11/22/2003
Some good rumors

The Christmas lights are glowing again for another season at Edaville and yesterday was "shakedown day". The first two trips went without a hitch but for my trip the generator on the train was sputtering. Although the crew was struggling to keep it going for a while we finally left with a dark train. It made the displays along the track stand out even better, unfortunately the windows fogged up very fast without heat in the cars. As soon as the train pulled in the station again the shop crew descended on the failing generator and had the problem corrected in short time. Once again it shows the expertise that these employees bring to the railroad, they can handle a wide variety of problems.
Now the good rumor: the Anne Elizabeth is supposed to begin operation after Thanksgiving! All parts are in, the work will be finished and the state inspector is scheduled at the beginning of the week to certify the locomotive. Check back here again later or check the Edaville website.
Not really an Edaville item, but it is related. I attended the Two Foot Show in Taunton today and displayed part of my Edaville postcard collection as part of the "Friends of Edaville" promotion of the railroad. Savery showed his diorama of the the old station and webmaster Bill and his wife had a display of new and old photos and some items from the online store. It was a nice bunch of people attending and I saw some beautiful models besides the wealth of information on the Maine Two Footers that was available. If you have never attended one of these shows, try it next year.

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10/04/2003
A rainy cranberry harvest

Despite the rain today business was good for the railroad, they were running 2 trains pulled by diesel #2 and #5. The vendors, who had set up for the Cranberry Harvest Festival, obviously were not very happy, but the trains were full and a few die-hards even ventured out on Swan Pond in a paddle boat. When I asked about steam I was told that the throttle shaft on the "Anne" was out for repairs.
There is another baggage wagon sitting on the platform to replace the REA one that disappeared. Does anybody know what happened to the original one? This one seems to be smaller.
Track work must still be high on the priority list, there was a work train sitting near the car shop loaded with equipment. The 2 flat cars, converted from the toast rack cars, are finally being put to good use again.

08/17/2003
Track crew was busy

There seems to be more track maintenance going on than I realized a week ago. From the first car today I noticed a new service road next to the track part way into The Woods after Guardrail Curve. Ties had been replaced and new ballast installed in that section. More work had been done on a section of The Racetrack. The service road allows the crew to use some mechanical means to help replace the ties rather than the time-consuming digging by hand only. It looks romantic in the movies but it is no fun to do, especially in this weather. Trust me, I tried it once for one day only.
It looks like another piece of history has disappeared from the platform: the REA baggage cart. We had some sprinkles while I was there and commented to one of the conductors on the platform that one of my favorite photos was taken in the rain. It was a shot of the baggage cart loaded with flowers taken from the end platform of one of the old coaches. Well, the cart was no longer in sight and I am hoping it was just in the shop for painting. (What are my chances of that being the truth?)

08/09/2003
Edaville Railroad is chugging along

When I arrived this morning it was raining, but withing 30 minutes after the park opened it had stopped and it stayed dry for the rest of the day. Although the parking lot was about half full after lunch I believe the dark clouds kept people away. Still, Spiderman was busy autographing cards and each train was about half filled. As usual, the park was clean and well kept.
Our train today consisted of 6 cars (3 of our older rebuilt Colorado excursion cars, 3 new excursion cars) plus a new caboose #556, pulled by diesel #2. From the train I noticed that the piles of new ties, which had been stored along the track at several different locations, had shrunk. Although hard to see in this photo, the little tractor on the shop track has a tow bar connected to the ballast car, another sure sign that some track maintenance is still taking place despite the small remaining shop crew.
Today I also rode the fire truck and finally had a chance to take a look at the realigned track near Eastman Flume. It looks very impressive with its new ties and clean ballast. Makes you wish Edaville had unlimited funds and people available to rework the whole track.
The little Plymouth diesel #9, which sat at the Eda Avenue crossing a couple months ago, has been picked up, but so far I have not been able to find out for sure where it went.

06/27/2003
Update on display diesel #9

I recently received an update from Tom Condon on the status of the display diesel. He writes: About your question regarding the "Little Moe" engine sitting in the dirt by the Eda Ave crossing, the engine has been sold and it is waiting to be picked up.

06/21/2003
Tripple Header at Edaville???

Well, not quite, only about two and a half locomotives pulled the train today. It was opening weekend for the season, "Thomas" was visiting again and Edaville was running a 10 car train to move the crowds. Because of the long train "Thomas" needed assistance and was helped by Diesels #2 and #5. #5 was used only as a helper on the grades out of Cranberry Valley and up Mt. Uran, most of the time she was just along for the ride. And whoever complained about her to be a noisy beast was right: whenever the engineer put her to work the inside of the cab becomes deafening. No wonder he was wearing hearing protection.
There was much talk about the new colors at Edaville: here they are. Not as bad as I expected, although the colors are no longer what I would consider "railroad colors"; but they could have been much more gaudy and bright. As a railfan I will just have to come to grips with the concept that Edaville is "... not a railroad but a park with a train." And as long as the train is there I will be there.
Savery already described in the Edaville forum that the party caboose was removed from the station area and was replaced by the Santa Fe display diesel. B&M #250 now occupies the diesel's place. The little Porter and saddle tanker have come out of the Pine Grove again and invite young engineers to try their hand at the throttle on the lawn behind the kiddie rides. The display diesel #9 that used to pull the party caboose is sitting in the sand at the Eda Avenue crossing near the wag signal. Nobody could give me an answer (besides, "I don't know") when I asked why she was dumped outside the park.

04/15/2003
Rusty rails

Although the rails look rusty the shop crew is busy getting ready for another season. The Christmas displays are still up but in the shop more and more cars are converted to the new trucks. Coach #11 and #130 were still outside on their old trucks, but four new trucks were lined up behind the cars on the service track.
After a mysterious absense the little Henschel #6 was sitting again behind the car shop. I still don't know where where the loco went for several months.
The play area in the pine grove has lost some of its attractions: Jack Flagg came back and picked up some of his toys. The two small diesels are gone and some of the heavy construction equipment from inside of CRANCENTRAL JUNCTION.

03/05/2003
Correction

Bruce Wilson recently e-mailed me with a correction to my January report. Despite Dave's work the signal system is not yet completely restored. There are still two more signals left to bring back on line. One is located before Cranberry Lake Park and the other one at Guardrail Curve. Thanks for the correction, Bruce.

02/12/2003
Snowed in but moving forward

Edaville is like a mountain stream in winter: all covered with snow and ice but moving along under the cover. Although most of the snow was undisturbed, a well trampled path led to the shop. All motive power and caboose #554 were inside.

• New trucks were installed under the caboose, just like the rest of the old coaches. This is not an easy project because a large steel frame has to be fitted under the wood-framed bodies to allow the installation of the new trucks and air brake rigging. Since there were no standard dimensions when the old rolling stock was built each frame has to be custom fitted.
• #21, the "Anne Elizabeth", finally has her own whistle back. You may remember that people complained about the horrible tone early in the Christmas season. For the rest of the season she ran with a nice sounding but borrowed whistle. Although this one is now considered her whistle, you can clearly see the B&M heritage on the valve casting. Her original whistle somehow disappeared after her arrival at Edaville. And if it sounded anything like Thomas' I am glad it did.
  The air brake system has been completed, including the high pressure lines and brake control valve on the engineer's side. Unfortunately the compressor will need some more attention in the future. The piston rod is badly pitted from years of disuse (rust) and now eats up the seals whenever the compressor is used.
• Diesel #5 had run well after it was restored in the shop last summer but developed engine problems later in the season. It returned back to service after an engine overhaul and now is laid up again. This time severe transmission problems were detected and the transmission is currently at a repair shop for service.

01/05/2003
The end of another season

What a great day to close another Christmas season at Edaville! The only thing missing was snow on the ground to make it picture perfect. The only drawback from the photographer's perspective are all the plastic fences that are springing up around the platform, they sure limit the view of the train.
The "Anne Elizabeth" was hauling an eight car train with ease and her whistle sounded wonderful again; thanks Chuck. I had the pleasure to sit in the old car #21 right behind the locomotive and enjoyed the plume of smoke and steam in the cold winter air.
A nice surprise was to see the signal system back in operation. Some of them had been repaired soon after the railroad reopened, now it looked like all of them were back in operation. This must have been done during the last month or so.
The second train was pulled by faithful diesel #2 and was made up almost entirely of new cars while the steam powered train consisted mostly of the old equipment.
Hours of operation for next year have not yet been finalized, although "Thomas" will run already in April. I hope to see there, I know I will be back.

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