Exciting progress made on several projects during our Saturday, March 23, 2024, workday.
Another Friday evening rain leads to great weather on Saturday as more work was done on the “Grandma Line”, water line extension, and the new retaining wall. The crew took a divide and conquer approach to projects starting finishing the new retaining wall then moving to the water line extension project. We had a special visitor “Bob Jr” who helped bring dirt in for the “Grandma Line” area.
Another Friday evening rain leads to great weather on Saturday as more work was done on the “Grandma Line”, water line extension, and the new retaining wall. The crew took a divide and conquer approach to projects starting with Wes and Scott finishing the new retaining wall then moving to the water line extension project with Robby and John.
Wes also jumped in and help build a temporary crossing so Rick and “Bob Jr” could start bringing in dirt for the “Grandma Line”. Rick spent most of the morning bringing in load after load into the area to fill in many of the low spots we have in the area. The first layer of dirt will settle the next few weeks with more dirt to be brought in later which will also require time for the dirt to settle and compact. Overall, the great news is the “Grandma Line” has made a great deal of progress the past couple of weeks and if all goes well this year, we could get this line completed by fall. If you are looking to get involved, we need track panels and a switch built.
The crew also worked on ballasting both ends of the water line extension and spent time realigning the existing water line track and adding additional ballast. During our next workday the water line track will begin to operate as a mainline for traffic traveling east on the railroad. This will also allow west bound traffic to move over to the track next to the water line and begin traveling across the “LaVay Bridge”. More details on the changes to the railroad operations in the coming weeks.
As the day was wrapping up John and Wes took time to make additional changes to the railroad tie wall near the east end of what will become the “Grandma Line”. They swapped out a couple of bad ties with newer ones and will begin the process of bringing in dirt and other material to secure the wall and prepare the ground for future roadbed through that area.
Major workday recap for Saturday, February 24, 2024
What an incredible workday we had on Saturday. The weather was incredible, and we had more than a dozen volunteers come out which made the day a huge success. Because of the turnout we completed the major track repair on the west end of the railroad along with installing a new switch on the mainline near the west end of the water line. The crew consisted of John T, John, Calvin, Scott, Robby, Peter, Gene, Rick, Ben, Thomas, Paul, Tyler, Norm, Dale, and “Bob III”. The crew also took care of building more than a dozen straight panels for the “Grandma Line” and started building a new switch as well. Rick and “Bob III” took care of leveling the gravel near member container 3 which means we can now schedule the move of the blue container. They also cleaned up a trench that had been dug during our electrical project workday a few weeks ago.
What an incredible workday we had on Saturday. The weather was incredible, and we had more than a dozen volunteers come out which made the day a huge success. Because of the turnout we completed the major track repair on the west end of the railroad along with installing a new switch on the mainline near the west end of the water line. The crew consisted of John T, John, Calvin, Scott, Robby, Peter, Gene, Rick, Ben, Thomas, Paul, Tyler, Norm, Dale, and “Bob III”. The crew also took care of building more than a dozen straight panels for the “Grandma Line” and started building a new switch as well. Rick and “Bob III” took care of leveling the gravel near member container 3 which means we can now schedule the move of the blue container. They also cleaned up a trench that had been dug during our electrical project workday a few weeks ago.
With all that was done an update to our March workday plans will be updated to include plans for our next project including some work on the clubhouse and shop project. A big thank you to everyone who came out because nothing happens without our members and volunteers.
Project 2: West Loop track repair near the Nicol bridge
The purpose of this project is to repair an area on the west loop near the Nicol bridge that needs about 40 feet of track repaired including moving a switch to a new location in order to provide better transition coming out of a curve heading towards the Nicol bridge. Because of the nature of this repair, it must be completed before our April 13th run day.
The purpose of this project is to repair an area on the west loop near the Nicol bridge that needs about 40 feet of track repaired including moving a switch to a new location in order to provide better transition coming out of a curve heading towards the Nicol bridge. Because of the nature of this repair, it must be completed before our April 13th run day.
Proposed work schedule
Workday #1 (at any time before January 27th) - Identify and build track panel(s) need to be built as well as cut replacement ties that will be installed in numerous places in the area being repaired.
Workday #2 (Saturday, February 24th)- repairing and reworking west loop track section near Nicol bridge.
Workday #3 (Saturday, March 23rd) - All repair work must be completed by this date to make sure the railroad is operational again before our first public run day which is Saturday, April 13th.