Silver Lake Railroad

Spring Introduction

Tue, 01 May 2012 23:40:00 +0000

The Railroad Report

Spring Introduction

May 1st 2012

Hello Silver Lake Railroad Fans! So who else is excited for this upcoming season? I sure am! This year is looking to be a great one! With the spike in gas prices we are expecting our busiest year yet. It is likely people will opt for our local and affordable attraction. Our PR volunteer Marty Perreault is assisting me in really pushing the BY DONATION aspect of our railroad! It is definitely a big part of what makes our little operation so special and attractive!

I will start out with the good news. The Silver Lake RR will be open Memorial Day Weekend 2012. This is a first for our operation so we are hoping to have added another successful weekend to our already successful ten-summer weekend schedule! Bring your family down for a ride in May! More good news includes a new classic car for our garage: a recently restored 1955 Ford Thunderbird! We are also going to attempt to make our museum more interactive but I’ll write more on that in the following weeks!

Now I am afraid that I have to present you with the bad news. Our very special 1941 Sterling Diner will not be open for business this year. It unfortunately lost money in operation last year and was quite a drag on our small staff of volunteers. Fortunately there is a good side! We now invite you to bring your picnic lunches and eat inside the diner. This will still offer the same retro atmosphere for visitors to the railroad. Self serve Richie's Italian Ice, ice cream, soda and some other treats will be available as well. I am certainly mourning the loss of that Giffords Ice Cream but it should all work out in the end!

My last big piece of news is that we will be painting our newest Fairmont A6 in a great Heritage Scheme. I am really excited about this one! That’s about all I want to say on this at this time. More to come in the upcoming months!

Lastly Railfans Day is July 28th. The day’s schedule is as follows- we have photo specials departing at 9AM, 11AM, and 12:50PM. There will be a number of photo runby’s and our Heritage A6 will pull the train. At 5PM we welcome folks to tailgate at the railroad and eat inside the diner, followed by a 6:30PM Sunset Special. We would be delighted to have a night photo shoot, but are unable to locate a volunteer who has the necessary equipment. If you are or know anybody in this unique position, please let me know!

NOTE: that Cruise Nights start in Early June and will be held on Friday evenings through the summer!

Feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or concerns!

I hope to see you all soon!

Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer

silverlakerr@yahoo.com

Final 2011 Railroad Report

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:35:00 +0000

The Railroad Report

Years Final Report

Silver Lake Railroad

December 18th 2011

Well, my procrastination to write up this report was rather high this late fall. The trains at Silver Lake were wrapped up and my attention turned to the the model railroad. We’ll a month late, here is the years Final Railroad Report.

As far as I’m concerned, 2011 was our best season yet! We’ve accomplished the most, and our ridership has been higher than ever! In fact we filled almost every Friday Night and Saturday Night 5:30PM and almost every single Saturday and Sunday 12,1 and 2 PM rides. The 12PM was over booked many times and we reverted to running a second train pulled by the A8. I can’t remember a time when our other train rides (6:30PM and 3PM on the various days) were under 50%! Donation wise, this was our best year as well! I would like to specially thank Marty Perault and Camp Calumet for helping us accomplish this! Your efforts have been greatly appreciated this season!

So whats the schedule look like for next year? We have some minor changes coming next year. We wish to avoid operating on Saturday nights. Day time operations Saturday is a six hour day for us volunteers and as much as we love running the railroad, we still have family and friends to see Saturday Evenings. Since Friday Night was such a success we will continue Friday operations. Cruise Night was Saturday the past two seasons, but next year we have to move it to escape Saturday Evenings. My idea was to make it a week day, but there have been concerns about volunteers on weekdays. I can’t run the place alone, so we believe Cruise Nights will move to Fridays next year. This is not engraved in stone, but is the tentative plan as of yet. One last thing of mention. We’ve been given the idea of a night train ride, and I’ve taken a liking to that idea. We often take the Orange A6 out for night runs and it works very well. I know if we hauled a coach behind then people would absolutely love it. It could very well turn into a great special occasion thing for next year! Food for thought!

What’s the marketing plan for next year? Well we operated at an average of 85% capacity this year. Now let me be clear on this, we don’t want to go crazy. The SLRR is a very special place and it is not there to be a business. It’s purpose built to be a fun place for volunteers and a place where people can go have a special time without spending a lot of money. We want as many people to enjoy it as possible while maintaining that it isn’t too busy, so people will enjoy it for the gem it is. Nevertheless we always want to have a marketing strategy. Next year we plan to contact local camps and have them mention us and hand out our flyer's. If you have an idea for a local camp, please contact me via silverlakerr@yahoo.com Thanks!

There are a few other things I want to mention. Unfortunetly the Halloween Train was cancelled this year. We're looking to build an arsenal of volunters for the halloween train to be "gouls ghosts and goblins." At this point I'm looking to collect a list of names of people showing interest in helping. At this point YOU DO NOT have to commit to anything, just contact me via silverlakerr@yahoo.com with your name and contact and we will get back to you in August and see if you are still interested. Any interest is greatly appreciated. We do not want to see this event disappear!

In the media department, Pocket Mountain Video released "Track Cars on Parade." Owner Joe Bradley did a fantastic Job showcasing the SLRR (and it had the best possible host out there :] ). It would make an awesome Christmas gift for railfans alike! You can purchase that great film via http://www.PocketMountainVideo.com/track_cars_on_parade.html. Also we have a great new promotional video by Mark Thompson. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCtsGosX5Ww&feature=player_embedded.

Other than routine maintenance, we have a few plans for next year. The coolest being a new cross-buck. Our milepost guy- Ross Hall will be painting a replica of an enormous RR cross-buck from the Conway Branch. The wood is six feed long for each part of the cross-buck. This should come out fantastic. It will hang on the top of a rail in the air- like the B&M put them up, up to and over 100 years ago. There are a few other minor projects, but i plan to mention them as they near completion next year!

Here's what we accomplished this year!

1. Repaint of the Blue A6
2.Repaint of the SLRR cross-buck’s in the yard
3. Prep of our Green Display Train for new paint
4. Preliminary New stones in the garden
5. Repaint of the trolley- 90% complete
6. Repaint of all three SLRR coaches
7. A successful first railfans day
8. Fixing the the shoulder washout at MP B128.5 2011 in a whole.
9. Final Exact Repaint of our three B&MRR Mile Markers (Thanks Ross!)

Well, that was 2011 in a whole. Those nine things may look small on paper, but believe me, they took a lot of work! 2011 was a great year for the SLRR. I just want to take a moment to give a thanks to all who rode the train and contributed via donations. It is donations that allows us to continue operating and I think we all want to see the SLRR last for many years to come! Enjoy your winter and we’ll see all you SLRR fans next Summer!

Again, Thanks for a fantastic season! We look forward to a strong 2012 season!

Next RR Report is in the spring!

Have an enjoyable and safe, Winter and Holiday Season everyone!

Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer

NERFS Site Owner

Mid August RR Report

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:10:00 +0000

Silver Lake Railroad

The Railroad Report

Early August

The mid July report turned into a late July report, so there is not too much news for this report. To start off, Railfans Day was a huge success! Even though we were not able to ride the rare mileage, many of the railfan passengers have never rode our three miles of the Conway Branch. Essentially it was rare-mileage to them… Everybody seemed to have a great time! I was astonished over how busy we were. All of our paved lot, gravel lot and grass lot were filled. We had cars from the street to the freight house probably over one hundred cars! That’s a lot for our little railroad! This was an awesome “trial run” and we have a good idea of what to do next year!

For their help on railfans day, I want to thank Bill Willis and Ross Hall for operating the semaphore signal at the depot, Neil for running the freight train, Bruce Stuart for operating the railfan extras, CVRTC for allowing us to use their two flat cars, Dave Brown for help setting and promoting our Railfans Day, Doug Scott for suggesting a cool photo run-by location and anyone who I forgot who took part in this event!

In the paint department: Our three mileposts are officially complete and our blue engine has an awesome coat of paint on it. It’s a much better shade of blue than the previous shade!

New Hampshire Chronicle re-ran their episode about us on Thursday night and we’re expecting a busy weekend this weekend! This and next weekend are also Madison Old Homes Weekend, so it should be a super busy weekend! The A8 and third coach stand ready to depart form the depot!

That’s all for now SLRR fans! Thanks for reading the Railroad Report!

Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer

"Extra Extra, Read all about it...!"

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:35:00 +0000

Silver Lake Railroad

The Railroad Report

Extra Extra- Railfans Day Approaching fast!

I apologize for filling your inbox again, but here’s an extra railroad report!

Railfans Day is quickly approaching, and we haven’t filled all of our reservations yet! This is going to be an awesome day filled with photo opportunities. We will be using every piece of SLRR equipment with the exception of the dump car. We will also be borrowing CVRTC’s flat cars for our freight train.

There are many rare occurrences for this day. Our excursion train provides most train rides. Saturday, railfan extra riders will be able to ride behind our A8, a rare occasion, and see a freight train out and about on our line: a very rare occasion!

Below are the seats left on each train

10:30AM- 0 seats

12PM- 2 Seats

1PM- 6 Seats

We would like to fill these, so please reserve your railfan extra seat AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. RSVP via emailing silverlakerr@yahoo.com, or by calling 1-978-470-2066

NOTE:

1) The 10:30 is the best run for photo opportunities!

2) We apologize for not being able to offer the rare mileage as we had previously hoped/planned. An insurance issue came up and we could not solve it in time!

3) The excursion train will still be operating Saturday at 12, 1, 2, 3, 5:30, 6:30 with a maximum of 40 passengers per ride!

Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer

The Railroad Report- Mid July

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:26:00 +0000

Silver Lake Railroad

The Railroad Report

Mid July

We have been busy lately working on the Silver Lake Railroad! Sorry about the delay to deliver this report. I’m very happy with the way our 2011 season is going! Our excursion train rides are for the most part no longer weather permitting! We installed florta-glass (I’ve miswritten this in the past, I hope the spelling is correct now) on the top of our two excursion train coaches. Florta-glass is similar to a shower curtain but stops UV rays.

Most rain comes in through the trellis roof and the open ends of the cars. Now that the roof is covered we will hang a shower curtain on the ends of the cars on a rope. This rope can be removed for sunny days and put back on when the weathermen forecast rain. It is a great fix to an annoying problem! I must mention we refuse to run in lightning (for obvious reasons), and in heavy downpours because the sides will still be open for heavy rain to blow in and our rear-wheel drive A6 only has so much traction on wet rails.

The mileposts are nearing completion! One side left to go on Intervale 13.We want to give a special thanks to Ross Hall on the extensive work he did on this project. Between contact with the B&MRRHS for info on the markers on the way to cutting stencils and eventually painting the mile markers, he has done a fantastic time-consuming job! We also want to note that Ross will paint B 126 / I 14 (the milepost near Silver Lake) in case we ever extend southbound. It’s nice to see these mileposts looking so remarkable! Another piece of B&M Railroad history saved!

We spent the bulk of last week repainting our three passenger cars. They were not too bad, but needed a spruce-up. The Green portion and red trim on the lower half of the three coaches were painted last week. The red vertical posts, which support the ceiling, were completed by Tuesday. All that is left is the interior, a bit of touch-up, and the sideboards of the passenger cars (The boards without paint, on top of the wall where the vertical support beams begin).

This year we have slowed the train down quite a bit. At maximum we reach ten miles per hour and average seven and a half mph. but we travel slowly through the vistas. I was opposed to the idea at first but I now see how this eliminates almost all of the shaking we had in the coaches. The ride is much more pleasant and comfortable for riders. The ride has been extended by five to ten minutes and we only travel to our second Davis Pond vista where milepost Intervale 11 / Boston 129 is located. Don’t worry because that only cuts out a quarter mile of lackluster scenery. Note that we will travel to Boulder Rd. upon request!

Our Classic Car Cruise nights are doing well this summer! We have started a 50/50 raffle for 2011. While I am not a fan of having a 50/50 (especially after I didn’t win with my 7 tickets), I like how this funds our door prizes. We hand out door prizes to lucky classic Car owners. They get a number while entering and if they’re lucky they win a prize. We give out car wax and car wash, etc. and the kind classic car people are happy to receive the gift. About one in four car owners win something! The more raffle tickets we sell the more prizes we hand out, so come on down and support the railroad / cruise nights in this fashion!

Our July 30th Railfans Day is coming up soon! Unfortunately we will not be able to offer the rare mileage past Boulder Rd. An insurance issue came up and we could not solve it in time. There’s always next year. With that said what we have planned is awesome. I don’t want to spoil the surprise so I won’t go into too much detail. There will be extras, photo opportunities, and more! We have a few seats left on the 10:30AM, 12 and 1PM but we are running out fast. All I will say is if you’re a railfan and haven’t signed up yet, you better sign up soon! The rides are still by Advance Reservation Only. RSVP ASAP via silverlakerr@yahoo.com or by calling 1-978-470-2066. We have 23 seats total left between the three extras. We apologize about the rare mileage. If you wish to cancel your reservation let us know! Thanks!

As always, thank you for reading the Railroad Report and if there are any questions or comments please send me an email via silverlakerr@yahoo.com!

Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer

Early July Railroad Report

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:44:00 +0000

Silver Lake Railroad

The Railroad Report

Early July

The SLRR is now open and I’m excited! J Our little railroad just gets better and better every year and this year the area is looking fantastic! This year we’ve added Friday night trains! Friday night trains will depart the depot at 5:30 and 6:30PM. Our diner will be open Fridays from 4PM to 8PM. We hope the Friday night events will grow into a popular outing for the railroad. Time will tell!

Our complete schedule for the trains this year is Friday, 5:30, 6:30 PM, Saturday 12, 1, 2, 3, 5:30, 6:3 0PM and Sunday 12, 1, 2, 3 PM. Our diner hours are Friday 4PM to 8PM, Saturday 12PM to 8PM, and Sunday 12PM to 5PM. We will be refurbishing our diner page in the next few weeks. I keep prolonging this, but I’ll get to it.

We have been busy lately in the paint department. This past week we painted the maroon entranceways to the diner and north and south excursion train loading platforms. We are currently giving our blue A6 a much-needed fresh coat of paint. It will look fantastic when completed and our mileposts are almost complete. B127 and B128 are done and B129 is left. It’s cool to see this progress, and serves as more eye candy for excursion train passengers. One of the more time consuming projects was repainting our Silver Lake Railroad white X sign. This is up by the freight house. The paint was peeling and it was in disrepair. It now looks fantastic!

Professional photographer Kristin Woodman came up and took some fantastic photos for us over the 4^th of July weekend! They are on facebook and here is the link http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.245771568771937.79420.165182730164155.

In recent news the local paper the Mountain Ear wrote a terrific little article about us. The article is on page eight. Take a look at it via http://www.newhampshirelakesandmountains.com/pdf/MTN.2011.07.07.pdf. We now anticipate a busy weekend this weekend! We want to thank Rachel Brown for that awesome article!

That’s all for now folks! We’re open so come pay us a visit and we hope to see you soon!

As always thanks for reading the Railroad Report and is there are any questions or comments please send me an email via silverlakerr@yahoo.com!

Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer

PS. Thanks to Hunt and Caitriona for allowing us to publish this from your porch :)

Mid June Pre-Season RR Report

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:45:00 +0000

Mid June Pre-Season Report

Silver Lake Railroad The Railroad Report Mid June It’s hard to believe its mid-June already! Preparation for the 2011 season is going great! We have prepared a photo album showcasing our progress up to the date of this Report. It is located at http://www.silverlakerailroad.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=11674517 . We are also happy to be receiving so many email comments and questions about the railroad. It is good to see interest in the SLRR is growing!

Our new signs are now complete. We have five for the station area and four for the local roadside. Hopefully these will attract a few more people to our little railroad! There are photos of these signs in the paragraph above. In terms of painting we need to complete our mileposts before July 1st and we wish to paint our original yard-limit’s sign, locate just north of the freight house. We located that when cutting the area a few years ago and it would look great all painted up! We also would like to grab the old Boulder Rd RR crossing sign now buried in the woods. We’ll get it painted up like it was 50+ years ago and put it back or place it in the station area.

Our line is in need of a mow, but unfortunately we have postponed this until next weekend due to the rain. I hope the rain comes now, not later. As you ay know when our train gets stuck in a storm the passengers unfortunately get soaked. We will overcome this issue this year by placing porta-glass (pardon my spelling) on top of the trellis roof. While this still wont allow us to run in the rain, it could help passengers stuck in a storm!

This past weekend, we cleaned all the windows in the station. All of the photo’s are up and the place is really looking fantastic! The museum is all set for the season! Operations manager Bruce found some antique track equipment for the museum, which will help add to the historic setting. This equipment includes tie tongs, guerrilla wrenches for the track-joint bolts, and much more. This is rare antique equipment and yet another reason to come visit the SLRR! We have started cleaning up the diner for the season. It has a long way to go, but we almost have it cleaned up enough for the season! The diner opens July 1st. The tentative schedule will be Friday 4-8, Saturday 12-8 and Sunday 12-5.

We will be refurbishing the SLRR diner page on our site. That should be completed for the beginning of the season! We have been working on a series of short films highlighting our progress, events, etc. We plan to release a video every 2-4 weeks this summer and it will be called the 2011 SLRR video series. The first episode- “Spring Cleanup” will be out soon enough.

We have recently released an awesome promotional film on our homepage. It’s one minute long and I think it does a great job of explaining the railroad in a brief and interesting manner. This will replace the old three-minute promo on our homepage. The old promo can be seen in our video gallery and YouTube channel. Here is the link to the 2011 Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAxq3fCQWWM&feature=player_embedded .

We are trying to promote membership for our website. As most who read this newsletter know, we don’t fill your mailbox with junk, just railroad news. We ask for your support in the railroad, simply by encouraging family and friends to sign up! They can sign up via this link http://www.silverlakerailroad.com/apps/auth/signup .

Reservations for our Railfans Day are starting to take off! The 12PM is half full, and the 10:30 AM and 1PM still have plenty of openings. If you want to travel past Boulder Rd, 2.5 miles past the returning point of our Excursion Train, make sure to sign up today before we fill up!

This is a incredibly rare opportunity. For more info check www.silverlakerailroad.com/railfansday.htm That’s all for now folks! Remember we will be running trains on Fridays at 5:30 and 6:30PM and we begin July 1st. if you have any questions or comments please send me an email at silverlakerr@yahoo.com!

Next RR Report is in July!

Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer

1st 2011 Season Report

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 23:13:00 +0000

1st 2011 Season Report

I for one sure am happy that the 2011 season is almost here! We have a slew of things that we plan to add this year to the railroad, online, etc. as well as many projects that need to be completed. It was my intention through the winter to publish this report in the beginning of April, but I decided to hold off until now when we would have more information on the upcoming season.

First I'd like to write about the winter. The trains may have ben silent on the siding, wrapped up with snowmobilers zipping up and down our line, but we the volunteers have been busy. Operations manager Bruce has been working on our forth Fairmont A6. He hopes to have it completed in the next few weeks. This will serve as our second train's locomotive power, sharing the duty with the A8 which was restored for last season. This locomotive will also share use with the A8 as a recovery locomotive. It will have the power and tractive effort to retrieve any broken down train stuck out on the line. Owner Neil has been busy with the state renewing our line lease. I (Will) have been busy finding new ideas on how to direct more tourists onto NH113 and into our trains as well as remaking some of the pages on this site and planning Railfans Day 2011. Our milepost painter Ross Hall has been in contact with the Boston and Maine RR Historical Society discussing how exactly the B&M RR painted the mileposts on our line. He has also found out that northbound trains read I # (for Intervale). He has completed stencils for the "I" side of the mileposts as well as the "B" side of the mileposts. We plan to have this 100% completed this spring.

For the most part our line survived the winter well. Memorial Day WKND was our first work weekend. We accomplished a lot. For some photos from the weekend see this link: http://www.silverlakerailroad.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=11674517. One of the bearings in the transmission in our Excursion Train's A6 was whining, so we pulled it and sent of to the mechanic over the weekend. While the transmission is out we will install a new clutch as well. The Blue A6's air compressor quit, so we replaced it. Stone was spread in front of the depot and it looks great. At the first beaver pond we installed a new culvert which should fix any problems there. At the location of last fall's washout we tamped the tracks. The line is all set for the season with the acceptation of a few low branches!

Our basic list of projects for the season includes installing a new electric fuel pump in our A8, A new floor in our A8, painting the floor in our Blue A6 with enamel. We plan to paint all three coaches, the EXC train A6, Blue A6, and the trolley. We are considering running the trolley on the other side of NH113 by Silver Lake. The mileposts are promised to be completed by the end of June. I kept mentioning this last year, but I've been assured we will install new whistles in our main loco's. Bruce our operations manager has two steam-engine-like whistles. The best will go on our primary A6, and the second best will go on our soon-to-be newly refurbished A6, and the current horn on the EXC train A6 will go on our A8. That will leave all of our loco's with a good working horn. We just need some bells now!

I have a lot of interesting things to report that will happen this year. First off we plan to now run two friday night trains at 5:30 and 6:30PM. What I think is the most interesting is July 30th where we plan to have a Railfans Day! This will be a great day with many extras, and a chance for 60 railfans/ riders to ride the extra rare mileage up to Colemans Pit. Three of the days trains will allow you to do this but they are all by "Advance Reserve Only." Seats may fill fast so visit our railfans day page and reserve your seat. http://www.silverlakerailroad.com/railfansday.htm. I want to note that this rare mileage trip is essentially a once-in-a-lifetime trip! RSVP ASAP because I have a feeling these will fill up super fast!

Online this year we have reached well over 1100 friends on facebook!, as well as over 20 subscribers on YouTube. We intend to launch a slew of SLRR films this year, so please subscribe to our YouTube Channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/SilverLakeRailroad Keep a lookout for the new video series coming this year. I would also like to mention that i intend to have a 2011 Photo of The Week and post it around the SLRR links.

We ask all Silver Lake Railroad fans to do us a favor and write us a review on google via http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=15719571010000531832&q=silver+lake+railroad+madison+nh&hl=en&dtab=0&sll=43.888228,-71.173314&sspn=0.024072,0.053733&ie=UTF8&ll=43.905375,-71.218786&spn=0,0&t=h&z=14 . This would be a great help!

We are also accepting any ideas on how to promote the SLRR. We all want to see the SLRR grow and live strong for many years to come, and we wish to add clients to our roster as well as keep all our fans coming back for a ride time and time again. We love seeing your happy faces when you disembark! It truly is a hidden gem, and if you have any ideas on how to make it a little less hidden, please email silverlakerr@yahoo.com!

Thats pretty much all for now folks. Help us have another successful fifth year in 2011! We hope to see you around the railroad, and as always if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at silverlakerr@yahoo.com!

As always thanks for reading The Railroad Report!

SLRR Volunteer Will Scopa

SLRR Pictures

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 13:54:00 +0000

We have noticed that some of the pictures did not work through the emails sent out so here is the link to the Album "SLRR: Filling A Washout"

http://www.silverlakerailroad.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=10485580

We have also taken some pictures of the Filled Washout. This link to that picture Album is here: http://www.silverlakerailroad.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=10516892

-Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer

SLRR Washout News / Update

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 04:58:00 +0000

SLRR Washout Update

Thanks to the volunteers who helped fill the washout and workers from the state our washout is now filled.

On Monday and Tuesday 11-22 and 11-23, Two state employees, a member of the snowmobile club and our operations manager Bruce Stuart worked to fill the washout on our line.

Here's how it happened- After we close for the season, we rarely do track and line inspections. The "busy beavers" got to work very quickly, and nearly completely clogged our 5*7 ft. culvert. One of the passing rain storms raised the level of the beaver pond to over the culvert ceiling and the water pushed on the soft sand that was underneath the ballast. (soft sand was in that location because that section of track had laid dormant and washed-out for nearly 15 years, and the sand was brought ashore. (we filled it in 2008 ) The State has cleared their culvert (line is owned by State of NH- we only own nearly 1000 feet of track), and provided us with fill and labor. We completed fixing this washout on tuesday 11-23-10. Picture of the filled washout are linked below along with captions written by operations manager Bruce Stuart and I!

Thanks to all who helped out on Monday and Tuesday!

Photos: credit to Joe Sheehan

Joe Sheehan Loads The First of Many

It took a joint effort by the SLRR, NH Bureau of Trails, Ossipee Valley Snowmobile Club, and Colemans Sand and Gravel to accomplish this washout fill.

Workers Starting to fill the Washout

SLRR Operations Manager Bruce Stuart and Trails Bureau member Josh utilize the 1931 Anthony bodied hydraulic dump cart to start filling in the washed area.

Fill Starts Taking Shape

The fifth load of a fifty three total loads.

Positioning Dump Car Over Fill

Rail was jacked and four by four pillars were cut, sized, and placed on the eastern side of the track for support.

Continued Dumping of Fill

The heaviest rains and cold temperatures prevailed on monday, but the fill continued throughout the day.

Frank Spreads Gravel

Trails Bureau member Frank spreads fill through the washout. It took two eleven hour- four man work days to complete the project.

Support Pillars Used On Every Other Tie

The washout encompassed fifty linear feet by three feet of depth and ten feet of width. Pillars were needed in order to support the work train. (Blue A6 and Dump Car)

Fill Arrives Monday Morning

A total of 110 yards of gravel were needed to fill the washout. A Colemans truck delivered the fill to boulder Rd on monday morning at 9AM. Colemans input toward this project was essential.

Work Train Shuttles Gravel

This was one of fifty-three total loads. The Washout was approximately three quarters of a mile south of Boulder Road around MP B128.5. We were able to pick up the load, shuttle it, dump it, and spread it at approximately three loads an hour.

Loaded Dump Car

Without this piece of equipment, projects such as this one would be extremely difficult to accomplish.

Unloading Dump Car

Starting to build out the shoulder.

-Will Scopa

SLRR Volunteer