This new page will be used to inform everyone of the work that still need to be done in Lake Placid and the area.

PROJECTS THAT NEED TO BE DONE

1)  Finish painting the crew camp car.

2)  Paint the crew caboose.

3)  Begin work on our new party car.  This  include cleaning and demolition before actual work can be done as well as prepping the outside for painting when the time comes.

        a)  We'll be installing a water system first and then on to the actual car work that Billy has designed.

4)  Tearing out and putting in a new bathroom in the crew camp car.  We'll need some carpenters and plumbers for this.

REGULAR DUTIES AND CONTINUOUS WORK

1)  All the curves from Placid to Lake Clear should be greased about every 2-3 weeks or more if the rain cleans it off sooner.  The grease is a heavy, black gook so wear old clothes when you go.  Forrest knows how to do it so you'd get it done in 2 to 3 hours.  You should use the 1078 with him when you go cuz the grease is too heavy to carry and you'd be 2 days doing it otherwise.

2)  We have 2 beaver dams at the bottom of the first hill that should come out soon.  The water is getting a little bit high.  Take the two grub hooks in the box car to clean these out.  We've also used a grappling hook that I welded up last year with a rope tied to the 1078 to clear them out but you still have to get wet and climb in to finish the job.  Bring old clothes and good old boots cuz you're gonna get wet to your naval (my chest waders are coming home to go fishing).  This is one of those continuous things by the way.

3)  Chain saw.  Need I say more?  Can you run one?  Take it with you when you go and cut back the leaners.  They're always out there no matter how many times it gets cut.  We have two in the box car.  Remember to use the safety gear located in the back seat of the 1078.  I know I will from now on.

4)  Brush.  Once again, it never, ever goes away on its own.  We have Stihl trimmers.  One with a heavy grass blade on it and one with a circular saw blade on it.  Be careful.  These things age lethal in the wrong hands.  Cut back any brush that's starting to encroach along the coaches when we run.   I try to keep it up but it's an ongoing thing throughout the entire year.  If you don't want to use the machines, we have loppers in the 1078 to use.  A bit slower but just as effective.  Again, this is never done - just like the rest of the things I'm listing here.  Pay close attention to the brush around the bridges and the small pines near Fowler's crossing.  They're getting a bit big and need to be taken out.  Wear good work boots too.  The banks are sometimes a little rough to work on.

5)  Lake Placid lawns.  Yes, we do those too.  There's lawn mowers in the boxcar but you may need to buy some gas.  Remember to get a slip from the gas station so you can put it on an expense account.  Also, do this when you fill the 1078 up with gas.  I use my credit card and keep track of it for the railroad business office and send it in about once a month.  The expense account sheets are in the office or ask Jill or Billy for one.

6)  When special event trains start coming up we'll need people to sign on to help on the trains.  Remember this all year.

7)  Culverts.  We have several and we have been keeping them open so far.  But if you see one starting to plug up, you can clean it out before it gets too high behind it.  There's a long, 3 piece, rod affair that I made up with a corkscrew on the end of it to clean these out.  Remember!  Stay on the down stream side of the culvert and stay clear of it a bit lest you get swept away in the torrent that you'll be releasing when you unplug it and then end up somewhere in Cleveland (see the You Tube video I posted on this)

8)  Rail work.  We have (as I'm sure most of you know) a few low spots that need some tamping.  You'll need the 1078 to do this.  It has the track jacks in it. You simply raise the rails with these as high as you can and then use the tamping bars to work the ballast back under the ties.  This is by far the hardest job I've ever had to do!  Forrest won't even do it anymore with me because it takes it all out of you.  Remember to bring a spike maul with you to drive the spikes in first.  Otherwise you may just lift the rail and not the tie connected to it.  Beside, there's always several lose spikes that need to be driven in all up and down the tracks and as long as you're out there you might as well get them too :).

9)  Maintenance work.  For those of you that can, there's always plenty of broken stuff on the cars that need attention.  Toilets (an especially fun job), sinks, electric motors needing brushes, belts that break, etc.  There's always something.  Again, this is usually something that we do after the normal train operation when most others have gone home and we're in the mood to get this stuff done (which is needed most of the time by the way).   Oh yeah.  Cleaning.  We quite often go through the cars to do an extra good job of cleaning if we know we're going to have a special train soon or if it was too hard of a day for the crew to do it.

Expenses.  There's going to be some.  What I do is use my credit card or pay cash.  I retain the slip and send that in on an expense sheet when the time comes and get a check from the railroad to pay me back.  Yeah, I know, it's my money up front but I've been doing that for years now and it's that fact that I can get more done by doing this than anything else.  So if there's something you need to work, buy it and the railroad will pay you back. However, times are tough right now and you may have to wait a bit for reimbursement.  Also, anything over $50 requires a purchase order from headquarters.  Let Jill or Billy know on this so they can do it for you.  For paint and things, we buy that at Aubuchon.  Feel free to purchase what you need but let Billy or Jill know.

I'll be waiting for you with a beaver dam hook at the box car door J. 

Doug