WF&P News - April 22, 2009

Rolling Stock
Jim Scott checking the couplers and new pin system. The pin now has a hitch key to hold them in place. This is intended to prevent people from pulling the pins during a ride. Click on the picture of the couplers to enlarge.

Mike Brennan and John Mohen also worked on cleaning out the cars and preparing them for the season. All the cars have been greased and are ready to roll (pun intended)

Greg was working on the new car while Bob supervised. It was good to see Bob at the railroad.

Building and Grounds
Work has begun to reinforce the floor at the entrance to the Stucco building. The door and windows are on the list to be replaced. The basement was cleaned up to remove the concrete, wood, and dirt due to the floor project. Also removed some of the junk to be hauled off. Then some general cleaning of that room. Paining continues on the entrance to the Crew Shack so it will look nice for the public restrooms.

Maintenance Of Way
The ring rail for the turntable is about complete. A full size railroad tie was placed at the end of the lead track to hold back the hillside so it would not wash debis into the new ring. A concrete footing was poured to help support the end of the lead. Every two feet is a concrete support for the new ring. Hank and Mike took the turntable wheels apart and cleaned the bearings.

We rented a backhoe and Hank removed all tree stumps along the extension, removed debris(wood,mud, leaves etc.) from creek (creek on south side of track at Lawerford Rd crossings) so water that had ponded could flow and any future heavy rains would not pond as much.

Swampy Creek debris was removing (as much debris from creek that could be reached due to muddy ground) to help the flow of backed up water from recent rains. Summit was trenched and removed some hillside from bottom of grade westward about 150 ft (hillside was very close to ROW) to help control water flow coming down off the hillside there.

A drainage pipe was installed at west end of Mohan to allow water to flow from north side of Mohan Cut-off to south side of Main at Mohan. The new pipe lines up with culvert on the Al Foster Trail. This has been a problem area during heavy rains and has caused washouts in the past.

The road maintenance crew went east to work on the extension. Forty five ties were installs and we are at the end of the current track. Forty more feet of track is ready to be hauled to the extension over the next couple of weeks. See Extension Project for more details and pictures.

Motive Power
The tender for locomotive 403 is being primed for painting. The rear truck

The 704 is out of service at this time. Hank discovered that the front axle of the rear truck is worn and keeps derailing. The truck will be evaluated and the Machine Shop will be asked to review and possible redesign and upgrade the truck.

General News
Work continues around the club to prepare for opening day on May 3.

The famous Missouri Blue Bells season has peaked. Unfortuantely, they will be done blooming before our season opens. There are the flowers that grow in the valley of our extension and are a rare flower.