Getting Ready for Abandonment

Frank writes...

Sunday was all about getting ready for North Shore Line Day next Saturday, when we will commemorate the abandonment of the North Shore 60 years ago. A lot of people have pitched in to make this a really special and unique event. You don't want to miss it!

When I arrived, there was a gang of volunteers in the office folding timetables. Yes, attendees next week will receive a special North Shore-esque souvenir timetable included with their tickets. A bunch of us helped fold a few hundred of these while Good Nick ran the guillotine cutter. Above are Nick, Scott, Greg, Zach, and Andrew from the Operating Department, while GM Phil is out of sight to the left.

Over in the shop, a second crew of Nathan, Mikey, Bill, and Brian were finishing up with work on the 160. There was also a third crew of Joel and Jimmy who were attending to some smaller tasks like tensioning a trolley pole on the 229, among other things.

Later in the day, Nathan and Mikey are shown reattaching the 160's pilot while Brian supervises. The plan is to operate a total of six North Shore cars next weekend, including five coaches and MD car 229, plus the Electroliner will be on display at 50th Avenue.

After finishing with the paper folding party, I retrieved four CA&E marker lanterns from storage and brought them over to the shop to thaw a bit. A couple of them had ice in the wells, which isn't ideal, so that was cleaned out and all four were fueled. These will see use on the 229 next Saturday, while authentic NSL lanterns will appear on the passenger trains.

After dinner, I stopped by the depot, where Nick and Greg had been cleaning and straightening the dispatcher's office. This will not only be where our dispatcher sits, but will also be where you can purchase original NSL tickets and where you can register for a Silent Auction which will include some NSL artifacts from the Museum's collection and will benefit North Shore car restoration. All of this is possible because heat was installed in the depot a year or so ago, mainly because of the building's central role in Happy Holiday Railway. In addition to the tickets and silent auction activities, there may even be a surprise or two. Did I mention that you don't want to miss this event?

I also had a few minutes to bring the trolley bases from the 460 down off the scaffold and into the shop. These will get taken apart, inspected, lubricated, and then put back together and painted. But not necessarily in that order.