The historical society has a small but dedicated volunteer base, but progress has been slow. Most recently, a committee consisting of Dave Hoelzel Sr., Sally Paradis, and I have been working on securing the resources to accomplish the task. Our lack of experience, and lack of funds have been problematic, but we are persisting.
Last year, the inspection car was treated to a new coat of paint by the McDonald family and a new set of doors by Roger Paradis, but our caboose and boxcar are big challenges that will require more money and resources than we have on hand.
Scott Knightly, President of Envirovantage, has stepped forward to provide expertise and the resources of his company to restore the outside of our caboose to honor his grandmother, A. Willis Goddard, one of the founders of the Raymond Historical Society. He has enabled us to reach a tipping point and to begin moving forward.
Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it will take the help of our community to restore our trains. I've established this blog as a personal journal of our progress. I will be conducting interviews, posting pictures, and video, of the work here and spreading the word through our YouTube channel, our website and our Facebook page.
.My next entry will be to provide a little background on the Depot, the rolling stock, and our efforts to date, but if you want to get a head start, here's an interview with Steve Goldthwaite, I conducted a few years ago.
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