On Saturday, 11 of us set up ties and started spiking rail that will tie in switch #8 that I built in February with the main line and long pass track.
On Sunday there were 9 of us. Myself, Steve, Dale and Peter measure the space for the rail that will be cut and drilled for the switch tie in.
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The track tilted where the ballast had settled just south of trestle #3 so we dug out the 20 foot long 4" by 22" PT retaining beam, moved it over 8 feet and added another.
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Tim Boshart took this photo....Brook, Peter, Daryl, Randy and Richard get a good workout as we lay 180 feet of track.
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Kathy Schimmelman took this picture of Russ, Gib and Jack.
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57 volunteers showed up for the day to help Kathy and I lay the last few rails to complete our main line.
9:10 AM All materials are on site and ready to be turned into "main line". Jeff and Skip rough rake while Rene and Doug set up ties for rail.
At one point, I looked around and there were more people taking pictures than laying rail. But no problem, with so many helpers we completed the job in about 4 hours.
Steve, George, Steve, Sean and Doug placing the last rail, completeing the main line.
I guess I'm smiling because it took almost 12 years for this photo. Tom Utt took this picture right after I drove in the last spike completing the main line. Then, for the first time in 11 years, we took the train around the main line without having to back up!
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Kathy, Rita, Dale and Myself drilled 250 ties and removed the entire first curve, It was mostly made with 12 to 15 foot rails manifactured before 1910 and we were never happy with it.
Even using the backhoe to lift the rails and knock off the ties with a sledge hammer wasn't easy. We found out it is much harder to remove rail than install it. Rita is using a cheater bar on her spike puller and still we couldn't pull some of them.
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After coffee and rolls, the crew jumps right into laying out new ties. We had the material and this is such an important curve, we went with ties 10 inches on center for better stability and built the entire curve using 30 foot long rails.
Using a center pivot and a 55 foot wire we set stakes about every 10 feet and laid the first rail to them and spiked the rail in place. We laid almost the entire inside rail before we started on the outside rail to get an almost perfect 55 foot radius curve. Tim, Gary and Dale are setting the second rail at a near perfect 18 inch gauge.
As we add ballast (15 yards), level and tamp it in, the radius set stakes can be taken out as Peter is doing.
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We checked and where needed set the gauge back to 18 inches. We are working on rail that came from a Mill in McCloud California and was manifactured before 1920 and we installed it on this section of ties 9 years ago.
Dale, myself, Rita and Steve shovel gravel out of the ballast car into cavities between the ties while Peter runs the engine and Tim takes photos.
I'm working one of 4 levers that release ballast from the side dump while Peter backs up the work train.
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Izzy Whetstine was MC of our event with top hat and tails. KVAL and KEZI TV and 2 newspapers were represented. I'm holding the 24K Gold Plated Spike celebrating completion of our main line which Dale Woodward furnished and just handed me.
I placed felt over the spike and drove it home to the cheers of the huge crowd after short speeches by many. The night before I realized we had created more than a railroad.....we created a time machine as evident in the faces of most adults who ride our train. Look into their eyes and you can see the sparkle of someone who, for the moment, is 10 years old again..........and I think that's Just a small part of the magical effect all trains command.
Our main line and balloon track are finished. Now we can run the train in either direction without having to back up.
Sam checks out the snow midway on "Blackberry Hill".
Snow on Trestle #3.
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Boy Scouts help with winter clean up.
Scouts from troop 710 (Florence) add to May Camporee Bonfire.
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7 of us unbolt and remove the splice bars from 40 rails. Thanks God for WD 40.
Tim runs the cutoff saw and removes 3/8 of an inch of steel from each rail to allow for summer rail expantion.
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SATURDAY MARCH 15th.
22 scouts and 15 scout leaders and parents help us with thinning and clean up in preparation of the May Camporee.
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Turntable/lift.
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Boy Scouts from troops 22 and 577 and Cub Pack 402 all get trains rides after a great rainy work day.
Dale and I and the rest of the crew test the cylinder for our soon to be "turntable".
After a friend used a huge auger to dig the hole then Dale, Tim B., Peter and Tim S. helped me with digging and positioning one Saturday.
Greg Kennedy helped me with concrete one day.
Were getting ready to lift the 1793.
So far, so good.
Several friends and I take a couple hours going over the 1793 to see what must be done to get it back in service.