Inside the OC&E. Kick Off to Holiday Season a Huge Success. Winter Night at the Museum

Transcription

1 Inside the December 2012 Volume 3 Issue 12 OC&E Kick Off to Holiday Season a Huge Success Published by The Greeley Freight Station Museum th Street Greeley, CO The weekend of Thanksgiving, November 23rd 25th, 2012, was a very busy weekend at the GFSM. The week started off on Monday with many volunteers helping to decorate the museum and move the Christmas Tree to the Union Colony Civic Center for the Festival of Trees. caboose. Children received jingle bells from Santa, and no coal was given out (last year a mother agreed her child deserved the lump of coal he received). Saturday night, the Greeley Lights the Nights Parade began at 5:30 with the following volunteers walking with the float in the parade: Dana Hiatt, Bob and Kimberly Owens, Keith and Michelle Kempema with Anna Nast, Katie and Tristan Kempema, Alec Brenkle, John Erdkamp, Steven Parsons, Randy Palmer, Miguel Acevedo and Tom, Kim, Gerrad, Ethan, and Nicole Reynolds. All in all it was a joyful and Festive weekend for GFSM! Winter Night at the Museum Start a new holiday tradition for your family by attending GFSM's 1st Annual Winter Night at the Museum. The evening will be filled with Christmas spirit, tasty treats, and Trains, Trains, Trains! For all volunteers, please feel free to join us for operations that evening also. John Erdkamp and John Friend put together the Parade of Lights Float that day also. Friday was a very busy day at the museum with 153 guests, Saturday there were 223 guests who enjoyed visiting with Santa (a.k.a. Don Allender) in the 1

2 Left: The Festival of Trees submission for GFSM was designed once again by volunteer Kim Martins. She created the conductor hats for the tree topper based on a hat from the museum. Above: Saturday night, The Greeley Lights the Nights Parade with the following volunteers in the parade: Dana Hiatt, Bob and Kimberly Owens, Keith and Michelle Kempema with Anna Nast, Katie and Tristan Kempema, Alec Brenkle, John Erdkamp, Steven Parsons, Randy Palmer, Miguel Acevedo and Tom, Kim, Gerrad, Ethan, and Nicole Reynolds. Just another Monday at GFSM It's early morning Monday, December 3, The Greeley Freight Station Museum is closed and not open to the public. The sun comes up late this time of year and trees are leafless as a chilly breeze blows a weak, snow less weather front through Greeley, keeping the temperature under the freezing level. Almost without exception, the downtown area is quiet. Street traffic provides only an occasional exception to the cold and calm. The first automobile rolls to a stop at the back of the museum something like a quarter to eight. The lock at the back door is negotiated, lights are turned on and, shortly after, things spring to life in places where one might think there'd be no activity at all deep in the bowels of the museum on this day when the public is absent. This begins a typical day of cleaning, maintenance, repair, and renovation at the GFSM. There will be no train schedules this day, no special runs, no switching assignments, no dispatching, and no admiring public. Volunteers who come this Monday 2 are there strictly to keep a complex and vibrant miniature creation alive and well, as one of the fellows on this day said. Today there will be 14 volunteers keeping the museum's 5,500 square foot miniature railroad clean and dependably operational. It's a daunting task. Before the day is over they will have cleaned more than 70 scale miles of track on the railroad. That's more than 4,200 actual feet of track. But the duties just begin there. By 9 a.m. all of them have arrived and, with minimal instruction from Straw Boss Dave Cimbura, Greeley, these volunteers are hard at it, smoothly working their way through a series of assignments that would prove most daunting to almost any museum staff in the country. Keith Woolf, a 320-hour volunteer veteran, initiates the morning hours inspecting locomotives and cleaning wheels on a railroad sporting almost 2,000 cars. Keith drove down today from Laramie, Wyoming. Tim Moore, Commerce City, and Jon Miller, Greeley, work alongside of Keith and develop a routine which assures that

3 all wheel sets, some of which have run hundreds of scale miles the previous week, are shiny and roll effortlessly in preparation for upcoming runs over the coming week (two tours scheduled) and weekend when the museum is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday afternoon. Tom Carlson, Lakewood, pops in to check the museum clocks and makes sure all are keeping good time and functioning properly. He then joins the cleaning team. Tom has more than 1,600 hours of time under his volunteer belt. One of the most popular areas of the GFSM when it's open, is the Children's Layout. This automatically run, little wiring wizard is one of the most complicated creations on site with as many as five little O scale trains scampering around tracks that merge, then switch into each other. Yet, while they often share the same track as they whiz around, none of the little engines ever collide, as delighted children push buttons that activate lights, crossing gates, whistles, wood sawyers, gatemen, and trolley cars. The layout is a delight to children, but a huge challenge to keep operationally sound and running. Today Dave Graves, a threerail expert from Fort Collins, is joined by John Marshall, Boulder, to debug the little railroad for another week. They also are working on adding variations to the automated process that controls train functions. The simplicity of the toy train layout above belies the electrical complexities that lay just under the surface. Hidden inside the railroad's Lakeview teardrop, Claude Dutch Cook works his way through a handful of HO scale freight cars that have been bad ordered the previous week. He changes out wheel sets and re-adjusts coupler heights while proceeding down a 14-point checklist for each railroad car submitted to his care. While there are few wrecks on the OC&E during operations, it is his responsibility to get the rolling stock back on the tracks and into revenue service to assure that accidents on the railroad remain at a bare minimum. Today there are no bad order cars so he concentrates his efforts at freeing up balky wheel sets. Dutch, originally from Alaska, has retired in Greeley; the main reason being for him to be able to be close to the museum and its miniature railroad. A former military aircraft field repair expert, he currently has logged 2,800 hours on the job. Oregon, California & Eastern Railway, stops by and begins working on laying down a light scenery base in a new set of yards that, hopefully, will come on line the first of next year. The team functions smoothly, and conversations and discussions fill the corners of the museum as work progresses. Talk usually centers on best ways to tackle model railroad construction and operational challenges; a learning process is subtly at work here. And around it all, seemingly, is Beth Cimbura, who steadily moves through a routine that assures all the floors are bright and clean, all the trash is removed, tables dusted, toilets sparkle and everything is in a place where it should be. But there's even more. Upstairs today is Bob Owens, Greeley, who, operating out of a cramped work room doubling as a three-desk office, is updating volunteer time cards, answering museum s, and writing a piece for the museum's newsletter. Bob has logged more than 3,000 hours of volunteer time with the GFSM, and, along with Dave Cimbura, is a key person with the museum's base of more than 200 active volunteers. Well over 100 of these people have spent time on Mondays performing nothing but work to assure the railroad continues to be one of the best museum quality operating units ever constructed. By the time this December day is over and the last volunteer turns off the lights and exits, there will have been something like 75 hours of volunteer time contributed to the cause of making sure the museum's miniature railroad continues to be considered the finest model railroad I've ever seen, according to Jim Hediger, 30-year senior editor of Model Railroader magazine. Assignments accomplished, individuals start drifting away sometime between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Remember, their homes are not only in Greeley; they're in Laramie, Fort Collins, Windsor, Lakewood, Boulder, and Platteville today. By 4:15 p.m. the place is silent once again. The sequence that has faithfully taken place every Monday for the past three years has run full cycle for the day. And there were no appreciative crowds of visitors, no classroom field trippers, no senior citizens, no service organizations, no tourists. But when they do come, visitors will be assured of having a once-in-a-lifetime experience at a museum that is unique in, and of, itself. Jerry Hutchison, Windsor, and Stan Bohner, Platteville, have drawn the task of running cleaning trains out on the main line today and assemble sets of cleaning cars that uniformly lay down a light coat of cleaning solution on the rails, followed by pad cars that immediately wipe up the fluid residue and whatever it has collected. Both Jerry and Stan have more than 1,200 hours service time at the GFSM. Dave Trussell, designer and builder of the layout, dubbed the 3

4 A Digging Dilemma David Trussell Looking back ten years when we had decided to pull the trigger on the original Greeley Freight Station Museum plans for th street, I had a few reservations about the location. It seemed ideal for the small museum we had in mind: a spot between two (then) active railroads and right beside a downtown area that badly needed an attraction to bring in visitors from all over. I did have one lingering, nagging concern, however. The site we purchased had formerly been called home by a host of previous entities. Depending on the historian doing the talking, this location was formerly a business hub with all sorts of businesses occupying what was, in 2002, a vacant lot. what was down there just under the surface, and would it reveal serious challenges to our plans; even possibly fatal ones? We had already discovered, just inches below the dirt surface, a set of tracks that ran north/south through the property to the southern edge of 10th Street. What else was lying down there? The tracks didn't pose a serious problem. As a matter of fact, they could almost be considered an asset, because we wound up moving them 14.5 feet east, cutting off the ends, and utilizing the rest as the base for our C&S caboose The remaining rails were pulled out and scrapped. They were too pitted to really utilize for much. But what was left was set in a foot of concrete, so their condition didn't matter all that much. Movin right along: Looking north-northwest, a big excavator digs a foundation trench for the east wall of the soon-to-be Greeley Freight Station Museum. Earlier that morning, about 120 feet of buried track was unearthed and removed from the museum s building site. The date: early morning, October 20, Included on the list was an armory, a coal yard, a creamery, and an oil distribution facility. That's just mentioning what we had learned from research. Heaven only knew what else occupied the spot. So, it was with more than a modicum of trepidation that we began excavating for the museum's foundation. Who knew 4 The big day came on October 20, The excavator company came onto our property at daybreak and started digging a six-foot wide trench two feet deep, beginning at the northeast corner of the soon-to-be museum and worked clockwise heading south down the base of the east wall, then west across the base of the south wall.

5 Being a frustrated archaeologist, I followed along and picked through the dirt pile to look for clues as to what was previously there. Who knew? Could have been buried treasure in there somewhere. I came up with a badly corroded little enamel sign and odds and ends of junk that wasn't worth saving, but I did understand more where former buildings were probably located. More importantly, we didn't come up against anything that would have been project threatening. As we progressed around the corner and headed north along what was going to be the west wall, we had passed the halfway mark and the digging progressed north almost 100 feet. Things were looking good. Then it happened. I was just starting to feel confident about the way it was going when the tines on the business end of the excavator resounded with a pronounced thunk when they struck something that certainly wasn't just dirt. Time and time again the operator lifted the bucket up and dropped it down. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Phone calls were made. The project manager showed up. The steel building man showed up. Our engineer showed up. All the men on the project gathered around and the excavator operator scraped away the area to see what wasn't, apparently, about to move. Suddenly, what was a project moving smoothly toward a happy and efficient conclusion was apparently hung up on a giant slab of concrete, approximately ten feet long, at least 30 inches down and who knows how wide and deep? What to do? The giant slab showed no signs of budging. Not even remotely. It was there, and it was permanent. Initially, the consensus was to bring in a jackhammer and slowly reduce the area where the foundation was to run, to rubble. I wasn't particularly thrilled about the prospects of this with equipment and crew costing something like $500 an hour standing around watching the proceedings. Enter Jay Freese, our plans engineer. Now, Jay's an interesting sort of guy. Jay's drum beats a different rhythm; that's for sure. But behind that quirkiness lies a mind of logic and brilliance. Drill three holes here, here, and here. Drop rebar into em, and let it stick up at least 12 inches above the top of the slab. We'll make this the strongest foundation you can even imagine, he said. Then he uttered those magic words, I'll authorize it for the inspectors. This shouldn't be a problem. I love the man. And that's what they did. The foundation forms were fitted right over the slab, the north wall trench was dug 5 Oh Oh! Construction folks, engineers, and builders stand on top of a huge concrete slab unearthed by the excavator about 90 feet from what will eventually be the west wall of the GFSM. They are attempting to figure out what exactly to do with this monstrous impediment to building a foundation. What the slab was designed for, originally, remains a mystery. It s now a permanent part of the museum s foundation. The photo was taken looking north just before noon, October 20, and the concrete started pouring the next day. To say I was relieved is to greatly underestimate the situation. So, the next time you're back in staging and standing, say, about ten feet south of the Fairport Yard throat, please note that you are standing on one, very solid piece of concrete. And we still haven't a clue as to how deep it actually goes and for what it was originally designed. Some things will always remain a mystery.

6 The Twin City Model Railroad Museum This September, I went back to Minnesota for my 50th high school reunion. A video, featuring the Twin City Model Railroad Museum, had been for sale in the summer edition of the Historic Rail catalog, and I wanted to visit this museum while we were in the Twin Cities area. We had flown into Minneapolis on a Saturday, so on Sunday my sister and her husband took us to the museum to see what it was about. The museum was founded on May 1,1934 by members of the St. Paul Craftsman Club. There have been several locations and name changes over the years, and the museum was relocated to the current location in The Twin City Model Railroad Museum is a nonprofit organization with the stated mission to entertain young and old alike, at the same time preserving an era of Minnesota railroad history namely the 1930's, 40's, and 50's. This museum is housed in the old Northern Pacific facility known as the Como Shops as they are very near to Como Park in Saint Paul. This area is now called Bandana Square. Most of the old buildings are there and the original entrances are intact and not bricked over; only modified to accommodate foot traffic. The interiors were adapted for offices and other commercial uses. The museum is on the second floor at one end of one of the large shop buildings. The layout is O scale, covering approximately 1000 square feet. It depicts the Twin Cities area and a stretch along the Mississippi River on the southeast Minnesota border. Some of the landmarks featured include the Great Northern stone arch bridge, which is now a bikeway and Gary Siebbins 6 pedestrian walkway across the Mississippi near St. Anthony Falls, the old Great Northern Depot flour mills, and three other bridges used by the Milwaukee, Northern Pacific, and Minneapolis Western. Also included is one building of the old Como shops (the building that houses the museum), Midway Yard, and the Mississippi Street Roundhouse. Mattlin is representative of a small Minnesota town, and has its own loop of track. The layout is not set up to do switching during operational hours; they run 5 trains at a time on 5 loops of track. They run a mix of freight and passenger trains featuring the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Duluth, Missabe and lron Range. Steam and early diesel are the chief motive power, which include DM&IR Yellowstone Articulateds. While this is a presentation layout and not an hands-on operation like the OC&E, it is still an impressive layout with a plethora of detail. The museum does have a small store that sells a limited number of items. Other exhibits include signs and other small items much like our facility. The walls are lined with many historic photos from around the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Minnesota areas and are the bulk of the historical exhibits. There is a second half of the museum, the Toy Train Division, housed in a building across the street from the main museum. This building is called the Chimneys Building, as it has 18 chimneys, having been the foundry for the Como Shops: with nine on each side that originally had vented the forges. This division was started by a donation of a collection of Lionel trains and equipment by Mr. John Ross in There are 7 or 8 individual layouts, three of which are complete and detailed. The rest are in various stages of construction. There are a variety of scales, brands, and ages, including S scale, O scale, and O27 layouts. They also have 3 ovals of track that kids can run themselves. Some of the exhibit layouts feature Thomas the Tank Engine, and two layouts have features that can be activated like our Lionel layout at GFSM. One is built around an amusement park, and the other is a donated fully scenic and detailed layout, housed in a separate room.

7 The museum also has an extensive collection of railroad books and bound model railroad magazines. The Twin City Model Railroad Museum is well worth the visit, and more information can be obtained from their website The day we visited, there was only one volunteer in the main museum and two in the Toy Train Division, but they were more than happy to talk and share any information they can. If you are ever in the Twin Cities, you will certainly want to visit! Previous page: A westbound Great Northern passenger train passes the Mississippi Street Roundhouse. Right top: A short Northern Pacific freight stops at the Mattlin station. Right middle: Famous Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range Yellowstone #227 approaches the Great Northern passenger train with a short freight. Below: A westbound Great Northern passenger train passes a Northern Pacific passenger train running along the Mississippi River 7

8 Last UP 844 Volunteers Standing Right: After 14 months, 16 states, and 15,000 miles, GFSM and Union Pacific Steam Crew volunteers Brent Milota and Wayne Hansen pose for one last Greeley photograph. Then they boarded UP 844 for their last leg into Cheyenne to complete the Union Pacific s 150-year anniversary celebration. Photo by Michelle Kempema. Below: And up the line at Eaton, the train is making track speed as it heads into the sunset, only 45 miles from home. Photo by Chase Kepner. GFSM on the Road Right: GFSM volunteer Bob Pilk promotes the museum at the Great Train Expo at the National Western Stock Show Complex Pavilion in Denver on Sunday, November 11th. Two weeks later, at the Train Collectors Association Show also in Denver, volunteers sold enough donated goods to pay the light bill for three months! November Visitor Counts Week Week Week Week Monthly Totals Monthly Avg YTD Totals

9 Calendar on Sale Now! Inside the OC&E The 2013 OC&E Calendar is now for sale in the museum's gift shop, The Little Shop that Could. Featuring 13 new photographs of the OC&E model railroad, this will make a great Christmas present for family, friends, and the person who thinks you waste your time playing with trains. Inside the OC&E is the official Greeley Freight Station Museum newsletter. Its purpose is to communicate news and information to museum volunteers and others interested in the museum. The January issue PUBLICATION DEADLINE: Wednesday, January 2, at 8:00 PM. Send submissions to drgw0579@ comcast.net. Expected January issue publication date: January 7. Bill Kepner, Editor Wally Hubert, Ed Hurtubis, Associate Editors Special Hours The Museum will be open between Christmas and New Years (from the 21st through the 31st). Rails Along the Rio Grande 2013 NMRA RMR Convention and Train Show Albuquerque, New Mexico June 4-6 Pre-Convention Operating Sessions June 6-9 RARG 2013 Convention June 7-8 RARG 2013 Train Show Pelle Soeeborg is scheduled to give a clinic. Detail later. For more info: Need Gift Ideas? Don't forget the museum's gift shop, The Little Shop that Could to fill those last minute and hard to find Christmas gift needs. 9