WNYRHS Williamsville Depot - Activities Questioned

I certainly agree that we really do need to encourage if not require a real name policy. Unless you're actually a railroad professional there is not much reason to be hiding. I've always used my real name here since John started the first siteas has Otto.

I also concur. Some of the accusations made in this thread are pretty inflammatory. I think the WNYRHS deserves to know who really said them.

Matt Langworthy wrote:I also concur. Some of the accusations made in this thread are pretty inflammatory. I think the WNYRHS deserves to know who really said them.

Oh, I'm sure those involved have figured it out long ago.

Aji, I hope you're right.

Sounds like typical of most chapters I'm familiar with.

Too many guys with their own pet project (extend the track, for instance) who discover after many years of little activity the only way to get things done is to do it on their own and let the chips fall where they may.

Except that this group has other things going on and plenty of places for eager volunteers to put some time in if they want to lay track so much. It's not like other groups where they do nothing because no one wants to do anything and various board members are off with their own personal agendas as well.

Really, how long does it take to build a display track long enough to hold a switch engine? A day? Two if you don't have any heavy equipment? It certainly wouldn't seem to be an emergency.

But if someone trips over it and sues, then you'll never, ever get that locomotive moved.

CRAZY4TRAINS wrote:I can't believe what I heard today. A few dedicated volunteers at the williamsville depot placed four more sections of rail and ties. These connected onto the exsisting track where the restored lehigh valley caboose is. They want to eventually bring in a lehigh valley switcher as a static display with caboose. They were told to cease operations because they jumped ahead of the game. They were told by certain trustees of wnyhrs to stop because of liability concerns. That's a bunch of bs these volunteers have made great strides at the depot for the past five years I have observed them. What's the matter lee street being left behind. Certain people who are trustees of the wnyhrs should resign out of plain stupidity things are happening at the op and wv depots. Just when I thought they had there act together the world of stupidity comes into play. Egos should have no place in the depot restoration especially when things are moving ahead. This plan for more track had been around for years and couple of volunteers with permission move ahead to get it down and the poor ego
Baby wnyhrs kings wine and cry. What an organization.

Whoa, pardner....what happened to the "unwarranted criticism" posts by you earlier this year? Some of us do know what we are talking about, and I am sorry to hear that you have been added to the long, sad, decrepit list of disappointed people, donors, railfans, and railroaders who have "dealt" with this organization.

Let me welcome you - finally - into the warm water of disappointment with the WNYRHS....and this is only the surface, brotha. Resignation? HA! You don't know who you are dealing with....

Otto Vondrak wrote:........but it's pretty damned cowardly to make accusations and not having the guts to SIGN YOUR OWN NAME and stand behind your claims.

Can we move on to a more productive conversation, please?

-otto-

Echoing the same thing as Otto.............enough already.

Charlie

In my previous posting, I stated that the Board of Trustees decided to hold up the installation of the display track until a meeting was held with the Depot Committee to review the situation. Three members of the board met with the committee this past Monday to tour the site and discuss the track issue and listen to the concerns of all sides involved. The committee members indicated they believed that the track installation was part of this year's planned work and when a couple of the members were on vacation the previous week, they moved forward with the construction. The chairmen of the committee wanted to hold off on the track work for the short term as the track would impact the space available on site for the upcoming car show and flea market, however something happened to the lines of communication between the committee members and the chairmen.

Everyone at the meeting acknowledged that there was a real liability concern and the board members and myself wanted to know how this issue was going to be addressed by the committee. After some discussion we came up with a simple plan to mitigate the tripping hazard by filling the area between the rails with ballast level with the top of the rails. While not a perfect solution, it keeps the track in place and the committee members will finish up construction of the track in the coming week or so. But don't expect the locomotive to show up anytime soon as there is a lot of fundraising that needs to be done beforehand.

The bottom line is that everyone agreed that in the future that they will ensure that everyone on the committee stays on the same page in regards to continuing work at the depot. In the coming weeks, a new railroad crossing sign will be installed at the end of track and a new signal mast is on site to be installed in front of the depot later this summer.

In the end, this was simply an internal matter that was handled to the satisfaction of both the BOT and the depot committee and this matter never should have been a discussion about this on this site. Hope this REALLY puts this to bed now.

Joe Kocsis
President, WNYRHS, Inc.

Heritagerail wrote:...But don't expect the locomotive to show up anytime soon as there is a lot of fundraising that needs to be done beforehand.

Please keep us posted to these efforts and how we can contribute.

The bottom line is that everyone agreed that in the future that they will ensure that everyone on the committee stays on the same page in regards to continuing work at the depot... In the end, this was simply an internal matter that was handled to the satisfaction of both the BOT and the depot committee and this matter never should have been a discussion about this on this site. Hope this REALLY puts this to bed now.

Amen, brother.

-otto-

I love a happy ending!

In the coming weeks, a new railroad crossing sign will be installed at the end of track and a new signal mast is on site to be installed in front of the depot later this summer.

Somewhat off-topic, but do you know where the signal mast came from? Reason I ask: there is a house on State Rt. 444 in Victor that until recently had a LV two-head signal in its front yard. A few weeks back I noticed it was gone, presumably because of ownership change.

I believe this was signal 3731 which was the westbound approach signal to Quaker Interlocking. The house address was 1733 so they neatly re-configured the number plate to the house address, 1733.

Nice street view: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=4 ... 59,,0,6.96" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well well I was right they pulled two rails and made a worse trip hazard by then adding ballast. They should have left it alone. Now there is a 12 to 14 inch tripping hazard. What were they thinking ?

CRAZY4TRAINS, it would seem to me that extended rails sticking outward with no ballast support would
be FAR more hazardous than rails that are in a proper amount of ballast that appears to be properly manicured as is
shown in the above photo. Simply put, if that is a tripping hazard to any person, then they should probably
have their eyes examined or employing use of a white-tipped cane or maybe coke-bottle glasses.

Since you still are tossing accusations and otherwise idiotic posts, you certainly carry ZERO credibility with me
and I would have to think other people here might be thinking the same thing.

I applaud the WNYRHS for doing the "right thing" here.

I also believe the word 'CRAZY" in your user-name is completely appropriate for you.

Charlie Ricker (my real name)

CRAZY4TRAINS wrote:Well well I was right they pulled two rails and made a worse trip hazard by then adding ballast. They should have left it alone. Now there is a 12 to 14 inch tripping hazard. What were they thinking ?

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

CRAZY4TRAINS wrote:Well well I was right they pulled two rails and made a worse trip hazard by then adding ballast. They should have left it alone. Now there is a 12 to 14 inch tripping hazard. What were they thinking ?

Congratulations, you cowardly, nameless waste of time! You just got this thread locked! Good job!

-otto-