Work Session

October 17, 2020

To join the fun, contact the railroad at: WorkSession @ RedRiverAndGulf.net (no spaces)

Team:
Mike
David
Everett

Jason

Tucker

Chuck

Don

Craig

Ben
Domineaux (RRG staff)

Doug (SFHM staff)

Summary:
When many hands are on deck, a great weekend happens. With beautiful fall weather, we had progress on many projects at once involving clean up, salvage, restoration, documentation, and project planning. Hurricanes Laura and Delta dropped many trees and debris but we had the saws and manpower to clear most of it. Museum visitors were riding the M4 and a wedding also took place Saturday evening - all signs of a great Saturday.

Accomplishments:
- Cleared majority of Wye (switch back tracks) of Hurricanes Laura and Delta fallen trees and debris
- Salvaged a blown-down and saw-timber-worthy black cherry tree
- Placed walkway boards over Wye bridge
- Cleaned out and moved Boy-Scout built flatcar
- Cleaned out and moved 204's tender
- Removed rotten boards from behind pit in engine house and deposited fresh dirt to fill in holes
- Engine house clean up:

              -moved M4 original seat frames to parts warehouse

              -emptied garbage cans into dumpster, moved rotten wood to burn pile

              -junk lawn mower finally sent to lawn mower heaven (the scrap bin)

              -scrap metal along wall placed in scrap bin, red anvil moved to blacksmith area in machine shop

              -wire rope coiled and hung on engine house wall with homemade hangers
- Discussed and formulated plan to repair engine house drop pit
- Discussed and formulated plan to replace rotten pier beam underneath planer mill east wall near power house
- Additional video recorded for Longleaf historical series
- Continued painting by Mike in cab of #106

Follow Up Points:
- The light fixtures in the engine house Mike recommends we store in the sawmill power house
- The 11 inch air pump from engine 202 can be moved into the machine shop and stored near engine 202
- The tires and plastic irrigation pipe piled outside the engine house can be disposed
- A drainage ditch needs to be dug across the track doors leading from engine house into machine shop to divert water

      - water is running into the machine shop tracks from the engine house side
- The drainage pipe and dam installed in January underneath the planer mill needs maintenance and more concrete blocks placed down

      - water is eroding the area again
- The last remaining blown-down tree on the Wye needs removal

Saturday
Dave, Jason, Everett, and Tucker began clearing the Wye (switchback tracks) with the M2 and a flatcar loaded down with chainsaws, picks, shovels, crowbars, gloves, water, wrenches, oil, gas and plenty of muscle power to clear fallen trees and debris. Hurricanes Laura and Delta dropped many large pine trees across both tracks, some from one foot in diameter to several roughly a foot and half in girth. Everett, Dave, and Jason all brought chainsaws and so the clearing work was moving in various points at once. Once the track was cleared from the bridge through the switch and down the next leg of the Wye, an issue was noticed in the rail. A very large and mature pine landed square on a rail right in front of the active bridge and delivered a massive kink in the rail in the north-south plane (of which the rail doesn't like to bend that direction). A decent tie was nearby and with some shovel work, the tie was pushed in underneath said dent in rail in the hopes of raising it back to cross-level. Everett used the M2 to fetch spikes, gauge, sledges, and other tools to spike down the tie. Unfortunately, we simply could not bend out the kink and M2 kept trying to climb out and derail. A stop flag was placed on the track before the bridge as it is unsafe to operate motorcars past this point. The bent rail will need to be replaced entirely.

We then ran around the loop in M2 to come in from the other end of the Wye near the Planer Mill. We again set to work with chainsaws and loppers clearing debris, branches, and trees. Everett and Jason placed some boards down on the Grigsby Gulch bridge to allow for easier foot traffic. A good saw-log black cherry had fallen and we used the tractor and chains to drag it out. On Sunday, Dave, Jason, Tucker, Chuck, and Don  helped load the tree (cut into four logs) into the back of Chuck's truck. Chuck is a fine woodworker and many good things are in store for this timber!

After the lunch break, with the wedding time approaching at the planer mill, the tractor and M2 were moved back to the Engine House. Mike and Tucker climbed on top of 204's tender and Dave brought the tractor in with bucket raised in order to load up and move out original M4 seat frames. The frames are securely stored and out of the way. The tender was emptied of scrap wood, scrap metal, other disposal items, and donated irrigation pipe. Next up with emptying out the Boy-Scout-built flatcar that has drop sides. Two 50ft coils of wire rope were pulled out, properly coiled, and secured with rope. Once the flatcar was emptied, we rolled it into the Machine Shop to clear the area for continued cleanup. Using the tractor and some homemade hooks made from scrap iron, the wire rope coils were hung on the Engine House wall - saving the wire for future use but getting it out of the way. The tractor was then used to push 204's tender temporarily into the Machine Shop so cleanup can continue along the wall. A re-rail frog was found along the wall once the tender was moved. Goals include to rehab the bearings on the flatcar and to relocate 204's tender to the middle Engine House track at the very back beyond the pit, next to the Machine Shop wall.


Sunday
On Sunday, Jason, Chuck, and friend recorded more video for the Long Leaf Historical Series at the Sawmill. Good video is sure to come!

Clean up continued in the Engine House, loading up and then dumping rotten wood, scrap metal, and other garbage that had been piled up for transport the previous day. Using chains, the red anvil was moved into the blacksmith area in the shop through the blacksmith's door. Rotten lumber was pulled off the engine house pit track and fresh dirt was brought in with the tractor to fill holes and level out the area. Plans were also discussed and finalized for repair on the engine house pit and for replacing the rotten pier beam underneath the planer mill east wall. Both are big projects and high on our priority list to tackle in the near future.
 

-Tucker Baker
  RR&G Road Master

Gearing up to get busy at Baker Bridge on the Wye.

Looking down the tail of the Wye

Planer Mill leg of the Wye

Notice the kink on the right rail under the tree

About 4" off of level

That's a heckuva dent!

Jason cuts up another of the many downed trees

We replaced the tie under the dented rail in hopes of straightening it enough to use it.

Despite our efforts, the M2 wanted to derail.

The entire rail will be replaced in the near future.

Jason poses at the dent near Baker's Bridge.

We relocated the MOW train to the Planer Leg of the Wye and attacked from that direction.

The trees were covered in vines making the job twice as difficult as it needed to be.

Dave found a really nice Black Cherry tree.

It was hauled out and will become furniture in the near future thanks to the skill and efforts of Chuck Lind.

M2 is on the Planer Mill leg of the Wye with the MOW train as the M4 passed on the Loop with happy passengers.

We love to see happy passengers enjoying our railroad.

Dave heads into the Wye to retrieve that Black Cherry tree.

This is Grigsby's Gulch bridge and it needs to be rebuilt.

This is scheduled for the 4-day December Work Session.

The 2x12 was placed across the bridge to make it safer to cross.

Looking towards the Planer Mill at the cleared area

Everett inspects the remaining trees and brush to be cleared.

This will wait for another day.

Everett heading back to the M2

Jason's brother, Ben, brought over a drone. The footage he shot will be in future Long Leaf Historical Videos and IT IS SPECTACULAR!

The cleaned-out and moved Boy-Scout car rests in the Machine Shop.

We coiled up the McGiffert cables and hung them on the Engine House wall

That is a massive improvement

Next up we moved 204's tender into the Machine Shop over the track we rebuilt this summer.

In the near future we will "dosey-do" the tender and 202 so they're in the correct order in the Machine Shop

"That'll do"

Here is the Wye tail area after the clean-up.

This is a significant improvement.

New end-of-track at the dent near Baker's Bridge.

The hard work was well worth it.

Looking down the leg towards the Planer Mill.

There is more work to be done.

Looks pretty good.

The Black Cherry tree has been cut up.

Then it was loaded into Chuck's truck for the trip to the mill near Chuck's house in Texas.

Moving the anvil back to the Machine Shop.

It was suggested that we use dynamite for this move, but we couldn't figure out how to aim through the door effectively.

The final task of the weekend was removing the rotten boards from the end of Track #2 in the Engine House and bringing in new fill dirt.

Domineaux pulled the webmaster aside and gently corrected me that I have been misspelling her name as "Domino."

I apologized and promised to fix it going forward.

Domineaux is off to make her rounds inspecting the property.