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Volunteers
1. Buck V.
2. Melanie B.
3. Donald B.
4. Tucker B.
5. Stacy B.
6. Laurie L.
7. Chuck L.
8. Don F.
9. Laura G.
10. Bill W.
11. Joseph S.
12. Jacques D.
13. Ron C.
14. Suzette C.
15. Linda B.
16. Marianna E.
17. Sam E.
18. Kira S.
19. Ayden S.
20. Tabitha S.
21. Andrew A.
22. Angela A.
23. Dewayne S.
24. Kevin P.
25. Michael P.
26. Wimbley V.
27. Nick P.
28. Chris S.
29. Carson S.
30. Mike M.
31. Clint L. Jr.
32. Jeanie L.
33. Ben S.
34. Gaven R.
A safe and successful festival was completed this year and we express a
deep gratitude to all those volunteers that made it a success!
Before the Festival
Before the festival even cranked up on Friday evening October 18th, many
folks had been hard at work making the festival a success. Linda, Sam,
Mike, Tucker, Doug, and the museum staff were prepping spaces,
marketing, organizing vendors, scheduling volunteers, and numerous other
tasks. Much work went into the festival many months and weeks in
advance.
Joseph Swan led the effort to get the museum grounds looking as good as
possible. He mowed, weed-eated, cleaned up, removed debris, tidied up,
organized, and did almost everything under the sun on Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday morning. Joseph rightly deserved the high praise
for having the museum grounds in excellent shape. Almost every area of
grass was mowed, and many nooks and crannies were weed eated. He even
mowed from sun up to sun down one day. A big salute and thank you to
Joseph for his leadership and hard work having the museum grounds in
tip-top shape for the festival.
The Festival
The festival was a financial, outreach, and railroad success! Many folks
are to thank for making a great weekend happen. Thank you to each of the
below:
Richie and the International Small Scale Steam Up Institute once again
“brought the crew” that ran g-scale live-steam trains Friday, Saturday,
and finally wrapping up Sunday.
Chris and Jeanie once again provided excellent “food and fixins” for the
volunteers and staff. Their fuel kept us all going all weekend.
Chuck and Don “manned the sawmill” giving tours, sharing history, and
displaying their recent restoration work at the sawmill.
Buck, Ron, Suzette, Melanie, Stacy, and Kira manned the Gate & Admission
booth, greeting visitors and guests, handling the money, and getting
folks pointed in the right direction for a great festival weekend.
Kira and Angela manned the limousine golf cart shuttling folks around
the festival grounds.
Andrew supervised the handcar rides at the Engine House and Clint gave
tours of the Engine House, Machine Shop, locomotive 400, and the Clyde
skidder.
Linda, Marianna, and Laurie manned the festival / museum information
booth and corralled many of the vendors at the planer mill.
Glen brought his Model T car and gave plenty of rides to visitors as a
fundraiser for the museum.
Sam and Donald managed the parking area, keeping vehicles in line and
the field organized.
Gaven, Dewayne, and Mike B assisted in the Machine Shop, especially when
troubleshooting the stuck main shaft. Mike B found the planer clutch
engaged, and once that was fixed, the main shaft and all the machines
operated again. The planer works, but it has to be disengaged when
starting the main shaft.
Laura G and Bill W assisted in the Commissary directing folks to
exhibits, to restrooms, and most importantly, where to board the train.
Laura’s assistance managing folks coming to and from the train platform
was a tremendous help on Saturday. This helped ensure each train carried
a full load on many trips.
Robin was in charge of the restrooms during the festival and many
positive reviews came in on the cleanliness of the restrooms!
Gerald and John used the museum tractor to empty the numerous garbage
cans around the museum. Tucker bought bungee cords to keep garbage bags
in the garbage cans, preventing a messy situation in the many museum
garbage cans.
Wimbley, Michael P, and Ben gave tours of locomotive 106 and manned the
road crossing the track near there. Kevin and Nick alternated flagging
the Long Leaf Road crossing and ensured all vehicles stopped when the M4
was coming around.
Jacques, Joseph, Carson, and Tucker manned the train crews in
alternating shifts aboard the M4. On the whole, the M4 did well Friday
and Saturday, the track felt good, there were no overhanging branches
(thank you to our volunteers who cleared them the weeks prior), and it
was a very enjoyable operation. There were a few hiccups with the air
compressor, but it started working again after a short time. We couldn’t
figure out what caused it to stop. Late on Saturday, the battery ran
low, causing the radiator fans to stop. After changing out batteries and
running the radiator fans, Joseph completed the last trains of Saturday
and brought M4 back to the Engine House. After the festival, the staff
found the alternator belt loose and a few fuel leaks on the fuel line.
With both corrected, the M4 was running as normal. More M4 improvements
are planned for this winter, including fuel gauge, upgrade to steel fuel
line, and air sanders. Discussions are underway for additional
improvements such as a hand throttle, air brakes, and a second battery.
A total of 24 trains were run Friday and Saturday, averaging about 13
passengers per train. Many trains Saturday afternoon were completely
full as folks took advantage of the nice weather to enjoy the festival.
The festival wasn’t crowded, and there was not a crush of people at
once, most visitors were “spread out” over the course of the day. This
all made the festival very manageable. At the end, 316 paying passengers
enjoyed riding aboard the Red River and Gulf Railroad at the festival.
Managing the railroad and the volunteers, Tucker must have walked 10
miles over the course of the weekend. He purchased and brought two-way
radios to use during the festival, scheduled and organized volunteers on
the various stations and shifts, and handled any issues that came up.
After the Festival
On the Sunday after the festival, the volunteers focused on clean up,
organization, and picking up on a few projects held off until after the
festival.
Kira, Tabitha, Ayden, and Gaven made a sweep of the museum grounds to
collect trash and other debris from the festival. Andrew manned the
tractor emptying garbage cans into the dumpster. Angela and Dylen helped
Richie and crew pick up the steam up equipment.
After picking up equipment and organizing in the Machine Shop and Engine
House, Joseph, Jacques, Gaven, and Tucker continued the work behind
locomotive 400. Picks and shovels exposed the joint bars between the
rails and Joseph’s tractor work uncovered most of the track. Joseph,
Jacques, and Gaven continued working through the afternoon and made
great progress. The joint bar on the broken rail was removed, the rail
was cut, and a short stick of rail was brought in to fill the gap. The
next steps are to drill bolt holes on the new stick of rail, affix joint
bars, and get the track in gauge. This is all effort to get the track
ready to relocate locomotive 400, which has resided in the same spot
where it was parked in 1952. The goal is to relocate locomotive 400 and
the Clyde skidder. The goal for both is to display in a more prominent
location, in a more stable location to effect restoration and
preservation, and to clear the track so it can be properly rebuilt.
-Tucker "Who Dat" Baker
RR&G
Chief Engineer
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