2011 Annual Report - the Seashore Trolley Museum

New England Electric Railway Historical Society
Carhouse Repairs
Tom Santarelli
With the museum having marked its
72 nd anniversary in 2011, much of the
museum’s infrastructure has been in
service for decades. Many of Seashore’s
carhouses have been housing streetcars,
interurban cars, rapid transit cars, and
buses far longer than the buildings on
their original systems. Not surprisingly,
maintenance needs have been growing.
In recent years we have made significant
improvements to Shop 1, the Burton B.
Shaw South Boston Barn, Highwood
Barn, Riverside Barn, and the Town
House Shop. This year we finished a
program of foundation work we began
last year at Fairview Barn. Some of the
footings supporting the steel columns
and poured by our volunteers decades
ago had cracked and shifted. Unstable
soil conditions led to the east side of the
building and track four shifting outwards,
thereby damaging several of the columns.
Our partnership with engineers from
Portland engineering firm SMRT resulted
in a much more stable foundation design,
including the provision for adding a frost
wall on the east side to hold the columns
firmly in place and stabilize the adjacent
track bed
Back in 2010 our selected contractor was
able to pour four of the new footings and
piers on the west side of the building
just before the full onset of winter. In the
spring after the concrete had fully cured,
final height adjustments and finish grouting
were carried out allowing the temporary
cribbing to be removed. A volunteer
crew then began repairs to the adjacent
track by replacing approximately ten
cross ties, extending one of the rails, and
adding stone ballast for leveling and support.
The work extended outward upgrading
the appearance and access to this
area and to better control water runoff
and drainage.
Above: Soil conditions around Fairview were a challenge to the contractor doing repair work. Considerable
grading was required for equipment to reach the deteriorated footings. Here temporary blocking
piles and beams support columns while new footings are excavated then have concrete poured. TS
Since other carhouses were built with
similar foundations to Fairview, this work
will provide us with valuable design and
financial information for those structures
if and when such work is required.
Fairview is a pilot project deliberately
intended to be a future tool.
Meanwhile, capping last year’s Highwood
improvements, a new asphalt apron was
paved across the front of the building
by a local contractor. New bollards were
installed to provide solid fixtures for securing
the doors when open, the outside
track was brought to level and ballast
rock added to smooth out and improve
the appearance of the passenger loading
area of the yard. A section of steel framing
was installed by our volunteers to accept
new rear exit and access doors. Next
to and at the back of the building, new
culverts improve drainage and widen the
usable roadway at the throat of the future
trolley bus loop.
At the Visitors Center several improvements
were made to the rear of the building
to improve access for deliveries and
visitor pathways. This included relocating
a storage unit, installing granite curbing,
then paving a new walkway, and landscaping.
Below: New footings have been poured and the first sections of a frost wall between the footings at
each column have been constructed. Future plans call for frost wall around the entire perimeter. TS
To access the work areas on the adjacent
East side meant overcoming very soft
ground conditions along the drainage
ditch next to the building. Fill had to be
brought in to allow access to construction
areas. Another four footings were replaced
over the summer and two sections
of frost wall were installed. Upon completion,
our track crew moved track four
back into position. The Fairview building
is now stable and future foundation work
will be undertaken as needed. Developments
will be monitored closely.
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