Catskill Mountain Railroad News - 2008

Observed George Peck and crew at Phoenicia yard using the Gradall to clean up and move some of the heavy iron in the yard. Crew also took down an old tree that was in danger of falling. Lots of site prep in anticipation of winter work.

Observed "Extra 401 West" this afternoon polishing the rails from Cornell Street to Picnic Pizza/Washington Avenue. 401 and the newly painted/lettered caboose looked great. A nice advertisement parked by Washington Ave while the CMRR Kingston Crew got lunch!!

-otto-

We're back on the map!

A visit to Google maps reveals that the CMRR track has been placed back on the map! You can follow the former U&D tracks from just east of Cornell Street in Kingston, NY, all the way west to Route 30 at Hubbell's Corners! Oddly enough, Google's data shows a break in the tracks just west of Phoenicia. Google maps also shows the TMNY trackage at Rondout, and even the branch that ran to the cement plant.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... ngston,+ny

-otto-

That break in the tracks is where the Woodland Valley Bridge was. Wonder how they knew that?!

I see by the map that someone has put the O&W back in also. That must have cost a fortune in rails and ties! I'll have to take the track car for a run next time I'm up!


Win

LOL - yeah the O&W interchange is in the wrong spot. They show it west of Washington Ave when it should be east.

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:LOL - yeah the O&W interchange is in the wrong spot. They show it west of Washington Ave when it should be east.

Well, it's hard to fix Google Maps, but we can fix Open Street Maps. As I recall, the interchange was right here:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=41.93736,-74.02309&z=18&t=S

Russ, that site won't open for me. Do you have to have membership?

No membership needed. It's an advertising-supported site. Displays Google Maps and Terraserver tiles, so you can switch between topo and aerial photo (for example). It uses some fairly fancy javascript, so if your browser isn't new enough it might not work. Works for me, and I use Firefox 1.5.

I think the pics at Open Street Maps were taken before we cleared the tracks in Kingston.

And at Live Serach, you can follow the tracks to about MP 8. It shows all the cutting we did in April 2007.

True, the photos aren't always up to date, but 0m original posts wasn't so much about the photos as it was the actual Google map data. As an aside, the railroad does not show up on Yahoo maps or Mapquest.

Saturday, November 8th

Kingston
Despite the rain, Earl Pardini led a crew consisting of Chester Hartwell, John Patane and John Voelcker, who continued work on flat car 213.


Phoenicia

On Saturday, George Peck, Greg Peck, Dave Mason and Derek Stapleton did cleanup at the Phoenicia Yard. Writes Otto Vondrak: "Observed George Peck and crew at Phoenicia yard using the Gradall to clean up and move some of the heavy iron in the yard. Crew also took down an old tree that was in danger of falling. Lots of site prep in anticipation of winter work. "We don't slow down for winter!" Also, the Phoenicia section house has a new occupant! Nice to see the section house actually used for what it was intended!! "


Sunday November 9th

On Sunday, 11/9, the following worked: Earl Pardini, Ernie Klopping, Greg Vaughn, Walt Otto, Mark Glaser, Bob Blake, Chester Hartwell, Tod Siska, John Patane, Al Schoessow, Raphael Demeglio, Ed Mead, Ron Epstein, Dick Ray, Tim Kane, and Jeff Otto.

Per Jeff Otto, "We replaced the rotted sills on the ticket booth and started building the extended roof, continued ripping, planing, routing, and installing boards for the flat car, straightened and raised the brake wheel on the flat car, began installing interior window frames on the caboose, trimmed trees and picked up trash along the ROW in Kingston, and painted four 6x6 cross buck posts."

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 824041.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 323978.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 425712.jpg

Writes Otto Vondrak: "I observed "Extra 401 West" on Sunday afternoon transport the CMRR crew and some excited "passengers" for the trip from Cornell Street to Washington Avenue. Caboose and 401 made a great looking train in the afternoon light. Having the train parked at Washington Avenue was the best advertisement we could muster."

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 725533.jpg


Monday November 10th

The crew consisted of Bob Blake, Todd Syska, Greg Vaughn and Earl. They worked only on
the flat. The major roof framing is done, including the intermediate
carlines. The ends are under construction.


Tuesday November 11th

Earl Pardini, Bob Blake and Mark Glaser worked. They got the roof
purlins installed, making the car almost ready for it's roofing
material, which has been ordered and will be delivered on the 22nd.


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Friday, November 14th

Earl Pardini plans to open Cornell Street on Friday, November 14th to work on Flat Car 213 and other items for startup of operations in Kingston. He plans to start at 8am.


Saturday, November 15th

Kingston

Earl Pardini plans to open Cornell Street on Saturday, November 15th to work on Flat Car 213 and other items for startup of operations in Kingston. He plans to start at 8am.

Phoenicia

George Peck will be working on the coach track extension in Phoenicia on Saturday.

George Liucci and Ernie Gehrer will be working on Coach 702 on Saturday.


Sunday, November 16th

Earl Pardini plans to open Cornell Street on Sunday November 16th to work on Flat Car 213 and other items for startup of operations in Kingston. He plans to start at 8:00am.


Monday, November 17th

Earl Pardini plans to open Cornell Street on Monday November 17th to continue work on items for startup of operations in Kingston, including scraping paint off the side dump. He plans to start at 8:00am.


Tuesday, November 18th

Earl Pardini plans to open Cornell Street on Tuesday November 18th. George Bain is planning to bring a crew of high school students to paint the Kingston Side Dump Car. Earl will open the yard at 8:00am.






Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

I like the idea of getting the high school kids involved. That will not only get the word of mouth advertising around, it might get some more volunteers for us.

I was a little dubious of using a flatcar to carry passengers, but looking at what you've done, it's very nicely done. Definitely looks like it's going to be comfortable and safe enough. Well done!