S aturday (12/1)

     Work continued on getting the Museum ready for the tinsel trolley. Carl Merson was Dispatcher for a charter.

     Sunday (12/2)

     Fred Schneider was Dispatcher (his first time) with Drew Paren (student), Eric Smith (Student) and Sharon Higgins as crew.

     Wednesday (12/5)

     Ben Bates was Dispatcher with Drew Paren, Mike Citro, Charlie Plantholt and Jim Roberstson as crew for a series of charters.

     Saturday (12/8)

     The morning started out looking like it would be a damp day for the first day of Tinsel Trolley. The local "kids" had been by and decided to spray paint the museum so Ed Amrhein and Mark Dawson spent the morning cleaning up.

     And as the day continued the rain came, and so did the visitors, lots of them (177). Santa was much busier than we had expected. It was a steady strem of trips for Santa from his 22nd street workshop to the car and back with is elves.

     Dave Crow was Dispatcher with Andy Blumberg, Mel Boteler, Jim Robertson, Drew Paren and Dan Lawrence as crew with Patti Crow and Cath La Costa as cashiers.

     Ed Amrhein and I went up at the shop with Rick Obink, Gary Faribanks, Rick Williams, David Baynes and a number of helpers.

     Gary Fairbanks, Rick Obbink and I spent most of the day working on a grinder.

     Sunday (12/9)

     The weather improved and the turnout did as well. 180 visitors to ride with Santa.

     Dan Lawrence was Dispatcher with Tom Phillips, Paul Ritterhoff, Drew Paren and Ed Amrhein as crew.

     The shop finished machining the journal boxes for 3828 and tried to install them. The bad news is they did not seem to fit, but it was late in the day so it will have to wait till next Saturday.

     Saturday (12/15)

     This Saturday was clear and cool. We thought that last Saturday had a big turnout, but this was to the largest turn out of all four days, 236 visitors.

     Carl Merson was Dispatcher with Dan Lawrence, Carl Thistel, Justin Thillman, David Navjokas, Rick Williams and Drew Paren as crew.

     The shop was busy with lots of people, and a number of project completed.

     Ed Amhrein continued the brush cleanup along the right of way. Ed Amrhein, Paul Ritterhoff and a friend completed installation of shelves above the air brake test stand bench.

     Rick Obbink, Gary Fairbanks and I consulted together to resolve the problem of the journal boxes that did not fit. During the refurbishment of 3828's truck, the shop asked Paul Ritterhoff to make up a pattern for a set of journal boxes for 3828's truck. This was a very complex pattern. When the castings were received the shop still had a lot of machine work to do to get them ready to install. But when we tried to install then last week, they did not quite fit. After a lot of looking and measurement, we found the problems. The new boxes were too good and the truck had ever so slight a twist. While the worn ones would fit the new ones were just too right. A little more discussion and Gary was off "wearing" them down just a bit to get them to work.

     Sunday (12/16)

     It was feeling more like Christmas, it was actually getting cold. The great turnout continued (219 visitors) and this clearly was the biggest turnout for Tinsel Trolley that we have ever had.

     David Willson, Andy Blumberg, Ben Bates the younger and the older, Dan Lawrence, John Diefenbach and Dennis Falter were crew.

     The shop besides providing a place for Santa's workshop continued to work on 3828's journal boxes. Gary and Rick will still hard at work at 7:30PM.

     Sorry for the long absence, but I have been on travel for a large part of the last 4 months or buried with "real" work. Hopefully these updates will start to appear more frequently.

     I have not listed all those who helped, I just could not keep track. This was a great turn out of members to support this event over the last two weekends. Thanks for all of the cookies!