques you used to solve hidden problems in building the caboose you have dreamed about, or the steam engine you’ve been working on. A construction type of hobby is an individual thing. We all live private lives and maybe we think that nobody cares what we are doing. The St. Croix RR is a group of hobbyists devoted to a very specific theme. Railroading. Miniature – Real – Imaginary, whatever! We think it, work at it, talk it, but we do not write about it! Why? This newsletter is a way you can tell us what you are doing. Or, just a helpful trick or two. Take a picture to show what you are doing or of your workshop, for instance. For this newsletter the material does not need to be camera ready to be printed in a major magazine. We can fix up poor photos and correct grammar and spelling.
Members showed up this past Saturday to finish up and get the place ready for winter. Bob and Janine Schimmelman took care of the concession stand. Bill Hanson, Bob Pappa, Doug Fine, Tim Olson, Bob Bump, Bob Helwig and Fred Wright completed the Lawson Building project, seal the West wall from water seepage. This required excavating the length of the building down to the footing; replace the drain tile that was found to be clogged with earth, installing a new membrane on the foundation and then back filling and recontouring the surface so surface water would flow away from the building. This was a big job that needed to be done and everyone helped in some way to get it all done in one day. Dan Bissonnette brought out a sand blaster and cleaned off the rust on his trailer so he can paint it and haul out 1280. Rich Krueger, Dave Gust and Jack Kobler worked on the signal system and Don Akins installed a new culvert at Summit. Bob La Favor and son John helped on the Lawson project and then tended to their own locos. Cold weather is coming, so the locomotives that are to be stored in the roundhouse will need winterizing very soon. As the picture indicates, we have decided to replace the rotted tie walls at the Johnson Tunnel West Tunnel portal with a metal culvert extension in lieu of key stone walls. I was told that the cost is about the same and we don’t have to handle those heavy stones. Therefore, there is a spring project ready to go.
Soup to Nuts
By Fred Wright
Last summer my wife and I took a short trip to Duluth, MN to take in the comings and goings of the big ships at the harbor entrance. This mid-week trip found the freeway to be uncrowded and a fair amount of shipping activities. We like Duluth and have enjoyed seeing all the things it has to offer.
Some of you, I am sure, know about the Duluth Railroad Museum, but for those that do not it is a real treat. There is a good display of engines and cars, including the first engine to operate in Minnesota [William Crooks] and the largest engine used in Minnesota. There are also two displays of live steam models made by SCRR members, Ralph Andres and Don Strom. The museum has many other things of interest to offer.
Getting Into the Game
by Michael Dorin
I am sure most of you feel the same as me that this summer went way too fast. I knew some weekend I was going to make it to the track, but the summer ended and I actually spent very little time there. I shall endeavor to do better next year.
My 0-4-0 continues to remain in many small parts vs. one large part. The boiler is insulated and the jacket is ready to be primed. As you may recall, the chassis was running on air a few weeks ago. Now, "all" that is left is to prime and paint, test the boiler, re-attach the boiler and a little plumbing! Then I need to procure a riding car with brakes and I will be on my way.
Because I have been so productive on my other projects, I acquired parts for a simple CNC router from the internet. This machine is in not as many pieces as my 0-4-0, but close to it. My hope is that it will easily assemble and I will be able to cut a beautiful wooden cab for my 0-4-0 with my "expert" programming. The results of this will have to wait until spring.
Participating in the Connecting Rod does not take too much energy and is fun. We would like to encourage others to submit a bit of material, written or photos.
I wish everybody a relaxing Thanksgiving, a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
That is all for now.
-Mike Dorin
bsddorin@gmail.com
The Connecting Rod
An internet newsletter for the St. Croix Railroad
Issued monthly, April - October
Editors
Fred B. Wright – f.b.wright@worldnet.att.net
David Gust – dgust@usfamily.net
Contributing editor
Mike Dorin - bsddorin@gmail.com
Send all contributions to Fred Wright – f.b.wright@worldnet.att.net as an MSWord attachment
Contributions received by the last Monday of the month will appear in the next month’s issue
Publication will be on or about the first day of the month
To subscribe, free, by sending your e-mail address to Tim Kirby –
trk@kirbys.org
