Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 8018 | Snowmobile VERMONT By David Diminico Sr. Back in December of 1999, Paul Jackson, then 65 and now 82, of Canaan Vt., was patiently waiting for a special delivery. A brand new 1999 PistenBully 200 was on its way from Kassborher USA in Auburn, Maine. Paul had been involved with grooming since the late 60s, when his first groomer combo was a Bombardier 270 stock machine with a homemade drag. The drag was made out of two-by-six lumber and pieces of a bandsaw blade as cutters! Paul retired from Ethan Allen in 2000, and that’s when he started grooming full-time. Paul continued to groom with the “Old Bully” until 2013, when he groomed the Derby trail for the Northeast Kingdom Snow Blasters in Norton. The Bully was traded in by the Canaan Border Riders in 2010, and then purchased again by the Snow Blasters in 2012. The club was frustrated at first, dealing with many breakdowns, broken tracks and numerous visits from the Bully mechanic in Maine. It was becoming very costly. In 2015, the Snow Blasters, a small club in Norton, didn’t want the financial obligation of purchasing a new machine, which now cost over $225,000. It was decided to invest some money into the “Old Bully” and give it a makeover to extend the life of this 15,000-pound trail groomer. The club was very fortunate to have made friends with Brad Shepherd of Norton, Vt., who is a semi-retired heavy duty diesel mechanic. Brad is a machine shop operator and used to be the powertrain engineer on the NASCAR circuit. Without Brad’s knowledge of machines, engines, and his general mechanical problem solving skills, combined with his dedication and volunteerism to the club, this never could have happened. The makeover began in late spring of 2015, when Brad and groomer David Diminico Sr. of Norton, began the process. The club invested over $10,000 of club funds for parts and combined that with Brad and Dave’s hundreds of volunteer hours to make this work. “We worked on that Bully every day, from 8 a.m. until dark through late fall, when we finally tightened the last nut and bolt,” said Brad. “We replaced axle bearings, worn bogie wheels, rebuilt final drive pumps, head gaskets, adjusted valves, input shaft seals, splitter box seals, welding and the list goes on.” The Bully only ran about 110 hours last year due to the lack of snow. A normal year will yield 400-500 hours. You have to listen to the machine while grooming as it will usually tell you all you need to know. With limited hours last year, the Bully was ready for this coming season, and we stored it in the Norton Town Garage for the summer. Something was missing though, and it did not take much to figure that out! It needed a paint job and again, volunteer hours played an important part. Michael Jutras of Norton is an auto body expert at Hayes Ford in Newport. He volunteered his services, For You! “Bully For You!”is an old phrase popularized during the early 1900s meaning“Good for you, well done!”It is an expression that praises someone or their courage.