Report for Sunday, June 27th, 2010

I picked up a pile of sheets of steel roofing from a place outside
Metcalfe with Brian's help and delivered them to the museum. They are on
the back platform. I will order eavestrip on Monday. Then a new
permanent roof can be installed on the garden shed.

Bill M installed the safety guard rails on the hand car on the front
track. With help it was moved to the front of the line up of speeders so
it can now be used to give rides.

Ross managed to repair the lock on the platform side of the MWR doors.
He found some long oversize machine screws and turned the heads down to
fit the holes in the lock faceplate. Fortunately the thread in the old
mortice lock was not so badly stripped that the screws would not hold.
Locktite was applied to make sure the screws will not work loose again.

Allan and Ross moved the 4 pieces of heritage rail that was on the front
platform around to the end by the express office. Eventually these will
be stored indoors. We also then moved a baggage cart to the side near
the MWR entrance and placed the display suitcases on it.

Ross repaired the gate by the entrance to the shop, glued in a piece of
wood broken by vandals.

Allan and Doug K were working on the new switch on the shop lead. We
took the trailer to the back 40 and with 5 of us managed to load two 16
foot ties for the head block. These were dropped off on top of the rail
near where they will be installed.

Ross swept up in the new archives storage room. He also entered the data
on the registration form for two artifacts, finally the process has
begun. Only several thousand left to do. The next step is to move the
stoves and teletypes over from the express room.

Gee continued with "weeding" the flower beds at the house.

John Weir was giving tours of the blue caboose. We now have three
students on staff for the summer.

Anne and Freddie dropped in to say hello.

Ross Robinson.

Report for Thursday June 24th, 2010

Again we are indebted to Brian for most of this report

Alan got eight more ties loosened to prepare for shifting the
restoration center lead into a better direction.

Tom sorted and catalogued in the library.

Bill installed diagonal bracing and did some floor patching in the
section house archives room. Once we sweep the floor and spread the
lemon pledge we can start moving artifacts. He also did some badly
needed tidying up in the restoration building. It had gotten to be a
shambles in there.

Gee placed archival paper on shelving upstairs in the section house and
weeded the flower garden on the right side of the house.

Bill and Brian moved a filing cabinet that had been removed from the
section house, and moved several racks that are not being used in the
gift shop to storage over the express room.

Brian replaced 12 missing and rotten boards on the station side of the
paint car. Maybe we can get this car painted this year, and lettered.

Ross reinstalled the ticket window grill, several missing outlet covers
in the MWR, did a bit of cleaning up in the gift shop storeroom moving
tools to the shed and some large boards to the archives storage. Anne
will finish organizing this room later. Ross also replaced the missing
handles on the gift shop door and put a new latch set on the sink room
door. He also moved around some of the displays on the walls and put up
the donation request plaque donated by Eva Lange years ago, it is now
over the strong box in the MWR.

Anyone looking for the aluminium step ladder, it is in the lobby at the
top of the basement stairs. I am thinking of putting a big hook in the
wall of the stairway on which to hang it. Comments?

Bob Moore has returned from England and is back at the museum. Last year
he made a template/ jig to make the curved three dimensional wooden
corners for the passenger car roofs. He dismantled the prototype and
painted all the pieces to seal the wood. We are thinking of making a
mould/ jig and making these out of fiberglas, they will never rot and
can be used with the EPDM material as a covering.

Over the years I have been asked many times to repair some item, usually
attached to the building. A lot of it never gets done simply because I
forget about it. So I have made up a Request for Maintenance form,
copies are on the shelf with the sign in book. Fill them out and I will
try and get them done as soon as possible.

I am trying to solve the problem with the track side door lock on the
MWR. Be patient, this is a unique type of mortice lock that cannot be
replaced. Saturday I will make some special screws at BRS and Sunday I
may get it fixed. If not the lock will have to be removed and brought to
my shop.

We took the trailer to Metcalfe with 16 foot long planks installed,
along with a scrap filing cabinet. Sunday morning Brian and I will go
and pick up 7 sheets of steel roofing 16 feet long being donated for the
garden shed. Tony has screws, the 1x3 are in the shed lumber rack?

Anne and Tony were on site most of the day, interviewing students for
summer jobs. She also met with some of the new volunteers.

Ross Robinson.

Report for Sunday June 20, 2010

We had another successful day today. Brian and I completed the drywall
work in the house, the seams on the party wall are all taped. I will
bring up some corner beads next week. The cabinets were moved to their
final positions and the vapour barrier on the front wall was taped with
Mylar tape. Left to do, put the diagonal braces on the 3 walls, cover
the trap door and patch a bad floor at one corner, sweep and we can move in.

While we are working at the house we should finish framing the door to
the upstairs before removing the surplus lumber. Then we can install the
two doors, there are lots of doors from the house stored in the basement
of the station. Once we are finished renovating the house we can get
back to finishing Nolans and onto the car roofs. Thanks from me to
everyone who has helped get the house in shape.

Anne and her husband Neil dropped in, and we met their son Freddie.

Doug Kolish and his son Anthony were busy moving rails and digging out
rotted ties on the shop lead. Al Westland helped them, and he measured
the frog and points that are going to be installed on this track and has
found some short rails needed to connect up the frog to the existing
track work. We hope to get the frog moved next week.

Gee spent the day weeding the gardens at the front of the house. This
has become so overgrown it is almost like logging. There are a number of
perrenials there that given space to grow will look good.

Someone needs to water the new flowers at Nolans station.

John Weir was kept busy giving tours. There seemed to be a steady stream
of visitors.

The 1940's era steel typewriter desk that was removed from the operators
bay into the house 4 weeks ago seems to have vanished from the house.
Does anyone know where it went? It is an artifact and needs to be
returned or at least accounted for.

Ross Robinson

Update for Thursday June 17, 2010

We had a really productive day today.
The alarm company arrived just as Brian and I were opening the front
gate. The alarm is now installed and working. Four people have codes and
keys, Ross, Tom, Tony and Anne.
Bill M and George M framed up the remaining 3 short walls at the ends of
the shelf rows. Brian and Ross installed drywall on the party wall, the
entrance foyer, and the side of the staircase, with help from Bill and
George. 16 sheets were installed, there are a few small areas behind the
stairs left to do on Sunday. Once we put up a door the area will be
secured. At some point in the future we will install a door at the
bottom of the left stairs, open the party wall at the landings and
remove the unneeded right staircase. Bill and George also installed a
few furring strips on the ceiling. Remaining to be done is Mylar taping
the seams at the front wall, installing 1x4 diagonal braces on the three
outside walls to provide for shear when the siding is removed for
replacement, and a bit of taping of the drywall. We got a lot more of
this done than I had anticipated.
Mike tried to start the green CN Wickham car, it turns over but will not
fire.
Allan and Tom arrived at noon, having attended the graduation cerimonies
for Algonquin College Museum Techs, two were former summer employees of
the museum. Tom worked in the library.
After lunch Tony arrived and introduced us to Anne White.
We moved a lot of furniture in the house, and took filing cabinets to
the main building. We also moved two very large cartons of plastic
storage bins into the paint car, temporarily.
The blog is now up and running
Ross Robinson.

Work group report for June 10 to 14, 2010

Again most of this was supplied by Brian K.

Alan, William, Mike and Brian (with Ross on trailer duty) moved about 20
ties to the restoration building lead, for the track work required to
move the CP caboose into the building. They also got rid of some rotten
ties from the lead. Some of the better rotten ties were put at the
William Street entrance for making ornamental gardens next year. Note
that most of this work outdoors was done in a constant drizzle. Everyone
was wet.
Sometime during the last week, Doug spiked a lot of the track leading into
the restoration building. It should be noted that Tony has sanctioned
what we are doing. In fact, he wanted the CP caboose moved into the
building years ago and is happy that we are preparing to do it. Tony
cautioned that no rolling stock can be moved without first notifying the
museum's insurance company. The insurance company regularly photographs
the position of all the rolling stock to monitor that nothing has moved.
This doesn't apply to speeders, hand cars and the trolley.

Sometime during the week, Mike got the mainline speeder running well. He
cleaned the carburetor and maybe replaced the fuel filter. He should be
trained to take passengers for rides so he can enjoy the fruit of his
efforts. Also we should try and make peace with John M and get him back
to do rides on weekends.

Alan and Brian chained the mainline trailer to the trolley. Since there
was no lock, a bolt was used to secure the chain. The wrenches used are
squeezed in the workbench vise in the restoration centre. On Sunday Ross
found a lock in the shed, gummed up, it has gone to his shop for cleaning.

Mike spent some time evaluating what has to be done to get the Wickham's
running so the engines won't seize up. A battery was found and Ross
brought a charger on the weekend, it is in the archives storage room on
the table
behind the door.

William and Brian moved the trailer that was wedged against the tool
car away from it and placed a tie over the track to secure it against
coach 5802. A step ladder was placed just inside the tool car door.
Using the trolley to climb in and out of the car is dangerous. It was
the cause of an accident that could have been serious.

Bill was trying to repair/replace some rotted boards in the platform. He
is planning on a proper floor at the entrance to Nolan's station.

Gee continued with weeding around the section house, and papered some
shelves for the library. Ross ordered more shelf paper from Carr-McLean,
as a donation. On Sunday she did two more shelves. Also we put some
prints in a large plastic container provided by Tom C with alcohol to
try and kill off the mould, we will see how this works on Thursday.

Gerry finished the wiring in the house, adding another accessible outlet
for the storage area and rationalizing some light switches at the bottom
of the stairs. Ross will supply the missing cover plates. Gerry then
looked at the two lights in the baggage room, turns out the problem was
just burnt out bulbs. Ross replaced the bulbs on Sunday and put the
shades back on. Gerry replaced the timer for the breeze way lights, and
started to install a bypass switch in the cabinet with the meters so no
one needs to touch the timer to turn on the lights. The switch on the
pendant light over the operators table is broken, needs replacing.
Ross delivered a custom made ceiling thimble for the stove pipe, with
eight sides to reflect the eight sided shape of Nolans. He also
found a suitable pipe with a key in the archives and this is in Nolans.
May need two elbows to finish the install.
With the help of William S we moved a lot of furniture in the house. There
is still a large desk and two tables to move before we can finish
building the walls at the end of the shelf units. Tom Clark tried to
open the lock on a scrap green filing cabinet with no success. On Sunday
Ross managed to get the drawers out. On Sunday Ross cleaned
up in the house, taped the vapour barrier seams and around the outlets,
ready to install 1x4 diagonal braces. Ross will pick up some more 2x4 to
finish the framing.
Ross removed the model train layout that is going to Tom T, and
delivered it on Monday.
He also took many bags of garbage to Ottawa for disposal.
We found the missing grille for the operators bay window, it will be
re-installed next week.
Al W has completed his display of steam and diesel locomotives in the
baggage room.
On Sunday Al and Doug worked on spiking down the track to the shed. Now
we need to bring the frog and points to the site. Doug has a solution to
this problem. Also on Saturday a gardener showed up with many donated
perennial plants, and started cleaning up around Nolans. Doug K will
keep them watered.

John Weir has been giving tours to visitors, as we still have no
interpretive text for the displays.
We now have a blog set up for this group, we will post the back issues
and then each week will add the newest reports. We can also add photos.
More info on this will be sent to you in a few days.
Ross Robinson

Fwd: Report for May 6 - May 16

Work group report for June 3 to 8, 2010

Much of this report was contributed by Brian Kelsey.
Doug K continued, with some help, to clean up the track to the shed. He
cut the grass and removed a lot of rotten ties. Steve Hunter appeared and is
still insisting on re-locating the track.
Doug and Bill M removed the old rotten entry step platform at the red
caboose and raked the fill level. Nice effort to clean up the site and
make it safe. Bill also dismantled the large unfinished model railway
layout in the house. This will free up space needed to store items still
in the left side of the house. He also took apart some old display
stands and salvaged the good wood to the shed.
On Monday the 30th May Ross bought new planks to make seats for Nolan's
station. They were glued together, cut to width and thickness planed.
They were delivered on Thursday and Bill M will install them.

Mike Jewett changed the Speeder's oil, tuned the engine a bit and
conducted some trial runs. It has some stalling problems. He will
clean the carburetor. Mike discovered that the back of the Cadillac
shed has been broken into since the major vandalism event. He secured
the back doors with a chain and Alan nailed a 2x8 plank across the
bottom under the back doors. Mike and Ross returned the hand car that was
down on the siding at the tool car back to the station away from the
vandals. Ross donated a tarp and bungee cords to keep water out of the
speeder. There is a pile of old wood from the destroyed passenger trailer at
the switch that should be cleaned up before someone gets injured there.

Brian and Bill set up scaffolding on the RPO and examined the worst part
of the west facing lower roof. They also looked inside the car. The
car is in worse shape than thought. The upper roof will receive plywood
patches and a tarp . Some car lines will have to be made for the lower
roofs as there is no wood left to attach anything to. (This is
reminicent of the combine when we did the roof in the early 1990's).The
floor appears to be of all wood construction and may be completely finished
(it has some holes) and the interior is full of trash. Because of the
uniqueness of the
car, it is probably worth saving. But for now, all we can do is to try
to stop the rain and snow from getting into the car and cosmetically fix
up the exterior.

Brian and Bill inspected the interior of 5019 and it looks pretty dry
inside. We have to put window covers back on. We need to find some way
to keep the vandals from kicking the covers off, long bolts and 2x4 on
the inside?

Brian and Bill inspected 5032 and 5042. They couldn't get into 5042.
Bill agrees that these two coaches are still salvageable and would make
wonderful display space. No work can be done on the cars while they are
so far away, so arrangements will be made to have them brought up closer
to the station.

Alan installed the lighting for the steam locomotive display. This will
be great display when finished. Brian is working on labels? for this.

I believe Mark Tilford examined the train layout for the children's area
and will organize its repair.

There were meetings in the blue caboose about the August Rail event and
maybe the July one as well. Between meetings George Margita helped Ross
move stuff in the house.

Brian gave John Weir a vendor application form for the October Rail Fest
event at Algonquin College. John will look after it.

A junk pile was started near the back of the container. When the pile
gets big enough, we will get a dumpster and fill it. There is more wood
junk in the house, and Ross will take 8 bags of garbage to Ottawa and
dispose of it.

Sometime during the week Tony took a truck load of junk to the dump and
emptied the trash barrels on the platform. Thanks Tony, this really
helps us keep the site clean.
Tom Twigge, general manager of the Halton County Railway Museum visited.
Brian made stencils in the original livery for his museum's CP Caboose
436123 that is under restoration. We showed him around the site, had a
long talk about mutual problems and solutions. Their bigest problem
seems to be with the town, they pay outrageous taxes for virtually no
services as they are 20 miles from the town center, out in the country.

Tom Caine was on site, he helped tarp the speeder. Not known what else
he did.
Gee Gee continued putting archival paper on the new shelves in the
upstairs of the house. Books and artifacts should never be placed on
bare steel shelves, especially not without proper humidity control.
Ross and Gerry finished the wiring in the left side of the house. We
will have a light in each aisle between the shelves and in the open area
where the stoves and teletypes will be stored. A new wall was
constructed at the side of the stairway and the old corridor wall
removed, opening up more storage space. Still to do is construct two
more narrow support walls at the
ends of the aisles at the front of the house. In the near future I want
to put a temporary beam
and 2 jack posts in the right side at the front to support the second
floor where Tom is installing library shelving. Eventually these can be
replaced by doubling or tripling the floor joists.
In the near future Gerry will replace the timer for the breeze way
lights and repair some of the in-operative lights inside the former
baggage room. We seem to be having problems with the wires burning off
at the sockets even though the wiring is rated for much larger lamps
than we are using. We will monitor this problem and take corrective
action as needed.
There is a large blue lounge chair in the house and several desks that
need to disappear. Anyone need these? Maybe Tony could sell them in his
store? Once this stuff is moved/removed we will be able to drywall the
center wall to secure the archival storage area.
I called the alarm company about installing the alarm in the house, but
no one has called back. I will try again on Thursday
Ross Robinson