Making Tracks - Spring 2015

MAKING TRACKS              http://steamtrainride.com              The Newsletter of the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum

 Locomotive # 15’s Boiler Overhaul Underway

As soon as the New Year’s festivities were completed, volunteers began working in earnest on overhauling the locomotive’s boiler. Harold Borovec and Bret Bryan are overseeing the extensive project with help from master mechanic Luke Johnson. The work involves inspecting the boiler, making repairs discovered by the inspection, and replacing the boiler's flue tubes. As time permits, the many valves on the locomotive are being refurbished and appliances such as the air compressor and dynamo will be inspected and overhauled.

The car barn was reconfigured to make a work area. The two open passenger cars are now stored outside to make room in the barn for two flatcars. The flatcars are placed side by side with decking placed between them to create a safe and convenient storage and work area. To get started, crews removed the domes on top of the locomotive, removed the jacketing and insulation, pulled out the ‘superheater’ tubes, removed the brick from the firebox, cut out the old flue tubes, and removed the valves and gauges from the cab. Next, the outside of the boiler was marked off in grids for the ultrasound test that will determine metal thickness and integrity.

Volunteers spent well over 150 hours grinding off old welding metal from of each of the 454 holes in the flue sheets and spent several weeks inside the boiler using a needle gun to remove the scale and rust.

This project is quite involved and labor intensive. As of this writing, the project is behind schedule because of a shortage of volunteers who can work during the week. Estimated completion date is now early May. Please consider donating as much help as you can. There are many tasks that do not require special knowledge or great physical strength. The tasks for the day depend on the available materials and supervisory expertise. If you can help, please contact Harold Borovec at 360 748 8273 or Bret Bryan at 360 606 5346 to schedule your workday. Your help is much appreciated.

             http://steamtrainride.com  

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Boiler overhaul in progress pictures

Around the Yard and Along the Track

It has been a busy winter. Bill Thompson made great progress in cleaning up the yard. Bill and crew disposed of unneeded items, sorted spare track parts by type and condition, and stacked them on pallets. He also moved oil from barrels into large plastic totes, which will keep the yard looking better and be a more environmentally friendly way to store and move oil.

The annual ritual of blowing leaves from the track and removing brush, hazard trees and limbs continues. Inspectors from the Federal Railroad Administration dropped by and inspected the track on December 30 and 31. The inspectors found no violations, but did note several minor items that need correction such as loose bolts, a poor drainage area, vegetation encroaching on and near the tracks (safety hazard for track workers), and a broken bridge handrail, and debris on a trestle. Mike Beehler developed a system to document the corrections as we make them. We expect all items will be corrected in the next few months.

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What a Spooktacular Time Ghosts and goblins, princesses and princes, monsters and magicians all have a spooktacular time aboard the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum’s annual October Pumpkin Trains. All rides on both days were filled to capacity with children as well as adults dressed in their Halloween costumes. All children received goodie bags filled with candy treats as they exited the train to pick out their perfect pumpkins in the CCRM meadow nearby.

Many thanks to event coordinator Connie Prevallet and all the volunteer ghosts and goblins who helped make this event possible.

Steam Train Season Opens on May 23 Please make plans to ride the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum’s steam train during the regular season, which starts May 23 and runs through August 30 on Saturdays and Sundays, and September 5 through Septembers 26 on Saturdays only. The 1¼ hour ride to Milburn departs the depot at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The 1¾-hour Ruth Riverview Ride departs at 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Fares for the 2015 season are: • Milburn: Adults $14, Seniors $13, Children

$11 (ages 4-15) • Ruth: Adults $17, Seniors $16, Children

$14 (ages 4-15) • Children: 3 years and younger ride free • Cab rides: $40

Frequent riders may benefit from the $60 family season pass. The pass is valid for the pass holder, spouse and dependent children for any regular excursion train. Mark your Calendars for these Special Events in 2015:

• May 10 Mother’s Day Brunch Train • May 10 Mother’s Day Dinner Train • June 21 Father’s Day Dinner Train • July 11 Kids’ Day • July 12 Senior’s Day & Dinner Train • July 25 Special Needs Train • July 25 Murder Mystery Dinner Train • Aug. 1 Dinner Train • Aug. 15 Dinner Train • Aug. 29 Murder Mystery Dinner Train • Sept. 5 Dinner Train • Sept. 19 Dinner Train • Sept. 26 Murder Mystery Dinner Train • Oct. 24 & Oct. 25 Pumpkin Trains • Oct. 25 Murder Mystery Dinner

Train • Nov. 27-Dec. 20 The Polar Express ™

(Reservations required) (Fri., Sat., Sun.)

• Dec. 5-Dec. 13 Santa Steam Train (Sat. & Sun.)

Dinner trains also carry excursion passengers to Ruth.

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Operation Polar Express is a Huge Success

Polar Express* trains are the most popular of all our special events. Tickets for the Express sold out in September, just three weeks after going on sale. Twenty-three sold out trains carried nearly 2500 parents, grandparents, and children of all ages on a holiday adventure. Polar Express trains are a great draw to the area, bringing people from the Puget Sound area as well as areas east of the Cascades, and folks visiting from other states. The event also strengthens our ties to the local community by involving many community volunteers. It takes thousands of volunteer hours to create that Polar Express Magic.

Melanie Case, our volunteer coordinator for the event, explains:

“When passengers ride the rails to the North Pole on CCR&M’s annual Polar Express Trains, their unique holiday experience seems to come together magically, with little effort.” Well, appearances can be deceiving! Thanks to nearly 500 community volunteers who logged at least 3,000 volunteer hours this year, the 23 Polar Express Train Rides went off without a hitch. This year’s volunteers were a mix of veteran staffers as well as new volunteers. It is quite challenging to gather so many volunteers during the busy holiday season, yet we couldn’t offer this wonderful experience without our awesome and dedicated volunteers

Some volunteers were very visible, helping passengers locate their seats on the train, serving hot chocolate and cookies, leading songs and reading the story. The United Way of Lewis County was very helpful in locating potential volunteers. United Way publicized the volunteer opportunities and then forward potential volunteer contacts to me. Many individuals and volunteer groups make the railroad experience a holiday tradition. For the last several years, Umpqua Bank, the Adna Middle/ High School Drama Club, Sertoma, and Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund have enthusiastically formed teams to work in the coaches for the train rides.

We also had several individuals who were willing to fill in at the last minute when we had emergency cancellations. Catherine and Collin McCord, Linda and Dick Morrison and the Zander family really came to the rescue when we were low on onboard volunteers.

Others helped out behind the scenes by decorating the coaches and depot, building the North Pole and setting it up, lighting the North Pole every night, bagging cookies, making hot chocolate every night, making food for volunteers, and cleaning up each night. In addition to individual volunteers, some community partners, such as Pacific Mobile helped out by providing a volunteer shelter, and Wendy’s and the Kit Carson Restaurant donated soup for volunteers.”

Now let’s go behind the scenes to see what our out-of-sight volunteers did.

The North Pole

In late October, the walls and supports for the buildings were removed from storage and delivered to the building site located on property owned by CCR&M members. On November 1st, Bret Bryan guided the construction team in erecting the buildings. Bill Thompson, Mindy Bryan, Bill and Laura Deutscher, Dave LaClair, Rikki Burchett, Rick Burchett, Jeff Galleher, and four Lewis County inmates worked under Bret’s direction to create, with a little imagination, what looks like a miniature Hollywood studio backlot. The buildings consist only of a front and two sides, supported by 2x4 props anchored into the ground. After the structures were up, lights attached, and some Christmas trees assembled, Mindy Bryan treated the crew to a hot lunch.

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The crew was then dismissed, and Mindy and Laura used their creative talents to finish decorating with garlands, more lights, trees, mechanical reindeer, and other beautiful stuff. Bret Bryan set up portable generators and engineered the wiring scheme for the lights, installed steps to help Santa board the train, and installed markers to help the train crew position the train at the pole.

The Rail Yard Back at the yard, Laura Deutscher coordinated the coach decorating. Laura and others removed the tables from the diner, decorated the coaches, installed easy to read seat numbers, and installed lights on the ends of the train to light the track for train movements. Mike Beehler, the event coordinator, repaired and configured the sound system. Laura, Wanda Thompson, and others decorated the depot, cleaned the platform, and stocked the shelves with Polar Express souvenirs. The mobile shelter was delivered and Bill Thompson installed the power cables to it. We are almost ready to go.

Our Director For the second consecutive year, Mike Beehler accepted the challenge of ensuring that all the elements for a successful event came together, from planning through the un-decorating. We operate Polar Express trains under a license administered by the company Rail Events. The terms of the license require that we do some things a certain way. For example, when serving the hot chocolate, we must play the chocolate song from the movie and the servers must dress in waiter’s coats like in the movie. One of Mike’s big challenges was to create a timing plan for the order of events and to brief each onboard volunteer to ensure that we did things correctly. The sound system is critical to the event. This year Mike led the effort to upgrade the sound system by installing an easy to use and reliable CD player in each coach. He also got a CD with the Polar Express story read by the book’s author that could be used if desired, and got oversized books to make the pictures easier for people to see. Although we use an Internet vendor for ticket sales, Mike handled waiting list ticket sales, a task that turned out to be very time consuming. In order to keep families and groups seated together as much as possible, Mike spent about 2 hours per train making out the seating assignments.

The coordinator’s job demands a lot of time and comes with a lot of stress. Do we have all the volunteers we need? Will the sound system keep working? Did I make a mistake in the seating assignments that cost a passenger a ride? Are all the supplies on board? Is the train as clean as it should be? How long can we wait for the people who are late?

Despite the work and stress, Mike survived. When asked about the experience, Mike said “The best part of the job was seeing the Polar Express passengers so excited and very happy when Santa came on board. I am pleased to know we brought a great deal of happiness to people from far and near, and at the same time ensured a revenue stream to help our Association to make needed improvements and equipment repairs”.

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Happy New Year

But it isn’t over yet. The first week in January a crew arrives at the North Pole to take the decorations down, disassemble the buildings and load them onto a truck for transport to the yard. Bret, Laura, and Mindy pack up the decorations and store them. Bret rolls up the wiring and stores the generators. Back at the yard, the depot and coaches are undecorated. The decorations are inspected, sorted, and organized, and then stored, ready for next year, when the Polar Express will roll again.

*Polar  Express  book  and  characters  TM  &  ©  1985  by  Chris  Van  Allsburg.    Polar  Express  film  TM  &  ©  Warner  Bros.  Entertainment  Inc.      

CCR&M Loses Dear Friend

Garrett Weeks, a lifelong Lewis County resident, was born July 6, 1997, and passed away Dec. 7, 2014, surrounded by his family and friends. Garrett was a life long train fan with knowledge of all types of trains. Garrett started coming to see CCR&M trains at about 4 years of age. It didn’t matter if they were moving or not. He nicknamed the coaches Annie and Clarabel, after Thomas the Tank Engine’s coaches. When interviewed by a Chronicle reporter, she was amazed by his train knowledge at such a young age. As the years went by, Garrett came to ride the CCR&M train whenever he could talk his nurse, a parent or friend into bringing him. After a train ride, he would often have a circle of people around him, giving them a lesson on steam locomotives, especially about the #15. Garrett especially enjoyed being in the cab of the locomotive whenever possible. Garrett had train sets of all kinds around the house. For his birthday all he wanted was several different locomotives. Garrett made friends wherever he went, never meeting a stranger. Garrett will be greatly missed by all of us at the CCR&M, since he was such a special young man to all of us.

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Here we are just over 2 months into the new year ---- and about 2 months into the rebuild of #15. To date we have had over 400 hours volunteered by just a few members and friends. THANKS SO MUCH! They would really appreciate seeing more of you there to help. They work Monday through Friday with some working on Saturdays. Give Harold Borovec or Bret Bryan a call if you want to make sure someone is working. The inmates have also been a big help with a “dirty job”.

Track work has also been happening. The FRA inspected the track, and the trestles and bridges were inspected. Mike, Jeff, & Dave (sorry if I left out others) have been working to repair a few places on the tracks and have been blowing leaves off the tracks and cutting back the blackberries. We will soon be working to repair the washout near milepost #0, under the freeway overpass. The Port of Chehalis was not able to apply for FEMA funds to repair the washout, so it looks like it will be up to CCR&M to do the repair work – once again. So, we will need MORE help to get this accomplished in a timely manner. The yard maintenance crew has been working to get things cleaned up. Brush, stump, and other trash have been loaded and is headed to my burn pile at home.

Thanks to Mike and all of the other volunteers for another successful Polar Express™. It takes a lot of work, but seeing the look on the kid’s faces when they see Santa Claus makes it all worth it. (We do have one more year on our contract.)

We do appreciate all of you who have volunteered this past year and hope you will come and help us again during our 2015 operating season. We always welcome not only returning volunteers but new volunteers as well. If you know of someone who would like to come and give us a hand, please invite them to come join us. We can find a position for everyone!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year in 2015.

Bill Thompson CCR&M President

Editor’s note: Jobs are available for everyone, no experience required. Harold or Bret will find tasks that match your skill level and the day’s needs. Please call Bret at 360 606 5346 or Harold at 360 748 8273

CCR&M Board of Directors Ray Beaber Harold Borovec Ron Burton Bill Deutscher Corilee Taylor Bob Prevallet Rick Brurchett CCR&M Officers Bill Thompson, President Mike Beehler, Vice-President Wanda Thompson, Secretary & Treasurer CCR&M Depot 1101 SW Slyvenus St. Chehalis, WA 98532 (360) 748-9593 [email protected] Mailing Address: 1945 S. Market Blvd. Chehalis, WA 98532 CCR&M Association Meets 7 p.m. Second Wednesday of every Month Lewis County Fire District 6, Station 1 2123 Jackson Hwy. Chehalis, WA 9853

THANK YOU

A big Thank-You goes out to the Dirty Thumb Nursery for once again supplying trees and support for the North Pole for

the Polar Express™ events.

It is very much appreciated!!

From the President

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Be Prepared, the Scouts are Coming

This May CCR&M will host Boy Scouts from around the Puget Sound Region for their Railroading Merit Badge Clinic. The clinic offers scouts the special opportunity to fulfill their merit badge requirements in a real railroad environment. The day is filled with demonstrations, presentations, and activities on topics such as railroad operation, railroad safety, types of trains and their purpose, types of rail cars and their purpose, and railroading as an occupation. CCR&M will provide the grounds, facilities, advice, and a train-ride. The program will be organized and lead by two of our local scout troops. Having merit badge day at CCR&M will increase the organizations exposure and could help develop closer ties to the scouts and other youth groups that will be mutually beneficial. If you know of a scout or scout troop who would like more information on the program, please contact Mr. Scott Nelson, the program coordinator at 253-740-6765.

Visit our website http://steamtrainride.com

and under special trains look for details on the following.

Mother's Day Brunch Train

Pumpkin Trains

Other Special Events

Murder Mystery Dinner Trains

Chartering a private car or even an entire train

A thrilling ride in the cab

To reserve, call 360.748.9593.

Santa Steam Trains and the world famous Polar Express

Tickets will be available for purchase online only. Polar Express and Santa Steam Train tickets are expected to be on sale September 1, 2015.

Come Join the Fun! The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum is a busy place with many projects needed to keep the operation running throughout the year. From clearing leaves off the tracks, repairing tracks, weeding flower beds and decorating for special events, to cleaning coaches, maintaining equipment, clearing brush, mowing lawns and building scenery for The Polar Express’s North Pole, there is plenty to do. There is something available for all skill levels and interests. Please consider donating some time for a worthy cause. Aside from the work, you’ll get to learn new things and meet new and interesting people.

If you would like to be on the email mailing list for CCR&M work parties, please send your name, email address and phone number to CCR&M President Bill Thompson at [email protected].

If you can help with the locomotive rebuild, please call Bret Bryan at 360 606 5346 or Harold Borovec at 360 748 8273.

Hope to see you around the yard.

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2015 Membership Form ( ) New ( ) Renewal Current Membership No. __________

Name: ________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________________

City: ____________________ State: _________ Zip: ___________

Telephone: _________________ Email: ________________________

Spouse: _____________________ #of Dependent Children: ________

( ) Family Season Pass – (Admits spouses and dependent children only) $60.00

( ) Voting Memberships requires volunteer time (Includes family pass)

( ) Individual Voting Membership ……………………………………… $25.00 _______

( ) Family Voting Membership (2 votes) …………………………… $35.00 _______

( ) Business (Non-Voting)

( ) Brakeman – 5 complimentary tickets …………………………. $50.00 ________

( ) Fireman – 10 complimentary tickets ………………………… $100.00 _______

( ) Engineer – 15 complimentary tickets ………………………… $250.00 _______

( ) Conductor – 50 complimentary tickets ………………………… $500.00 _______

( ) Additional donation …………………………………………………………………………… $ ________

TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED………………………….….$__________

Mail to: Chehalis- Centralia Railroad & Museum, 1945 S. Market Blvd, Chehalis, WA 98532

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USPS Mailing cover

                                                         Chehalis-­‐Centralia  Railroad  and  Museum                                                                                        1945      S.  Market  Blvd  

                                                                                     Chehalis,  Washington      98532