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 Archives: May 4, 2008 I am pleased to report that we were finally able to get the railroad opened from Conway to Bartlett just two days before we opened for the season on April 19. The amount of snow that had to be moved was incredible. The CSRR crew (& the pilot plows on #573) did an outstanding job of rising to the occasion. On opening day we made two round trips to Kennett Middle School in Conway operating 'The Spring Sock Hop Express' for the benefit of the North Conway Community Center. Passengers enjoyed a family friendly show in the gym before returning to North Conway. Over at the Roundhouse the crew removed a damaged air compressor from our B23-7 and it was sent off to have its flexible couplings salvaged for use on a rebuilt unit that will soon be on its way to us from Power Rail Distribution in Connersville, IN. As part of restoring #1943 (ex-QBT #23) to service we removed the starting batteries from #2820 and placed them in #1943. In order to make some room in the yard and to improve the equipment display we have done some rearranging around the turntable. The two 44 tonners have been moved over one track to the longest stub track off the turntable. The 470 clubs steam locomotive #501 was pulled off of her long term storage track and reunited with her tender on the track where the 44 tonners had been and finally #2820 has been placed on #501s old track beside RPO #409. It gives the turntable area a fresh new look. CSRR has purchased an operating Budd Car from the New York Susquehanna & Western Railway. The car is an RDC-1 which was built for the New Haven Railroad in 1952 as their #23. It became Penn Central #68, then Amtrak #18, then Metro North #18 and was then sold to the NYSW where it was numbered M-5. As is Conway Scenic tradition the unit will revert to its original number and become CSRR #23 (the B23-7 will become #1943). We expect to have the unit available for service shortly after it arrives and will use it for possible extra trips to Conway at peak times during the summer and as an extra coach on the Notch train during Fall Foliage. The unit has two Detroit 6-110 engines coupled to Allison torque converters. Both of the engines and transmissions were extensively rebuilt just before the car was taken out of service on the NYSW. Private excursions with this car are a definite possibility; it currently has a capacity of 74 passengers. The tank for #7470's tender is about 2/3 complete up at Boothbay Railway Museum and should be finished by the end of May. We have heard that long time FRA Motive Power & Equipment inspector Paul Furman is about to retire. We hope that he will be able to do the annual inspection on #7470 for us one last time and we wish him a long and satisfying retirement. CSRR has just acquired a third Hy-Rail truck from Fast Track in Lincoln, NH. This one is equipped with a rail greasing system called Robolube. The white box in the bed of the truck contains the grease and the apparatus for moving it to the railhead. We expect to save a lot of wheel and rail wear through this investment and maybe save a bit of fuel too. The old adage goes that 'oil (in this case grease) is cheaper than steel'. The truck will carry No. 204 and will be regularly assigned to the track inspector. Bids will soon be going out for the redecking of Frankenstein Trestle. The job should be completed before we begin Notch Operations in June of 2009. On April 29th the NH DOT held a 'Track Class' for MOW and other interested employees of NH railroads. The meeting was held at the North Conway Fire Station, about 30 representatives from area railroads were in attendance. Bob Davids a retired FRA track inspector was the primary instructor. Over at the station it has been determined that the present manual Dining car reservation & ticketing operations will be incorporated into the existing computerized system that we have for regular tickets. Once completed, patrons will be able to make dinner & lunch reservations 24/7 on-line, thus insuring seating well in advance of their arrival at the station. Over the past two years CSRR has made a huge investment in it's computer and on-line capabilities and in the training of its personnel in an effort to better serve our many patrons. Speaking of dining, CSRR is going to doubling its dining car capacity, but more on that next month. As always thank you for your interest in and support of Conway Scenic Railroad. BE SAFE,
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