Catskill Mountain Railroad News - 2009

Friday, July 10th

The CMRR will be participating in the Kingston Children's Day Parade on Friday, July 10th.

If you wish to join us, please contact Mimi Pardini and let her know you are coming at 845-338-5230.

Set up is 4:30pm, near Andrews Street, and the start time is 6:00pm. Earl and Thom Johnson will be working on a float at Earl's house before the parade.

Bring your kids! The Kingston train will also be running that day from 7pm.



Saturday, July 11th

Phoenicia

George Peck will lead a crew Saturday morning starting in Phoenicia. He plans to take the gradall to MP 24 to fix a sinkhole there. He plans to start at 9am at Phoenicia yard.

The 702 crew will start work at 10am.

I will be leading a brush crew on Saturday, continuing work near Phoenicia Station and maybe later at Mt. Pleasant. I will start about 10am. Anyone who can bring a blade or line type brush cutter would be very welcome to help.

In Kingston, we will be continuing our summer service there at 1pm at Westbrook Lane. Cornell Street Yard will open about 9:00 for preparation work for the afternoon run.


Sunday, July 12th

George Peck will be working at Phoenicia starting at 9:30am.

In Kingston, Cornell Street yard will open at 9:30am. Earl plans to later in the morning move to Washington Avenue and start removing plates, spikes and ties as part of our expansion west towards C9.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

We had a very busy week this week:

Tuesday, July 7th:

On Tuesday, July 7th, Joe Marsh, George Cook, Dick Wilhelm and Joe Klapkowski used the sickle bar mower and cut in-guage from Shokan to Hurley Mountain Road.


Wednesday, July 8th:

On Wednesday, July 8th, Joe Marsh and Chester Hartwell mowed with the sickle bar from West Hurley to Shokan.

Joe Klapkowski, Al Schoessow, and John Prestopino cut brush from Mt. Pleasant to Phoenicia.


Thursday, July 9th

On Thursday, Joe Marsh and Paul Sternitzke weed-wacked and cleared the line from Highmount to Pine Hill.


Friday, July 10th,

Joe Klapkowski worked on CMRR flat 202 in the Phoenicia Yard. He needle scaled and primed 3/8ths of the interior of the car.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 616068.jpg


Saturday, July 11th

In Phoenicia, George Peck, Gerg Peck, Jason DiTolla and Paul Sternitzke repaired the sinkhole at MP 24 and spent the rest of the day doing cleanup in the Phoenicia yard.

I spent the day brushcutting around the Lehigh Valley box car and near the sandwich shop near the station.

George Liucci, Ernie Gehrer, Ed Palmatier and Al Johnson primed the west end of coach 702:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 015792.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 136072.jpg

Tom Healy continued sandblasting seat parts for the 702.

In Kingston, the CMRR continued to run its Saturday service. John Patane was engineer, and was joined by Earl Pardini, Mimi Pardini, Al Schoessow, Mark Glaser, Peter Fluchere, and Ron Epstein:


http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 146678.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 556885.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 257079.jpg


Sunday, July 12th

In Kingston, Earl Pardini led a crew that inserted, plated and spiked 20 ties west of Washington Avenue. They removed spikes and plates from 7 more ties.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 223353.jpg

The crew included Al Schoessow, John Patane, Mark Glaser, and Earl Pardini.

In Shokan, Joe Marsh led a NARCOA run from Shokan, MP 16.2 to the washout at Hurley flats at MP 5.5.

Here is the group at West Hurley, MP 10.4:

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 512885.jpg

Here is the group at Hurley Mountain Road, MP 5.95, looking east towards MP 5.5.

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 423181.jpg


Monday, July 13th

Joe Klapkowski completed needlescaling and priming CMRR flat 202 in the Phoenicia yard.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Saturday, July 18th

Phoenicia

George Peck will lead a crew Saturday morning starting in Phoenicia. He plans to insert ties just east of MP 27. He plans to start at 9am at Phoenicia yard.

The 702 crew will start work at 10am.

I will be leading a brush crew on Saturday, continuing work near Phoenicia Station and maybe later at Mt. Pleasant. I will start about 10am. Anyone who can bring a blade or line type brush cutter would be very welcome to help.

In Kingston, we will be continuing our summer service there at 1pm at Westbrook Lane. Cornell Street Yard will open about 9:30am for preparation work for the afternoon run.


Sunday, July 19th

George Peck will be working at Phoenicia starting at 9:30am.

In Kingston, Cornell Street yard will open at 9:30am. Earl plans later in the morning to move to Washington Avenue and continue to replace ties as part of our expansion west towards C9.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

Saturday, July 18th

In Phoenicia, the 702 crew consisted of Al Johnson and Ed Palmatier. They painted more seat frames, and have 5 more ready for installation next weekend. 24 out of 35 have now been painted.

George Peck, Michael Adsit, Jason DiTolla and Dave Mason were at Farmer's Crossing today, repairing a problem with the grade crossing there.

I continued weed wacking and cutting along the retaining wall just east of the Phoenica Station, opening up the direct line of sight from the station to the section house.

Our crews in Kingston were busy providing shuttle service there.


Sunday, July 19th

On Sunday, July 19th, Earl Pardini led a crew consisting of Mark Glaser, Bob Blake, Joe Klapkowski, Dave Hilliard, Al Schoessow, John Patane and Ron Epstein inserting more ties west of Washington Avenue.

They inserted 40 ties, and tamped, plated and spiked 27 of these. This brings our operable track further west by about 225 feet to about MP 4.45.

CMRR 201, the work flat for Kingston, was left at the end of track. Since it has all of our materials and tools on board, we will not need to bring the 401 back to this point next Sunday (we will push the flat with the backhoe).

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 528441.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?200 ... 628688.jpg


Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
CMRR

Where do you buy your RR ties from? Used from CSX or from a RR scrap dealer?

That's interesting. The ties in the pictures look "new" or at least have been coated with another coat of creosote.
If the ties are indeed re cycled from CSX or another railroad, how much would the get for selling a used cross ties compared to donating them to a good cause for a tax write off?
I commend this organization for preforming such great work for a volunteer organization. It really goes to show what can be accomplished when everyone works together and stops moaning about the political situation and wait for donations.
Money has seem to come to the CMRR in either grants donations and or simply labor which is one hell of a huge asset to their being able to rebuild the line at a low cost.
Figuring these track workers would be in the $25.00p/h+ range multiplied by the total number of track gangs. Look at the cost of labor savings alone.
Keep up the good work!

Ties are from Ray's Transportation.

http://www.raystransportation.com/

EH

Saturday, July 25th

Phoenicia

George Peck will lead a crew Saturday morning starting in Phoenicia. He plans to insert ties just east of MP 27. He plans to start at 9am at Phoenicia yard.

The 702 crew will start work at 10am. That plan to paint and install more seat frames in the 702.

Chris Bigham and I will be leading a brush crew on Saturday, continuing work between Phoenicia and Mt. Pleasant. We will start about 10am. Anyone who can bring a blade or line type brush cutter would be very welcome to help.

Kingston

In Kingston, we will be continuing our summer service there with the 11am Teddybear Special. Cornell Street Yard will open about 9:30am for preparation work for the afternoon run.


Sunday, July 26th

George Peck will be working at Phoenicia starting at 9:30am.

In Kingston, Cornell Street yard will open at 9:30am. Earl plans later in the morning to move west of Washington Avenue and continue to replace ties as part of our expansion west towards C9. The crew could really use a few more people, so please come if you are able.



Ernie Hunt
Volunteer Coordinator
Catskill Mountain RR

This question may have an obvious answer, but since the CMRR is an orphaned line, severed by Conrail years ago, how have you managed to get all of the rolling stock on its rails? Likewise, how have you been able to get an engine and cars west of Kingston over derelict bridges, etc? Also, are the derelict cars parked out along Route 209 in storage for future restoration projects?

Schooltrain,

To answer your questions, almost all the CMRR equipment in Kingston came in by rail before the Conrail/CSX switch was removed in 1996.

The Crane at Shokan came by rail to Kingston and from there went by rail up the line from Kingston.

The Phoenicia equipment was all trucked in.

The cars off 209 will be brought in from there for restoration or disposition as soon as our track restoration reaches that point. We should reach MP 5, the bridge over the Esopus by this fall, though it may need some timbers replaced before we can bring the cars back over it (the bridge is otherwise structurally sound). The cars did go over the bridge many years ago (by backhoe), but may not be able to do so again without some new work.

EH

eehiv wrote:To answer your questions, almost all the CMRR equipment in Kingston came in by rail before the Conrail/CSX switch was removed in 1996. The Crane at Shokan came by rail to Kingston and from there went by rail up the line from Kingston.

Proof:

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 220031.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 828616.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 524103.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 523943.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 823862.jpg

http://naphotos.nerail.org/showpic/?pho ... 023337.jpg

Many thanks for the info and the pictures.

What was the logic in removing the Kingston switch in 1996? Did it somehow interfere with CSX's operations there? Is there any reason or chance for it ever to be restored?

Schooltrain,

The switch was taken out because of maintenance costs to CSX which were not offset by freight traffic on the line. The CMRR's only freight customer went out of business in 1991.

The switch can always be put back in if freight service warrants it, or for some reason there is an advantage for CSX in having the switch reinstalled. However, we did have a potential customer lined up 2 years ago, and despite a letter from the Mayor of Kingston and funding being avaiable, CSX would not allow the switch to be reinstalled.

It is not currently a problem for us now, but if the time comes where the switch needs to be reinstalled, I am sure we will find a way to get it put back in.

EH

Schooltrain wrote:What was the logic in removing the Kingston switch in 1996? Did it somehow interfere with CSX's operations there?

You'd have to ask Conrail. They were the operator in 1996. There was no traffic to justify maintaining the connection to the CMRR at Kingston, so Conrail decided to remove it. Maintenance of moving parts costs money.

Schooltrain wrote:This question may have an obvious answer, but since the CMRR is an orphaned line, severed by Conrail years ago, how have you managed to get all of the rolling stock on its rails? Likewise, how have you been able to get an engine and cars west of Kingston over derelict bridges, etc? Also, are the derelict cars parked out along Route 209 in storage for future restoration projects?

The obvious answer: http://railroad.net/articles/railfanning/cmrr/

eehiv wrote:Saturday, July 25th
The 702 crew will start work at 10am. That plan to paint and install more seat frames in the 702.

Visited Phoenicia around 1:00pm, saw painting activity around the west-end vestibule of 702. Looking good!!