Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum PO Box 665 Willimantic, CT. 06226-0665

Mark Your Calendar: 1/19/2020 – Annual Meeting and Banquet – “Georgina’s“ Bolton CT – 1:00PM

2/16/2020 – Monthly Meeting – Windham Hospital – 7:00PM

3/15/2020 – Monthly Meeting – Windham Hospital – 7:00PM

4/19/2020 – Monthly Meeting – Windham Hospital – 7:00PM

This recently donated Groton tower interlocking control board will go nicely with our NAN bridge control board. Photo—Paul Shamonis

54,000lbs of concrete all poured and ready for the Pillar crane to be attached. (There are rumors of block headed vol-unteers, but this might be too literal.) Photo—Bob Hassett

Page 2 Winter 2019

Vol. 26 No. 3 – Winter 2019

The next scheduled meeting of the Con-necticut Eastern Chapter, National Rail-

way Historical Society will be held at the

Annual Banquet Sunday January 19, 2020

Please note! If you have photos, short articles, or just want to make a com-

ment – please forward them to:

James L. Key - Editor

jameslkey@gmail.com

Please!

Chapter Leadership

President: Mark Granville

mfgranville@charter.net

860-456-3956

Vice President: Duke York

860-423-1878

Treasurer: Jeff Laverty

860-429-7961

Asst.-Treasurer: Vacant

Secretary: Jean Lambert

860-942-1071

National

Representative:

Ray Axelrod

860-617-3308

GTJ Editor: James L. Key

860-208-4748

jameslkey@gmail.com

Endowment Committee:

Howard Raphaelson

Adrian Atkins

Richard N. Symonds, Jr

Museum Website

www.cteastrrmuseum.org

Like Us on Face Book

ANNUAL BANQUET

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

The largest - and only - social event of

the year is coming your way! Don’t miss

it!! We will have our annual elections as

usual this year, but Mark Granville will not

be a candidate for President. He has agreed

to change direction by agreeing to the

Treasurer’s position. If elected, he will be

replacing Jeff Laverty who is stepping down

after 20+ years as Treasurer. Thank you

Jeff for your dedication to the books. Please

be a part of this important part of CERM’s

future. Jean Lambert has arranged for an

interesting speaker and Mark Granville will

review the accomplishments and activities

of the group during the last year.

As in the past several years our banquet

will be held at Georgina’s located just west

of Bolton Notch at 275 Boston Tpke (Route

6 & 44). Light hors d’oeuvres and a cash

bar start at 1 P.M. followed by the buffet at

1:45.

The buffet will feature Beef with Mush-

room Gravy Sauce, Baked Stuffed Sole, and

Sausage, Meatball & Pepper Casserole.

You can fill in the cavities with salad, car-

rots or roasted potatoes. This will be topped

off with Chocolate Mousse, and tea or cof-

fee. The cost remains the same as last year

at $35 per person.

PASSING OF WILLIAM ”BILL” ROBINSON

Adrian Atkins

With sorrow we note the passing of Bill

Robinson in August. He was one of the

original members and served as our secre-

tary for a period of time. I best remember

Bill cheerfully collecting entrance fees at

our train shows. Due to health issues he had

not been as active in recent years. The vi-

sion of the original members is special to

this community.

BANQUET SPEAKER:

PIETER ROOS Jean Lambert

Pieter's presentation will be illustrated

history of the development of industry and

rail transportation in the Willimantic area. A

picture coverage will be mostly from 1930s

- 1960s, but some coverage on the begin-

ning of railroads to present day.

• Pieter is an active member at Connecti-

cut Eastern Railroad Museum.

• He has managed our Museum Train

Shows.

• He is on the committees for both Open-

ing Day and Railroad Day and has been

assisting in the Gift Shop,

• Also working on the museum archives.

• Collecting and recording railroad histo-

ry, a true history buff.

• Web master for Connecticut Eastern

Railroad Museum.

RESERVATIONS:

Should be made by sending your check pay-

able to CERM. We need to receive all

checks by January 12, 2020.

Mail checks to:

CT Eastern Railroad Museum

P. O. Box 665

Willimantic, CT 06226-0665

Questions should be addressed to Jeff

Laverty at 860-429-7961.

DIRECTIONS:

• From the EAST - Route 6 & 44 will

merge with I-384. Take the 1st exit to

Routes 6 & 44. Go 1 mile and Geor-

gina’s will be on your left.

• From the WEST - Take I-84 east to I-

384. Get off Exit 5 (Route 85) turn left

and go to the bottom of the hill, Route 6

& 44. At the light turn right and pro-

ceed up the hill and look for Georgina’s

on the right.

SEE YOU AT THE BANQUET

Winter 2019 Page 3

CERM AND AMAZON SMILE

Mark Granville

A reminder in case you missed past an-

nouncements: The Connecticut Eastern

Chapter, NRHS is registered with the Ama-

zon Smile program. This means that you

can generate donations to the train museum

whenever you shop at Amazon. Just do your

shopping at smile.amazon.com and indicate

the chapter as the designated charity for

your purchases.

EXTANT ROUNDHOUSE SURVEY RETURNS

Submitted by Richard Shulby

We need your help on a project of inter-

est to the NRHS. We have resurrected the

Extant Roundhouse Survey. It is updated to

include additional properties and changes in

status.

Our goal is to expand this record of all

the existing roundhouses remaining in the

United States. This listing is possible only

through the efforts of the members of this

society.

How can you help? In every chapter

there are members familiar with existing

roundhouses. We are asking you, as chap-

ters and as members, to compile and for-

MARKING 25-YEARS Mark Granville

Our chapter has two more members who

have reached 25 years with the NRHS. Wil-

liam Sample and Philip Wengloski received

certificates and pins. Congratulations to

them and may they keep on rolling.

ward basic data for compilation, whether

updates to existing listings, or new proper-

ties.

The amount of data gathered varies from

structure to structure. We ask for several

levels of information in order to tailor each

effort based on time available and the peo-

ple gathering the data.

The information requested consists of:

BASIC DATA (Level 1)

INTERMEDIATE DATA (Level 2)

and based upon interest and availability,

DETAILED DATA (Level 3)

The Data Request Form and two ver-

sions of the HRSS Extant Roundhouse Sur-

vey are posted on the NRHS Administrative

website (https://admin.nrhs.com/). The

17x11 version consolidates all the data on

three sheets, and is simpler to use when

scrolling on the computer. The 11x8.5 ver-

sion is suitable for printing on letter-sized

paper stock. Completed request forms, cor-

rections or additions to the survey, and

questions can be directed to:

Richard B. Shulby, AIA Director, HRSS 11109 Hidden Trail Drive, Owings Mills, MD 21117

CERM GETS A HAIRCUT

First the trim… Photo— Adrian Atkins

Then the boys sweep up the mess! (Paul Shamonis on left and Ed Shekleton on right)

Page 4 Winter 2019

ROUND HOUSE CONCRETE FLOOR COMPLETED

Adrian Atkins

Finally the concrete portion of the

Round House floor is completed! The first

pour was made in the left rear of the round

house on August 15, 20017. Two years

later on August 27, 2019 the last pour was

completed in the right front corner. All to-

taled we placed 85 1/2 cubic yards of con-

crete in 9 separate pours.

We hired local contractor Larry Mooney

to place and finish the floor. A tremendous

amount of volunteer time was spent making

room to work, grading, placing mesh and

constructing forms as well as helping to

place the concrete. The greatest amount of

time was spent in moving many years of

collected treasures out of the round house.

Some of which we had no use for and no

one knew where it came from. Luckily we

were able to convert the 8600 coach into a

warehouse. This now houses an assorted

collection materials.

As far as I can remember this may be the

largest single project we have completed

since construction of the roundhouse even

though the roundhouse doors were a signifi-

cant project. In the rear of the round house

where the old boiler was located a bricked

in square has been inlaid in the floor and

now we have poured a segment of dark con-

crete adjacent to this. There are plans being

made to have illustrative material on how

the boiler area looked in the past.

Work remaining is mainly centered

around the brick floor in the front of the

round

house be-

tween the

large doors

and the

ends of the

pits.

NEW SPIKE SHED Adrian Atkins

We have cleared an area on the old

Airline trackbed heading towards the Willi-

mantic River Railroad Bridge. A used

bridge timber pad was formed and one of

the Amtrak steel CIH buildings was set on

it. In the spring, this building will be paint-

ed so it will look like new. This gives us a

lockable secure storage area at ground level.

Our intention is to pickup, sort out and

package all usable RR spikes and store them

in this building. The remainder will be junk

and treated as such.

We then cleared and grubbed the

trackbed easterly as far as the old collection

of speeders. We have since started grading

the old rail bed level, but were stopped by

the snow. In the Spring, we will complete

the grading and construct timber pads to

store tie plates, splice bars and other small

items that are presently scattered all around

the museum. We used the bridge timbers

donated by Baier Construction to make the

pad under the spike house and are using the

balance to build the pads for the small item

storage. The price was right!

The gathering together of similar

items will help us in finding items, making

the grounds more presentable, and allowing

us to grade the area behind the round house.

LARGE DONATION OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

RECIEVED Adrian Atkins

As part of the “Rails To Trails” project a

contract was awarded to Baier Construction

Co. for the portion by Macky’s including

rehabbing the old railroad bridge across the

Willimantic River into Columbia from

Willimantic.

The contract just happened to include

the specification that all railroad rail, tie

plates, splice bars, spikes, walkway gratings

and structure steel supports would be care-

fully salvaged and delivered to CERM.

Baier Const. did this at no cost to us. Dur-

ing the process we developed a favorable

relationship with them.

At the conclusion of the job, they donat-

ed and delivered several thousands of dol-

lars worth of used form lumber, new rein-

forcing steel, 60 used bridge timbers and

other materials to us. We have been using

these materials and now have all the materi-

als sorted, piled up, and protected from the

weather. Truly, a great donation!

Photo—Ed Shekleton

Photo—Adrian Atkins

Photo—Adrian Atkins

Winter 2019 Page 5

REINFORCED CONCRETE RAIL BEAMS

Adrian Atkins

When we discovered the ties in the

roundhouse between the front doors and the

pits were rotten, it was decided to replace

them with reinforced concrete beams under

each rail. Some of the ties are in a condi-

tion so they can be reused. Getting these

out is a tricky process. First, the end timbers

in the pits must be cut out. This is not good

on saw blades between dirt, anchor bolts,

nails, and just plan concrete. Next, the se-

curity wiring conduits were disconnected

and the conduit cut and removed. Ed

Sheckleton has become quite proficient at

this task. He can even replace the conduit

CABOOSE FOR THE MARY LOU CONSIST

Adrian Atkins

One of the many “off season” pro-

jects for the Winter 2020 will be the con-

struction of a caboose for the Mary Lou

consist in the Children's Depot. We thank

the O. L. Willard Co in Willimantic, CT for

sponsoring this last car in the consist. All

of the cars - engine, tender and the tank car

bear the names of their sponsors. We are

grateful to these local businesses for their

$500 financial support for each car.

The train began when Mary Lou

DeVivo felt we needed something to enter-

tain children while they were at the muse-

um. She purchased the engine when the

D & L Christmas Barn in the area had an

auction. With a little bit of repair work and

a coat of stain the engine became a success.

We were on the right track!

Later on Bender’s Oil of Lebanon

sponsored the tank car and the Chronicle

donated money for the tender. The dona-

tion from O.L. Willard for the caboose will

complete our consist!

This winter along with the con-

struction of the caboose, the tank car will

receive silver stain. If either of these pro-

jects appeal to you please contact Bob Has-

sett at bobspratt@aol.com.

The Children's Depot play area is a

very popular place for young people. Par-

ents seem to feel the same! It makes for a

great photo opportunity and is located cen-

trally in the museum and in a nice shady

area with seating. Do stop by to see it -

climb on it or admire this community sup-

ported project!

RAILROAD DAY 2019

and wiring.

Next, Art Hall painfully dug out

between and below the ties. This permits

the ties to be twisted so they can be taken

out between the rails. This would have

been a lot easier before the concrete floor

was poured but we didn’t know what was

happening under the brick in Pit #6.

Mark Granville and Rich Czick helped

Art at various times. Then the balance of

the trench could be excavated under the

rails, reinforcing steel could be placed and

forms built.

Pit #2 beams were poured at the

same time we poured the Pillar Crane

base, so now the beams are completed in

Pit #2 through Pit #6. Pit #1 will be com-

pleted in the spring.

Photos—Adrian Atkins

Page 6 Winter 2019

PILLAR CRANE FOUNDATION Adrian Atkins

Many years ago we acquired a pillar crane from the Middletown Freight Yard. It has been patiently waiting its turn to come alive and

present one more opportunity to museum visitors to learn railroad history. The eight foot diameter cast iron base was in several pieces, the

pillar itself is fine, but the boom is bent and will need straightening.

A couple of years ago we came into contact with. “Butch” Withington through his son. Butch is a welding consultant from Scotland, CT.

He looked at the base and agreed to weld the pieces together. That day we took the pieces to him. Bob Hassett supplied some of the welding

rods and through the course of the winter the base became whole again. Butch’s best description of the casting was “its not exactly Caterpillar

Grade”. Butch has shared his knowledge and skill of welding with the museum without compensation.

Now we needed the concrete base to set this all on! We figured a block of concrete 8’ square and 4’thick would do the job. In August we

excavated for the base in an open area along side the tracks. This committed us to having it poured, stripped and back filled before frost. The

mud slab was poured as a start. Then we needed 8 large anchor bolts.

Purchasing new bolts would be very expensive which is against my way of doing business. We had some 1 3/4” x 2’0” galvanized thread-

ed rods given us by Chimbro, the Niantic Bridge Contractor. We then were able to trade some scrap steel for some 1 3/4” steel shafts, then we

had some heavy tie plates salvaged from the Niantic Bridge tracks. Good friend Butch Withington welded it all together with welding rods

donated by Bob Hassett.

Two railroad rails and a wooden template temporarily held the top of the bolts where we wanted them while masonry held the bottom of

the anchor bolts in place. Next the forms were built from materials we had in addition to the donated lumber from Baier Const.

We poured the concrete without a hitch. There was concern as we were putting 600 pounds per square foot pressure at the base of the

forms! The forms held together and we were done! Since the pour in mid-November, the forms have been stripped, the base back filled and

protected for the winter with leaves and a

tarp. We made it by the skin of our teeth as

the snow fell within a week.

Accumulated materials from our gener-

ous contractors, skills of friends of the mu-

seum and volunteers has made the cost of

this project minimal. The concrete has been

the only expenditure. In the spring we will

be installing a brownstone facing above

ground to enclose a final pour which will

support the cast iron base. Then we can

erect the pillar. Meanwhile, we need to

straighten the boom before it can be erected.

Photos—Adrian Atkins

1. Foundation for the foundation

2. Forms in place

3. Poured and forms removed (opposite side from cover picture)

4. Natures insulation 5. All buttoned up to finish curing.