More 2008 Steam School Photos

[M Kerkvliet]

Lot's of great pictures of Steam School by everyone who has posted. I did not get time to take any, but my darling (and very understanding) wife Katy took a TON of pictures, and I picked out some of my favorites!

Thank you Katy for taking time out of your busy schedule to get these shots for the WMSTR forum.

Leading it off... she got this shot of Gerry Parker in the classroom. There appears to be some Minneapolis information on the screen. Go figure!! :D

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/classroom.jpg

Next, a couple of pics of the some students out on Main Street. After the first day of class, the students come out and climb on the engines and look things over. They are allowed to start and stop the engines without moving them. This gives them some practice on operation without having to worry about where the engine is moving. They get the chance to put into practice what they have learned the first 6 or 7 hours of class.

Jeff Knutson's Minneapolis in the foreground and Jim Briden's Avery on the right. A student is trying his hand on the throttle on the Avery. Instructor Jim Nowell (in derby hat) visits with engineers Darren Gunderson (on engine) and his father Rob Gunderson.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/avery2.jpg

Here Kenneth Griffis (left) explains the operation of "Ole Smokey" an engine designed and built by he and his Grandpa Jim Briden to a couple of Steam School students.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/kennethsmokey.jpg

Jane Larson and her brother-in-law Craig Larson keep an eye on the Russell on the operators platform. Clayton Larson, Jeff Lund and Dennis Powers discuss things on the ground.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/larson1.jpg

Another shot of Jane and Craig getting ready to start the engine.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/larson2.jpg

Continued...

[M Kerkvliet]

A wide shot of the engines on Main Street. The Briden 40 Avery, WMSTR's 75 Case, and the Briden / Griffis "Ole Smokey stationary.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/3engines.jpg

On day 2, students are encouraged to operate the many engines we have fired up for the weekend, in the wide open spaces on the WMSTR show grounds! Here I am instructing students on firing techniques before we leave for a little drive. The engine is the Briden 40 Avery.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/avery1-1.jpg

A couple of students get some practice on Jeff Knutson's Minneapolis under the watchful eye of engineer Darren Gunderson.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/jeffminneapolis1.jpg

A young lady takes her turn on Mary Jo Dillon's Advance, under the watchful eye of Mary Jo's husband Tom. Actually, they are both under the watchful eye of Mary Jo! :D
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/dillonadvance.jpg

Students take a turn on the WMSTR Rumely. Dennis Carstenson is engineer and I can see two of the students are long time WMSTR members Andy Meyer and Scott Anderson. Not sure who the others are.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/rumley.jpg

[M Kerkvliet]

I'll finish it up for tonight with some WMSTR folks that Katy got some pictures of, that I thought were worth posting.

Future student Simon Osten, on the Osten Minneapolis.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/osten2.jpg

Another one of the Osten Minneapolis, this time with Noah Dillon and Simon Osten. The guys are cousins and grandchildren of Lyle and Bonnie Osten.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/noahsimon.jpg

Myself and Tim Dachtera discussing the modifications to his golf cart... heavily modified for video work this year at show time.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/marktim.jpg

Here John Beck and crew are working on laying track down Main Street for the trolley car John built and donated to WMSTR. John has the pry bar on the left, and long time WMSTR members Dave Grande (kneeling) and Josh Grande (prybar AND wrench) are lending a hand. The trolley can be seen in the shed in the background.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/trolley-1.jpg

A candid shot of WMSTR Railroad Superintendent Jerry Asher at the throttle of the 353 locomotive. Katy says it's the best he's ever looked!

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/asher353.jpg

Finally, a picture of myself and one of our more prolific posters here on the forum... Eric "The Ned" Mars. We teamed up cleaning the Avery and the 75 Case on Monday morning, long after the students had all gone home! Obviously we were done with the cleaning process.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/markned.jpg

Even though Eric and I give each other a fair amount of "grief" on these pages about who can do a better spark show, among other things... here is proof that we really do tolerate each other!

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/nedmark-1.jpg


Next time you see the Ned on the show grounds, ask him to tell you the fire hose story!

[dclong]

Great Pics!

[M Kerkvliet]

Here is another one I ran across. I have about 130 of them, so I am have some sorting and resizing to do before I can get them up.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/353.jpg

If anyone else has any pictures, please be sure to get them up here somewhere!

[Myrtle]

I've got some photes to put on here, lots though are of the 75 case.. hmm.. was that avery even around? oh yeah i sat on its platform.! i'll have to try real hard to get my phote bucket account to work and post some of them!:aetsch: i heard there was even some horseshoe's played....

[RickinMt.]

Thanks Mark..just got home...it was to say the least "overwhelming to this ole boy.":bannana:

Many thanks to you for the website and the locals's for such a fine job.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Regards.
RickinMt.

[bprifle01]

Mark

Thanks for all of the great photos from Steam School. Pass along my thanks to your wife for being willing to take all those photos. I had a great time there and learned alot! Thanks also to you for being so patient and understanding when a rookie like me took a turn on the 40 Avery. :hide: My deepest gratitude goes out to Mr. Briden for letting a neophyte like me actually drive one of his prized steam tractors.
Tom Hall said there were around 200 volunteers there to make Steam School happen. My thanks go out to all of them for making this past weekend a great time for the students. Without their help, this never would have happened like it did. Thanks to all.:) :congrats:

Bill Peaslee
Steam School '08

[M Kerkvliet]

No problem at all Rick and Bill! That's what we are there for!

A couple of the engineers told me that this years group of students was the best group ever. Everyone was polite, thanked us for the time and the opportunity to operate, and seemed genuinely happy to be there. I would have to agree!

From a board members perspective, I too would like to thank all of the volunteers... from the instructors in the classroom, operators, right to the ladies in the kitchen making the meals for us all (we should have gotten some pictures there). There are also people who mow, plant flowers, clean restrooms, etc. whom you might not notice unless they were not there! I didn't make an attempt at a count like Tom did, but I don't doubt his numbers. It takes a lot of volunteer labor to make everything run on the grounds, and we are grateful to you all!

[Darren Gunderson]

Thanks for posting those pictures Mark!. I had a great time as always this past weekend. I did not get as many pictures as I thought I would as It seemed I was always busy tending the engine but I did get a couple nice ones of Edin's Minneapolis during the spark show that I will post when I get them resized.

I would agree with your statememt Mark, that the group this year seemed appreciative. I had some students come back after things were all done and thank me for the time we spent with them. That certainly helps make it all worthwhile. I would say there were a few young students that really showed some natural ability with the engines. We need to foster them and keep the interest up.

Did anyone get any pictures of the students working over at the Ortner? I know my wife said there were a few that came over and spent some time over there. Dawn perhaps?

Darren

[Case Kid]

Wow, looks like you guys had a great year at Steam School! Great pics evryone! I just pulled back into town from Yellowstone on the family vacation, first time I've missed Steam School since '91 :(! Oh well, sometimes schedules just don't mesh and all great legacies must come to an end... Time to start fresh I guess! See you all soon on the hill!:o
Nick Olson

[dclong]

The Ortner had a lot of company that weekend! Shelly did a great job of showing some students the ropes on the Ortner. I'm looking through my pics and aim to get some up in the Ortner section today, but I fear I didnt get many students this year :confused:. All in all, a fantastic weekend!

[M Kerkvliet]

I just pulled back into town from Yellowstone on the family vacation, first time I've missed Steam School since '91...

...Time to start fresh I guess! See you all soon on the hill!:o
Nick Olson

I was wondering where you have been! Maybe you can make it for the big work weekend the end of the month :D !

Good to hear from you Nick!

[RickinMt.]

G'day all;
I must say that I was very impressed with young Kenneth when he chased some young kids off that were graba$$ing around the Wachs. Being a Wachs fan myself it was nice to see a different model up close and personal. Thanks to the guys for that working display!

RickinMt.