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| Flying Yankee Restoration Group, Inc. Newsletter | |
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Lou Barker, New Hampshire Dept. of Transportation;
Mark Noble, Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad;
Bob Garland, Flying Yankee Restoration Group |
WHAT'S OLD
WHAT'S NEW
WHAT'S HAPPENING
As a follow up to the Flying Yankee event in Palmer, Massachusetts and the anticiapted resumption of work on the project, I offer the following:
Flying Yankee Historical Train - New Hampshire Department of Transportation 2011
Status and proposed restoration schedule
Louis A. Barker, Project Liason
New Hampshire Department of Transportation
Bureau of Rail and Transit |
 The Department of Transportation signed a Weatherization and Carbody Repair contract with the Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad. The contractor made significant progress in the fall of 2010 reaching 60% completion of roof, windows, doors, and floor repairs. The project has been under a winter shutdown, but will resume as early as the week of April 11th 2011 with a completion date of May 31, 2011. As a result of this initiative, the State and its partner, the Flying Yankee Restoration Group, have agreed to the decommissioning of the temporary shelter in Lincoln, NH with the intent of scheduling the removal on or before the 11th of June 2011.
The next steps in the restoration will include installation of air-brake components; design and installation of a FRA/AAR approved coupler on the C-car to allow towing; and, the location of and design for a storage track connected to the Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad tracks. The goal is to undertake this work beginning in the fall of 2011.
Louis A. Barker
Railroad Planner |
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Flying Yankee at Cherry Hill
From Phil Bell |
 | | 1936 Stainless Steel Ford V8 Coupe - 85HP |
Greetings from the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Flying Yankee Restoration Group, Inc.
On behalf of the "board" and myself, I wish to thank everyone who helped make the recent affair at the "Steaming Tender" restaurant in Palmer, Ma a success. To Blake and Robin Lamothe, who had the courage to close their restaurant to the public, at 3PM on a Saturday afternoon, and turn it over to the "Yankee" crew, our sincere thanks for your support, dedication and faith (as it turned out, it was the busiest turnout for a single group -138 people - in any one night). To the Chairman of the Events Committee, Dick Towle, congratulations on putting all this together. Thank you to everyone else who helped with registrations, the auction lists and bookkeeping that went with it, keeping track of meal choices, the wine tasting, and the hundreds of little things that go with an undertaking like this, our sincere appreciation. To Tommy Robichaud who organized and conducted the auction. Great Job! And you made it all fun. Thank you to all of you that so graciously donated some terrific items for the auction and made it all possible. |
 | | Hoosac Tunnel |
To our speakers: Jerry Kelley, Railroad Buff, Historian, and Author who gave a marvelous illustrated presentation on the history and construction of the Hoosac Tunnel along with Tim Lawrence of IMR Films. The scratch built models of the tunnel motors are amazing. To Mike Tylick, also a railroad historian as well as photographer, and accomplished model builder. Mike gave a great illustrated tour of East Coast and Northeastern Railroading. To Gayle Kelley who, with Robin Lamothe, organized and conducted the "Wine Tasting", our sincere thanks for helping to make the evening a rousing success! Thank you to Joe Karas (a man of many talents) and Author of "The Silver Hill Boys and the Secret Railroad Club" for your presence with the book. Joe donates $5.00 to the Flying Yankee Restoration Group for each book sold whether on line or in the book store. |
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A CHALLENGE WELL MET
A CHALLENGE WE'LL MEET. |
Those of you that were present heard me briefly recap the progress of the "weatherproofing" work being accomplished under the Transportation Enhancement Grant, applied for and administered by the New Hampshire DOT, and being performed by Ben Clark and his fine group at the Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad. I won't bore you further by going over it again except to pass on that the work is set to start up again during the week of April 11th, 2011.
We were also fortunate to have Lou Barker (our liaison with the New Hampshire DOT) present. Lou also gave a short speech on what has been done and what is expected for this following year. At the head of this newsletter you will find an excerpt from a letter to the Board of Directors of the Flying Yankee outlining the plans for the immediate future. Along with myself, I am sure you will all welcome the tangible signs of progress! To Lou Barker, our thanks for his hard work in accessing this grant and working closely with Ben Clark to get the work planned and underway. To Ben Clark, who has worked with Lou, to make sure the work was done in a manner consistent with the original "Yankee" design and construction, as well as making sure that the Grant money went as far as possible. Our sincere appreciation to both of you. Special thanks to the whole Clark Family for all their help and assistance throughout the past years.
For the Board of Directors,
Respectfully,
Stephen B. Taylor, Vice Chairman
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THE FLYING YANKEE
A TALE FROM PLAISTOW, NH 1935-1943
SUBMITTED BY: DAVID D. WALLACE
WRITTEN INITIALLY FOR HIS GRAND CHILDREN
09/03/06 |
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Flying Yankee being greeted
Dover, NH |
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THE FLYING YANKEE
When you see the word "yankee" that dreaded baseball team may come to mind. However, this story has nothing to do with baseball in case you are worried. It is about a train of the future that fascinated me when I was ten, or so, years old. I am reminded of it because there was a story in the August 6, 2006 edition of the Sunday Boston Globe about the on-going restoration of a 1930's train. The train was named the Flying Yankee. The article says it was "Commissioned by the Boston & Maine, it was built by the E. G. Budd company of Philadelphia. It cost $280,000 and was modeled after another streamline, the Pioneer Zephyr, that had caused a stir in Chicago in 1935. |
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 The Flying Yankee caused quite a stir for me in Plaistow, NH where I spent the summers from 1934 to 1943 at my Grandpa Conley's farm. The Flying Yankee would zip through the Plaistow grade crossing at 10:15AM every day. That grade crossing was 4 miles from the farm so I jumped at any chance I had for a ride in that direction. Uncle Bob Meyer would occasionally go to Dustin's General Store next to the RR tracks to buy a newspaper. Knowing that I wanted to see the Flying Yankee, he timed his errand to arrive there at 10:05AM. We would drive in his "Buick" convertible that was as much in the future, I thought, as the Flying Yankee. It had red leather upholstery, gray paint, with lots of shiny chrome trim AND a rumble seat. It was the best car I had a chance to ride in. Riding in it made the trip doubly worthwhile. While he went into the store for his paper, I would wait by the crossing for the train to speed by at 90 miles and hour. It couldn't have been in my view for more than a minute but what an exciting minute it was. You could hear the woOSH OF IT COMING AND THEN RECEding as it faded from sight. It was a blurry silver streak whizzing by my eyes.
The Flying Yankee may not seem unusual to those of you who were not around in the 1930's, but 70 plus years ago it was a marvel. Remember those were the drab and struggling depression years. All other trains had Iron Horse type engines which burned coal. They belched thick black sooty smoke as they chugged by at 35 miles per hour. There was no air conditioning on  those trains. If you opened a window on a hot muggy summer day to cool off a bit, smoke would fly in the window and in seconds you were covered with black specks on your clothes and sweat covered skin. |
 The Flying Yankee was AIR CONDITIONED. It was QUIET for the passengers. They didn't hear the clickety-clack of the rail joints as you did in other trains. The coach's interior had a modern "art deco" design, a new upholstery design, and there was indirect lighting. These things had never been in trains before. What a treat it must have been to ride in it back then. Unfortunately, I never did. I got my enjoyment just looking at it.
It had a 732 mile daily run schedule. The route looped from Porland, ME to Boston, MA to Bangor, ME and back to Portland, ME to spend the night. |
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To quote the Boston Globe article, "powered by diesel and electricity instead of steam, the Yankee flew between Boston, northern New England and New York for 22 years, dazzling passengers with its quiet, cushioned ride...." Then, in the 1950's, car ownership exploded and the Flying Yankee lost ridership big time.. The Flying Yankee was retired after nearly three million miles of travel and left to sit in a Carver, MA rail museum, for almost four decades as vandals pocketed bits of its Art Deco features and rot settled into its once-plush seats and carpets."
Now it is being restored to its original beauty. Soon it will again be taking passengers on tours throughout New England.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN ME ON A TRAIN TOUR? |
.  UNDER COVER
COMING SOON
VISABLE AGAIN
WATCH YOUR EMAIL. ANNOUNCEMENT OF COVER REMOVAL WILL BE SENT OUT TO ALL BY THE END OF APRIL, 2011.
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