Friends of the ATT&NW News
- This Saturday's "activity" (it wasn't really an officially scheduled work day) was mostly spent repairing/cleaning signals to be installed in various places around the railroad. Friends members present were Alex Beams, Don "Tennessee" Angles, Zach Gillihan, Steve Haack, and Alex and Jenny Vaughn.
- Don Angles, Zach Gillihan, and Alex Vaughn cleaned and repaired the grade crossing signal, and also installed it on its stand near the entrance to the yard. Alex Beams also worked on several different pieces of signal equipment - welding, heating, repairing seized bolts, etc. Jenny Vaughn helped out in general, along with keeping Alex Beams' dog, Rebel, company while the guys worked. Jenny also prepared the meal (beef stew) brought by Robin Vaughn. Some pictures are posted in the photos section - be sure to check them out!
- Most of the day Saturday was spent running trains. Friends members attending were Alex Beams, Steve Haack, Josh Rawls, John and Judy Woods, Don "Tennessee" Angles, Fred Vergenz, Art Jennrich, Alex and Jenny Vaughn and Mitch Houk. Also present part of the day were Kathy Vergenz, Carolyn Jennrich, and Dennis, Robin, and Allison Vaughn.
- Through the morning the 801 only made one run before it was forced inside by rain. After everyone got back from lunch, Tennessee took #17 (with the work train in tow) around the railroad several times while 801 was being steamed up. Once 801 was ready to roll, everyone except Steve, Josh, and Little Alex took a ride behind 801. Steve, Josh, and Alex went ahead in Steve's truck to scout out good places from which to video 801, and also paced it above the Ozark Mountain Tunnel on its way back up. Pretty much the rest of the day was spent running 801 and #17. (Note: this weekend was the first time 801 had been steamed up in 2008.)
- After the trains were put away, Judy and John set about grilling hot dogs and hamburgers while Fred, Art, and Alex Beams put the 801 away for the night. Kathy and Carolyn had prepared baked beans and other goodies, and Judy had brought some other trimmings to round out the meal. The food was delicious, and The Ozark Alliance (Alex and Jenny Vaughn and family) provided some bluegrass music at the request of the birthday boys, Tennessee and Art. Altogether, another great day had by all!
- This Saturday Josh Rawls, and Alex Beams bonded the rail and installed insulated joints for Tower Ten crossing. The new Wig Wag signal that was purchased from Roll Models during the convention was installed earlier in the week by Alex and Wilber Ness. We finished connecting everything and wrapped up that project. Steve Haack finished up all the loose ends and debugged the Ozark Mountain Tunnel display model that he built for to demonstrate how the signal system works. There are a few new photos and a new video showing the work done at Tower Ten crossing.
- This work day was spent on the Car Barn signal project, installing wire and occupancy sensors for the searchlight signals in the back of the Car Barn. ATT&NW Friends members present were Alex Beams, Steve Haack, Josh Rawls, John Caples, Zach Gillihan, Alex Vaughn and Jenny Vaughn. Also attending were Kristi Caples and Nick Gillihan.
Josh Rawls, John Caples and Alex Vaughn did most of the wire stringing, while Alex Beams and Steve Haack worked on making mounting brackets and mounting the sensors. Jenny and Kristi helped out, distributing zip ties and cleaning up. Jenny brought chili, Alex and Steve cooked hamburgers, and Zach and John brought soda and chips for lunch. Jenny was assisted by Kristi in preparing and serving lunch.
After a little tweaking, all the signals worked well! Another productive day and a good time was had by everyone. Be sure to check out the new pictures on the progress photo page of this project and a few others.
 This workday was mostly spent working on the side-dump hopper project. "Friends" members present were Alex Beams, Don (Tennessee) Angles, Alex Vaughn, and Jenny Vaughn. Additional helpers/observers were Robin and Allison Vaughn.
- Alex Beams spent most of the day working on the truck bolsters, fabricating shims, etc. Tennessee and Alex Vaughn worked on finishing up the trucks, which involved cleaning; wire-brushing, re-assembling and painting almost all truck components. Jenny Vaughn watched the guys and helped with greasing one of the trucks after re-assembly. She also helped little Allison Vaughn clean up the mess that had been made from the day's activities. Robin Vaughn brought soup and sandwiches for lunch. The main accomplishment of the day was getting both trucks for the hopper finished and on the rails. Well done, crew!
 We tried to have a work day, but due to inclement weather most everyone opted to stay home, not a bad idea. However Steve Haack decided to brave the weather and come out. So Alex Beams and Steve started working on putting together two full size three like vertical signals which will be installed at the entrance gate, to indicate when the electric gate is in operation. They also discussed next year's upcoming projects. This includes finishing the entrance gate, finishing the track indication in the car barn, and getting all the main line crossings signaled, along with other small projects that might come up.
- Alex Beams and Zack Gillihan made a run to the Canadian National rail yard in Pontiac Michigan. We left Wednesday night around 7:00pm arrived up there at 6:30am. Got a few hours of sleep, loaded up, and started headed back at 5:30pm. Got back home around 5:30 Friday morning, long trip but everything went good. Except the snow showers we encountered along the lake we didn't care for that too much. Zack had work out a deal with someone at the Canadian National Signal department up there to get a pair of crossing motors, gates, lights, relays, and miscellaneous other thing. The gates are to be installed up by the main crossing at the station.
- This was to be a work day but nothing was done railroad related. Due to all the work George and Wilber did on the railroad this year. Alex Beams and Steve Haack help…… them out getting ready for Deer season fixing tree stands and clearing roads.
- Some of the up coming projects for the friends. The rail from Miller Crossing to Pan Handle Junction needs to be finished bonded and crossing gates installed as Miller Crossing. There is a crossing gate to be installed at Tower Ten Crossing, which includes bonding rail and putting the circuit together. Signals to be put together and installed at the electric entrance gate, and continue on with the signals around the railroad as everything permits. There is always rock to be put down and track work once the weather is good.
- We had the honor of having Tracks Ahead from the PBS station in Milwaukee come down and do a documentary on the railroad. Should air sometime next year they were not sure on the time. We had the honor of Darrell and Don "Tennessee" from the Whiskey River Railroad come down and run some trains. Tennessee did an excellent job of making trains up for the day. Darrell and Alex made some "very impressive" run bys with the 801. Steve Haack and Chris Brophy from the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad were here to help make sure everything went well.
- Smith Barney had their company party at Woodsvalley Farm. We only had about 100 people…… nothing compared to the convention. Alex Beams and Steve Haack ran the 801 all day. Everything went great, beautiful weather and all. Thanks to Alex and Jenny Vaughn for helping get the train ready for the day.
- There were many people that helped out the week of the convention helping get all the last minute projects finished. One of the main tasks was completing the elevated tracks in the round house. The aligning and welding was done by George Cotner, Alex Beams, Darrell Klompmaker, and John Caples. Josh Rawls, Ed Taylor, Dan Crean got the tracks all cleaned up and painted just in time to put an engine on them one day before the convention. Darrell Klompmaker, Fred and Kathy Vergenz, Art Jennrich, Don "Tennessee" Angles, Steve Haack, Josh Rawls, Zack Gillihan, Alex Vaughn, Jenny Vaughn, John Caples, Mark, Cindy, and Chance Beams, Mitch Houk, Dave Kessinger and anyone else I might have forgotten to mention by name. They all worked many hours running, cleaning, loading, switching, fixing, firing, and having fun. Tennessee did a great job on making trains up so things ran smoothly. There was a small crew put together consisting of Darrell, Fred, Josh, Tennessee, and Ron Parrish to straighten out a few minor things with the track. Ron Parrish "Darrell nearly tried to work me to death doing track work before the convention." I'm sure he enjoyed it. This was full time railroading from the old days before they had work hour restrictions! Best of all was we ran safe with no injuries and no major problems!
Thanks to all the hard work and long days Alex Beams and Steve Haack put in getting the tunnel signals system working and Darrell Klompmaker who brought the signal heads down the week of the convention. They look great. The whole system performed very well, with no worries about having a "head on" in the tunnel. Ron Moreland and his crew did a great job on finishing the walls and ceiling up in the round house. Robert Klein and Robert Grady must have done a great job at parking everyone. As we didn't hear of any cars getting smashed up. A lot of thanks has to go to George Cotner "farm manager" and Wilber Ness "his assistant" they worked there tails off all year long and at the convention.
Many many thanks to all that were involved before and during the convention we couldn't have pulled it off with out every ones help.
- The heat came in two forms, first was the 100 degree heat that Alex Beams, Steve Haack, Zack Gillihan, and Josh Rawls endured on three workdays to finish the bonding. Steve and Alex will try to remember not to trench conduit in when it's 104 degrees in the shade. The other was the deadline to get the tunnel signal system working for the Convention. This resulted in a few extra days for Steve and Alex wiring control panels and building switch motors. Thank goodness we could run down to Woods Landing on the river and jump in to cool off at the end of the day! In the final days leading up to the convention, Josh made a last ditch effort to get the car barn signals working but ran into an engineering problem that couldn't get solved in time.
- John Bishop has returned to California and Alex Beams has taken over most of his on-site responsibilities. A couple of workdays were held with Alex, Josh Rawls, Steve Haack, and Zack Gillihan starting to bond the rail sections for the tunnel project. Thanks to Fred Vergenz and Art Jennrich from the Whiskey River Railroad in Wisconsin for help bonding rail one weekend in June. We had most of the uphill double-track rail bonded before the heat hit!
- Steve Haack built a demonstrator of the custom controls to show John Woods, John Bishop, Alex Beams, and Zack Gillihan how the system would work. The latter group had just come back from a trip into Illinois to gather control boxes and signal controls and had filled two pickup trucks and a trailer full. A final decision was made to proceed with the new hybrid system we were designing.
- John Bishop has announced he will be returning to California and Alex Beams had joined the staff in January. In order to resolve issues raised in the past two months regarding how to wire signals systems, a weekend meeting was held at the railroad. Darrell Klompmaker, Fred Vergenz, & Dave Schleicher from the Whiskey River RR in Wisconsin, joined John Woods, John Bishop, Alex Beams, Steve Haack, & Zack Gillihan.
Our focus had shifted from the car barn to concerns about signaling on the main line. The ATT&NW has some critical areas where the risk to a 20,000# steam locomotive is just too great to take chances with. Fortunately, Darrell and Dave had developed a system based on standard gauge track sensing practice (i.e.: bonded rail) that they were willing to share.
The highest priority was quickly defined as the double track switching through the single track Ozark Mountain Tunnel. It came out that John Woods and John Bishop wanted automatic switching as well as signals. In other words, a true ABS (Automatic Block Signaling) system. The final decision was to use Darrell's and Dave's system as the backbone, but incorporate our own custom controls to perform non-critical functions. Since they are not available in our scale, we will have to build our own switch motors. This project will serve as a test bed for future installations.
- Work day was spent installing mounting posts for the track occupancy lights in the carbarn. This involved cutting four 3-inch steel posts and welding a mounting plate on top. We then installed the electrical conduit for the lights and poured concrete mounting bases for the posts, which will also serve as end-of-track bumpers. It took a little longer than expected but we were happy with what we accomplished. Workers for the day were John Bishop, Steve Haack, Josh Rawls and John Woods.
- Our second work weekend was actually the first where we got something done. The weekend started with Josh Rawls welding mounting stands for the searchlights with the help of John Woods. These lights will be used to signal track status and car position in the car barn. Meanwhile, Zack Gillihan, Steve Haack, & John Bishop started digging holes to set the mounting posts. After a run to Lowes for electric conduit, we ended the day with all posts welded, most of the conduit in the ground, and the cement setting up. This workday occurred during deer season so we also got to see the buck Judy Woods shot!
- The first official meeting of the Friends of the ATT&NW occurred when Zack Gilliam, Josh Rawls, and Steve Haack came down one weekend in October and met with John Woods and John Bishop to go over some potential projects. We discussed and made some preliminary plans for the entrance gate signal system and signals in the car barn. It was also decided that a Yahoo group would be set up for announcements and general communications regarding The Friend's activities.
- The Arborway T.T and Northwestern Railroad Web site launched October 22, 2006
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ATT&NW Friends 
