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 Archives: January, 2008 The 2007 operating season is over and we can rest - for a minute! We completed 32 round trips to the North Pole during the month of December and 8 of those trips were with steam. We also ran our Santa's Holiday Express trains on the weekends. It takes a lot of volunteers and employees to run all of those trains, and they all came through with a job extremely well done. On January 5, 2008, we ran our "Steam in the Snow" special, a Mass Bay RRE-sponsored trip to Sawyers River. Because of very heavy snow conditions, I decided to have GP7 #573 (equipped with pilot plows) take the train west to Sawyers River. Once at Sawyers River we uncoupled the #573, and #7470 took over to haul the train back to North Conway. With #7470 headed east, we had a proper train configuration with Parlor Car Gertrude Emma's observation deck on the west end of the train. The train consisted of #7470, coach #6739, first class coach #3234, CP Reed, Vista dome #1329, Dorthea Mae, and Pullman Observation car, Gertrude Emma on the rear end. It was kind of an eclectic mix of equipment. Maybe next time we can run an all day coach train with equipment from the 1920's which would better match #7470. Anyway, we made seven run-bys on the trip to North Conway, and I have already seen some really spectacular photos of the train at various locations. We had well over 100 paying passengers on board who all seemed to have a really good time. Thanks to all those who paid to ride this train (and those who bought "chase" packages) and to those who worked and volunteered to make this trip a success. We could not have done it without you! #7470s tender is now out in the parking lot at North Conway waiting to have its tank trucked over to Boothbay Railway Village in Maine where it will be rebuilt. We will separate the tank from the frames and wheels, and only the tank will go to BRV. The crew at BRV will replace the sides and bottom of the existing tank with new material while reusing the original top. The new tank will have a substantial amount of hot rivet work as well as a lot of welded areas. The idea is to have the rivet work look as close to original as is possible while welding areas that are not visible in order to conserve funds. We are also gearing up to get #6749 back on her trucks and into the shop to begin the process of getting this coach into service. As soon as wooden excursion coach #1557 is ready she will come out and #6749 will go in. It is also our hope to get Gertrude Emma into Stall #3 so that we can do some window frame and roof work on her. I am told that it will be a really tight fit because the doors for stalls #3 & #4 open inwards and because of that we might not be able to get the doors shut after she's in! I'll let you know next month how we made out. We look forward to seeing many of you at the Big Show in West Springfield at the end of the month, be sure to drop by the Conway Scenic Railroad booth and say Hello. The 2008 HO CSRR custom cars will be available for sale there. Happy New Year to all and be Safe,
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