Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) Discussion - 2015

Thursday, June 4th

Jeff Otto and Walt Otto worked on track in Kingston.


Saturday, June 6th

Walt Otto and Jim Bruck continued work on Coach 2949.

Neil Remsen, Hunter Downie, Harrison Balduf and Greg Vaughn prepared the 832.

At Phoenicia, George Peck, Art Vogel, Greg Peck and Vincent Carcaramo worked on track in PA.

In Kingston, John Patane and Jeff Otto worked on track. Al Schoessow worked on equipment.

In Kingston, the engr. was Dave Hilliard. Conductor was John Prestopino. Brakeman was John Marino with Tom Whyte and Russ Hallock doing the flagging. George Bain was ticket agent.

At Mt. Tremper, Dave Heick was engineer, Tony Bocchino Conductor, Tyler Carelli Brakeman. Peter Fluchere and Gary Lowe were ticket agents.



Sunday, June 7th

In Kingston we held the 2nd rules class. Attendees were Jim Bruck, Chris Burtt, Jon Broker, Dave Heick, Ed Winstanley, Hunter Downie, Tony Bocchino, Pat Smalley, John Prestopino, Al Schoessow and myself.

Jeff Otto, Martin Elbrecht and Neil Remsen worked on track.

George Peck and Ernie Klopping made equipment repairs.

Ryan Lennox, Victor Lane and Derek Lane cut brush west of Shokan.

Neil Remsen, John Prestopino, and Anthony Bocchino prepped the 703 for its move to PA.

At Mt. Tremper, Harrison Balduf was flagger at Route 28, John Marino was engineer, and Walt Otto was conductor. Gary Lowe was ticket agent.


Monday June 8th and Tuesday June 9th

CMRR 703/EL4322 was moved from Kingston to PA. Crew was Earl Pardini, Tom Whyte and Al Johnson.

Jeff Otto and Harrison Balduf worked on track at Cornell Street.






Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

We just released two more videos of the ROW from MP 6.3 to the Boiceville Trestle at MP 21.3. Here are all three:

MP 6.3 to 11.3: (Kenco to Glenford Dike)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7yl7OUV768" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MP 11.3 to 16.2 (Glenford Dike to Shokan)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e90hW1fCOs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MP 16.4 to 21.3 (Shokan to Boiceville)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ2VcNeiKuA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EH

Nice Videos, that washout and sink hole between MP18-19 pretty interesting and looks like the most vegetation is from MP19 and up lol. This line is very beautiful you guys are doing a wonderful job hope it can get extended to the Ashokan Reservoir

Wednesday June 10th

Greg Vaughn, Tom Whyte and I loaded the 832 at Corinth


Thursday, June 11th

Earl Pardini, Al Schoessow, John Prestopino, Fred Rasmussen Walt Otto, John Marino and Tom Whyte unloaded the 832 in Kingston.

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=224260" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Friday, June 12th

Earl Pardini, Al Schoessow and Tom Whyte finished unloading the 832 in Kingston.

Matt Gillis and Pat Smalley led a crew setting up Chuggington at Westbrook Lane


Saturday June 13th

Kingston crew as the Engr. was AL Schoessow. Engr. trainee was Tom Whyte. Conductor was John Prestopino, car attendant was Ed Winstanley. Brakeman was Dave Hilliard and flaggers were Karl Wick and Hunter Downie and Fred Rasmussen. Alex Sorenson assisted. Harrison Balduf did weed wacking. John Patane also helped out.

Mt. Tremper crew was Dave Heick, Engineer, Ray Ferrell, Conductor, and Russ Hallock, ticket agent.

Pat Smalley, Gladys Gilbert and Karen Vogel led a crew in the gift shop in Kingston. George Bain was ticket agent.

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-new ... n-kingston" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Sunday, June 14th

In Mt. Tremper, Dave Heick was engineer, Tyler Carelli was brakeman, Walt Otto was conductor, and Peter Fluchere was ticket agent and Route 28 flagger.

In Kingston, Al Schoessow was engineer, Neil Remsen brakeman, Tony Bocchino brakeman, Dave Hilliard was conductor. Joe Wolff, Harrison Balduf and Hunter Downie were flaggers. George Bain was ticket agent. Pat Smalley and Ernie Klopping ran the gift shop. Matt Gillis was in charge of the RailEvents crew. John Patane also helped out.

Many thanks to the many other CMRR crew that helped out during the first weekend of Chuggington. We carried over 1500 people in Kingston last weekend.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

If they could repair right up to the washed out bridge that would be a nice ride. Looks like beyond the one washout it's just more of the same - ties and vegetation.

Note that it only took three people to load at Corinth:

eehiv wrote:Greg Vaughn, Tom Whyte and I loaded the 832 at Corinth

but it took seven people to unload:

Earl Pardini, Al Schoessow, John Prestopino, Fred Rasmussen Walt Otto, John Marino and Tom Whyte unloaded the 832 in Kingston.

Obviously Ernie is stronger than he looks!!

awesome video's. Question, was any of the money from fema supposed to replace the boiceville trestle?

deandremouse wrote:Nice Videos, that washout and sink hole between MP18-19 pretty interesting and looks like the most vegetation is from MP19 and up lol. This line is very beautiful you guys are doing a wonderful job hope it can get extended to the Ashokan Reservoir

I really enjoyed watching the videos. Shocked when the speeder drove right over the washout area! Does the brush cutter also drive over the washout? Amazed that the track looked pretty good and the ride seemed good despite being OOS since the 1970s, except in the waterlogged area. How much work to fix the drainage problems?

Not much evidence of those double-track segments, former stations, etc. Even looked like it had been re-graded in the double track areas. Those must have been gone for a very long time.

How much wider would the brush cut need to be for operation of the full size train?

At two points the speeder slowed to a crawl. What were the issues there?

What happens if the speeder derails?

Someone should build an un-derailable train for use over poor/exempt track. Such a vehicle would have tires that automatically take over in case of derailment, and prevent jackknifing, then automatically re-rail. Then you wouldn't need to worry about ties

What is the crane car being used for?

BandA wrote:Someone should build an un-derailable train for use over poor/exempt track. Such a vehicle would have tires that automatically take over in case of derailment, and prevent jackknifing, then automatically re-rail.

I think they've build/converted tens of thousands of Hi-Rail vehicles over the years...

Answers:

1) $1.7m of the $2.3 million in FEMA funding is for the Boiceville Trestle.

2) At Butternut cove our crews exit their speeders and walk on the side then get back in the vehicle. You could not see this from the camera.

3) The CMRR has performed a lot of maintenance on this track over the years so that the line has always been open from KI to PA. Its just hard to see with the vegetation on the ties. Spraying is still illegal in Ulster County on County-owned land.

EH

there's no way you guys can contact someone at fema or a state representative to get that fema funding?

BandA wrote:Shocked when the speeder drove right over the washout area!

What happens if the speeder derails?

The speeder is MUCH lighter than you realize. The typical railcar has handles underneath it for the operator (and a partner) to lift it straight up off the rails. It's not *light*, but I can easily pick up my half of a speeder. So no trouble going over the washout, because the rails will carry a speeder for quite a distance with no dirt underneath. And no trouble with derailing as long as you're going slowly enough that nobody is hurt when it quickly grinds to a stop.

eehiv wrote:Spraying is still illegal in Ulster County on County-owned land.

Wait, what? They don't let you spray and then complain that the tracks are choked with vegetation because you aren't complying with the contract to maintain the tracks? What the hell do they think is going to happen to their trail??? I was on a trail surfaced with rock dust in Webster. It was practically grown over with 4' tall weeds bending in from the sides of the trail.

RussNelson wrote:

eehiv wrote:Spraying is still illegal in Ulster County on County-owned land.

Wait, what? They don't let you spray and then complain that the tracks are choked with vegetation because you aren't complying with the contract to maintain the tracks? What the hell do they think is going to happen to their trail??? I was on a trail surfaced with rock dust in Webster. It was practically grown over with 4' tall weeds bending in from the sides of the trail.

The trail people will just all show up for a 'weed wacking' day I'm sure....... or maybe Ulster County DPW workers will use county taxpayer funds to hand pick all the weeds from the trail to keep it clear for the thousands of hikers that will show up every day.

When is the County going to realize the money making bonanza thats staring them in the face..... Has anyone there EVER heard of the Strasburg Rail Road???? The stupidity is mind boggling...........

New York State has 2 gleaming examples of heritage railways slapping them in the face. The ADIX and CMRR. which in partnership with the DURR could really be the crown jewel of heritage rail operations in New York. The partnership would require the most of the county's resources and some re-engineering of washed out roadbed but would be the final phase in the Catskill heritage railway and tourism.
Look at Strasburg in PA, and the Valley RR, in CT. both could have been made into trails however both survive as beautiful heritage railways through lots of hard work sweat and dedication. In my opinion CMRR deserves to be left alone as a heritage railway, regardless if the CSXT switch gets installed or not
CMRR is our best hope for a possible regular steam operation close to NYC. and In addition to their neighbor the DURR, a partnership with the Long Island organizations would further benefit the cause. Thus the "official NYS heritage railway". Just some food for thought.