February 2010

It has been very cold in North Conway these past few weeks, and the wind has been howling down the tracks and swirling around the coaches in the yard. Both towers on the North Conway station creak and groan like an old wooden ship when the winds are high, but it’s nice and warm inside where we are preparing for the coming season.

In the Roundhouse, we are concentrating our efforts on refitting our new dining car #492 the HATTIE EVANS (ex. N&W #492, Pullman Standard 1949). Bob Howland has completed most of the wiring, which is extensive, and Courtney Gregg has (among other things) been preparing the area where the generator set will be installed. The generator’s exhaust pipe is being routed through the kitchen space up to the roof. Court had a heck of a time drilling, grinding and sawing his way through the floor, the stainless steel counter top and two stainless shelves in the kitchen. Stainless is a very nice material that will last forever but it is much tougher to work with than mild steel. The crew is converting a linen closet into a rest room, and because of space limitations we are having a sink custom made for the space. Russ Seybold has been working with an interior decorator to achieve what we hope will be a “wow” factor when passengers first see the interior. The first booth has been constructed and will be arriving on site very soon for inspection and installation. We had a contractor make a large custom stainless steel hood to go over the stove and grill area. There is also a new 3 bay sink and cooler in the kitchen area. We only need to do about 2,000 more things and the car will be ready for service!

When the HATTIE EVANS is placed in service we plan to run it on the west end of the Notch train coupled to the CARROLL P. REED. The kitchen end of HATTIE will be closest to the locomotives and the dining room end will be coupled to the REED. Because the HATTIE has no vestibules, we probably will turn the REED around so we can use a set of its steps for easy access to HATTIE. There are access doors on both sides of the HATTIE in the kitchen end, but these are strictly for loading supplies and not for use by passengers. The plan calls for using the HATTIE EVANS on the 6 pm sunset train when demand for dining is more than can be accommodated on the Valley train’s dining car CHOCORUA. In order to accomplish this when the Notch train returns it will spot HATTIE on the passing track by the station and then put its train and engines away in the normal manner. When the valley train returns from Conway the crew will cut the train between GETRUDE EMMA and the CHOCORUA, go over and pick up HATTIE and put the train back together so that CHOCORUA and HATTIE are together, dining room to dining room. When the train returns to North Conway HATTIE will stay in the Valley train at the platform for the night. The next morning the car will be switched out of the Valley train. There are several ways to do this; we could cut GERTURDE EMMA off and take the rest of the consist down the hill and then spot HATTIE on the passing track in front of the station where it can easily be provisioned and serviced, or we could shove the Valley train back above the passing track switch by the 4268 and have the Notch power come and take the car from there. The Notch engines would then switch it into the consist before departing for Crawford. This will become a little more complicated when steam is running, but it won’t be long before a regular routine is established. Who knows, we might even have to add a regular North Conway Switcher job!

New carpet and ceiling material have been selected for #1329, Dome Car DORTHEA MAE and it will be installed before the month is out. All the seats will then be reinstalled and the car will get some new paint. Some work also will be done around the supply and holding tanks underneath the car, and we expect that it will be ready for service on opening day which is Saturday, April 17 this year.

Over at the Station we are going to do some work in the "Ladies' Lounge." The room is expected to get new wall board, new stainless partitions and fresh paint.

Thomas the Tank Engine™ will return to North Conway on July 9, 10, 11 and 16, 17, 18. Tickets are now on sale through our website ConwayScenic.com.

We had an excellent weekend at the Amherst Railway Society’s big Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Mass. We saw lots of old friends and made some new ones too. Attendance was over 21,000 this year. The main reason we go to the show is to talk with people about coming to visit the railroad, and we talked a lot. We also brought a few items from the gift shop where the biggest sellers were our new DVD ‘Winter Steam’ and our custom 2010 HO scale dome car “Dorthea Mae,” which are both available online.

While at the show we met with officials of the Mass Bay RR Enthusiasts who have asked us to run another "Steam in the Snow" special. Save the date: the fourth annual special will run on Sunday, January 2, 2011, and passenger space will be strictly limited to the six cars that we had on this years train.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support of Conway Scenic Railroad.

Remember, the next time you are about to travel over a railroad crossing or are trackside, ALWAYS EXPECT A TRAIN!