September2005 President’s Report
By Ira Pollack
Hope all is well. This month I’d like to mention some of the activities that take place in the railyard. There are obviously many tasks that are available to our volunteers. Seeing it written out like this it emphasizes the amount and variety of work that we do. Some of the work is for restoration, but you will see that there is a level of on-going maintenance that has to be done on a regular basis. Many of the restoration projects are on-going with a loosely structured schedule for completion; however we must take advantage of the good weather and longer daylight hours of this time of year to make progress on them. I must comment though that this season has been extremely successful in progressing with the many different projects that we have worked on. The fact remains that we have a great deal to do, still need your help, and there is great variety in the ways in which you can do it.
If you have
any interest in the opportunities listed below, or any kind of expertise which
would help us, please leave a message to be contacted by our project leaders
who are listed below at
Opportunities for
Volunteering in the DRM Yard
1) Painting, i.e. rolling stock, exhibits, general maintenance
a) preparing either wooden or metal artifacts by sanding and scraping old finishes to get them ready for paint
b) priming equipment for finish color
c) applying finish color
2) Lettering
a) generating graphics according to original photos of equipment
b) preparing stencils for eventual transfer on to surfaces
c) hand lettering using One-Shot paint and special lettering brushes
3) General restoration
a) woodworking fabrication
b) metalworking fabrication
c) prep work for the wood and metal restoration
d) electrical work
4) Track maintenance
a) tightening of rail joints
b) tie replacement
c) ballast tamping
d) switch maintenance
5) Yard maintenance and upkeep
a) lawn mowing
b) weed removal
c) garbage disposal and general clean up of facilities
d) landscaping of grounds
e) snowplowing
f) keeping sidewalks clear of snow and ice
6) Maintenance of yard vehicles
a) proper greasing of backhoe and crane
b) maintenance of pickup truck and other vehicles
c) keeping fuel levels up on vehicles
Yard Project Leaders
1) New York Central caboose - Gerry Herrmann
2) Pennsylvania Rail Post Office car - Bill Britt
3) Welding - Bob Pitcher
4) Woodworking - Gerry Herrmann and Bill Britt
5) Lettering and painting - Ira Pollack
6) Track work – Bruce Van Wyck
7) Lawn maintenance - Dave Roberts
8) Vehicle maintenance - Bob Andrews
9) Rolling stock maintenance - Justin Chapin
10) Training program - Nancy Sniffen
11) Safety program - John O'Hern
12)
13) 1455 Boston & Maine steam locomotive – Bob Boothe
14) G-scale model train layout - Bob Boothe
15) Miscellaneous construction projects – Ira Pollack