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Team:
Angela
Andrew
Everett
David
Tucker
Domineaux & the Pest Control Staff
Accomplishments:
- Organized northeast corner of engine house. The entire engine house
floor has been organized and cleaned
- Cleaned up area in front of engine house near Insley crane recovering
useable parts and equipment
- Locomotive driving wheel tires stacked in cleared area
- Facilitated safe handcar rides with museum visitors
- Deposited junk ties near Planer Mill Switch to extend the erosion
control berm
- Inserted new ties on main loop near Planer Mill switch
- Ran herbicide train and cleared vegetation near switches
Friday
After the meeting, Everett and I had only a set amount of time until it
started raining again, so the goal of dropping off the junk ties and
loading up new ties and a stick of rail were not feasible on the
already-wet track. We began by cleaning up the area in front of the
Engine House near the Insley crane. First, we moved the locomotive leaf
springs off the old lumber cart into the Machine Shop near the back
door. Next, the locomotive driving wheel tires were moved out of the way
with the tractor and chains. After that, we used the tractor and chains
again to bring the old lumber cart down to similar equipment near the
new dry kiln entrance. All the tires were flat and had major flat spots,
so the cart "galloped" and "slid" all the way over there. But now the
cart can be appreciated among similar pieces of historical equipment and
no longer in the brush. We then moved to cutting out the brush and
sorting the equipment found hidden in the brush. Joint bars, spikes, tie
plates, rail supports, short pieces of rail were recovered and all the
frayed and damaged wire cabling (small lengths beyond any use) was
gathered up. Clearly part of this area had been a scrap pile from many
decades ago. The indiscernible scrap metal was taken to the scrap bin
and we recovered some railcar truck springs from this area and from the
sawmill pad. All the springs were placed underneath the main workbench
in the engine house. Once the rain started, we turned to cleaning up and
organizing the northeast corner of the engine house, the last area not
organized. While wrapping up Friday and returning the tractor to the
finished lumber shed, a staff meeting to debrief the day was held with
the pest control staff.
Saturday
The pest control staff was up and at it for the morning safety briefing.
Angela and Andrew joined us, and after quick introductions and a safety
briefing, we set right to work. Angela, Andrew and I continued
organizing in the engine house while Everett and Dave sized up the
drainage work that Dave is going to handle in the coming week. He has a
mini excavator rental and is donating some of the time to help with the
drainage work in and around the Planer Mill. Thank you Dave! Dave also
brought his mower to clear brush near the Planer Mill, around the main
loop near the Planer Mill, and near the burn area to access the concrete
block pile.
With a few wooden pallets, the Engine House other track material area (OTM)
was in tip top shape! The area was purposely organized so that when the
third track is rebuilt in the Engine House, the maintenance-of-way train
will pass right by this area for loading and unloading OTM. Using some
old plywood and tin sheet metal blown off a nearby shed, an area was
cleared out for the locomotive driving wheel tires. Using chains and the
tractor, the tires we stacked in a manner to reduce brush growth, to
make clearing the area easier, and to facilitate easy access to lifting
the tires in the future.
Before the lunch break, several families and groups visiting the museum
came through the Machine Shop and Engine House. We took time to show
them around and to point out all the neat history each place has. With a
few young folks on hand, we facilitated a great time operating the
handcar up and down Engine House lead #2. Andrew helped me pull the
handcar into position, we conducted a safety briefing and a quick
history lesson on the handcar and its use, and many groups took a trip
up and down the track. A very good and safe time was had by all! The
handcar does need some maintenance and a quick tightening session was
conducted on the crank housing bolts using the drop pit. But many
visitor's days were made with a trip down the track in a real handcar.
After lunch, we again split into groups. Everett, Angela, and Andrew
took M2, Ichabod (the crane), and the Horseman (dropside flatcar) down
the loop to deposit a load of junk ties for use in extending the
existing erosion control berm in this area. This will be a future
project to support the track structure in this area. Dave and I
continued clearing around the Insley crane, recovering a full Sharon
coupler housing, several joint bars, and some useful angle iron. It
turns out there's just a lot more in this area than we bargained for, we
didn't even get to it all! We did find some steel support trusses that
can be useful for bridge building in the future. Meanwhile, down the
track, the dropside flatcar encountered a spot on the loop while backing
up "not to its liking." Gauge is too tight and several ties have rotted
out. The whole gang assembled with track tools and fresh ties and a good
track maintenance session conducted. Old ties taken out and moved to the
newly-placed junk tie pile for a future project, new ties inserted, and
new volunteers got a chance to spike the spike maul! The area needed
some track maintenance and the work was very worth doing.
Sunday
Everett, Angela, and Andrew took
an in-depth tour and survey of the site and future project areas while
yours truly mounted the herbicide train. I must say, the new sprayer car
we built is absolutely fantastic! I took weed eaters, a brush blade on a
weed eater, and a hedger on the deck while the purpose-built sprayer car
tackled herbicide spraying like I've never seen before! Thank you to
Everett, Jacob, and Kevin who helped repurpose the car into a great
resource for our operations. Several small sampling trees were removed
on the main loop near the ascent to the main grade from the road
crossing. Angela, Andrew, and I also cleared the visibility lane of
vegetation to see around the switches on the engine house leads. Grass
near the switches on the main line also received a "haircut" courtesy of
the weedeater. A discussion was held on the drop pit, some more spikes
were cleaned up for future use, a discussion was held on the drop pit
rebuild, and we spent some good time switching all the rolling stock
into good positions in the engine house.
Good job everyone on a safe, fun, and productive weekend!
-Tucker Baker
RR&G Road Master
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