Work Session

May 14, 2022

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

Volunteer Railroaders:
1. David H. Sr.
2. Tucker B.
3. Mike B.
4. Mike M.
5. Jason R.
6. Noah R.
7. Wimbley V.
8. Glen A.
9. Joe S.
10. Gavin S.
11. Angela A.
12. Andrew A.
13. Dwayne S.

Accomplishments
1. Significant tie replacement on main line and Engine House leads tracks with mini excavator rental
2. Significant vegetation, tree, root, vine, and stump removal, along with general land clearing, between

    Engine House lead track #2 and Car Knocker Shed lead track
3. Locomotive driver tires relocated
4. Considerable quantities of tie plates and spikes recovered during track work
5. Mowed grass near the Engine House, main line loop near the Engine House, roadway near Engine House,

    around the car knocker shed, and the near the sawmill entrance

Thank You’s
A big thank you to everyone for a very productive weekend! It was hard work in the hot and humid Louisiana climate, but each shovel-full, bucket-full, and spike maul swing makes a big difference! Thank you to David Hearne Sr. and Glen Armand for transporting the mini excavator rental this weekend. Thank you also to Glen for the delicious gumbo he cooked for lunch on Saturday. Thank you also to all our volunteers who came from far away, stayed over, and made for a mighty fine weekend. We’d also like to recognize the repairs and maintenance done at the lodge, including replacing doors and giving all the wood a fresh coat of stain. Museum handyman John W. also repaired the windows at the Engine House tool rooms after we cleared brush away in March. No more vines or varmints getting into our tool rooms now!

The museum staff was incredibility impressed and thankful for everyone’s hard work this weekend and they wanted me to share that with the whole crew. Well done everyone!

 

Friday

Before the weekend, Tucker had set up a mini excavator rental with a local rental house in Alexandria. During the board meeting, David Hearne transported the mini excavator from Alexandria down to the museum and began work. By the time Tucker finished with the board meeting, David had already dug out the sycamore tree stump which we had cut down in January and had cut a rough road through the area for the excavator and the tractor. After the meeting, David and Tucker spent the whole afternoon replacing bad crossties, clearing vegetation, hauling off stumps, and clearing the right-of-way near the Engine House lead tracks. 10 ties and 1 switch tie were replaced in one afternoon despite the fight from a variety of tree roots running through the track. David’s chainsaw was used to cut up many roots and hanging vines. He also moved the metal steps near the Minneapolis-Moline tractor out of the way, so the vines had one less object to climb up and over. This tractor will also be moved in the future for the same reason. In just one afternoon this whole area, track included, is in significantly better shape. New ties inserted running total at 11.

While moving debris and brush to insert ties, we relocated locomotive driver tires that were near the main line track. Several trees had grown up amongst them. Nine driver tires of various sizes were moved out of the brush and on to open ground on the other side of the track. On Saturday, David used the mini excavator clear out many of the cut tree stumps near the track in this area. This freed up needed space for track maintenance in this area.

 

Saturday

We had a full crew on Saturday, started earlier than normal, and much was accomplished. Glen and MB were up at the Machine Shop all day working on various belts, machines, shafts, and Heisler locomotive work. Glen acquired a new main drive shaft belt and they installed it in the Machine Shop. During the day as tour groups came through, we could hear the whirring of the belts going and heard the air whistle blow several times.

We started the day with a job briefing to go over the plan of attack. We started with moving the locomotive driver tires to the driver tire pile near the Engine House. M8 and the sprayer trailer were used to shuttle these heavy tires back. Since several ties were inserted near switch #10 for Engine House track #2, we split into two groups for our next tasks. One group focused on getting some ties gauged and spiked so M4 could be safely moved out of the Engine House. The second group worked with the mini excavator to continue inserting new ties to the track. In short order we had switch #10 in good shape and Gerald came up to move M4 down to the Depot.

During the day, Angela gave a large group an excellent tour of the museum grounds. Many of the guests saw quality progress all over the museum, including the railroad.

With M4 down at the Commissary hauling visitors, we moved M2 and M8 with tool trailer up to the car knocker shed lead track to position them near the work site. We continued working in two groups with one group leveling, tamping, gauging, and spiking ties, and the other working with the excavator to insert more ties. By lunch time, we had spiked down all the ties near switch #10, had eight more ties inserted, and then had these 8 ties spiked down. In between the tractor runs to get more ties, David used the mini excavator to clear brush, debris, and vines in the area between the car knocker shed lead track and Engine House lead track #2. This really helped open our work area and we spent a good amount of time clearing land with the crew, the mini excavator, and hauling several loads off in the tractor. New ties inserted running total at 19.

Glen cooked a delicious chicken and sausage gumbo, along with garlic bread, and all the volunteers and museum staff enjoyed a hearty gumbo lunch! Thank you, Glen! We were all well fueled for the afternoon.

We recapped the morning, made plans for the afternoon, and then went after them. Five more ties were inserted underneath the switch frog area for Engine House lead track #1. Most of the ties inserted here were not replacements and this area was sorely lacking ties to begin with. The roots were an absolute fight in this area. A large pile of roots and debris were created in the process. During the track work, one of the excavator tracks slipped off and we were able to get it back on in about an hour. During that time, Joe had hopped on the museum lawnmower and mowed a tremendous amount of grass that afternoon. He mowed near the Engine House, the main loop area near the Engine House, around the car knocker shed, and near the entrance to the sawmill. Time was used wisely! New ties inserted running total at 25.

The final part of the afternoon was spent leveling the newly inserted ties and clearing the flangeways so the equipment could be returned to the Engine House. Jason returned M4 to the Engine House with no issues (all whistles were provided by Carly & Noah). M2 had a minor derailment over a forgotten chunk of old tie on the Car Knocker Shed lead. The mini excavator had the car re-railed within minutes and this event was used as a learning example for pre-trip inspections for rail equipment before operating them.
 

Sunday
Sunday was the cleanup day. Five final ties were inserted underneath the switch frog for Engine House lead track #1. While the crew moved to spiking down the newly inserted ties for this switch, David on the mini excavator and Tucker on the tractor started hauling off the loads of limbs, sticks, roots, stumps, and debris from the weekend’s track work. The excavator was handy loading up the tractor bucket to haul off this debris and over a dozen trips were made. The final new tie inserted total for the weekend was 30 with about half of them leveled, gauged, and spiked down. The remainder will be spiked at future sessions. Before putting up M8 and the tool car for the weekend, the consist was run through the switch for Engine House lead #1 to ensure all was in good order. After stowing all the tools, we held a debriefing on the weekend, discussed the upcoming sessions, handed out copies of the new timetable and rulebook, and said our goodbyes. We loaded up the mini excavator on the museum trailer so the rental could be returned Monday by Glen.

The next sessions are in June and will include timetable and rule clinic and maintenance and repairs to all the rolling rail equipment. With the conclusion to many long-running projects, we will also be getting the ball rolling on a variety of new tasks and projects, with many under cover and in the shade during the summer. We’ll see y’all at Longleaf!

 

-Tucker "Who Dat" Baker
  RR&G Road Master

The clouds that moved in Friday evening promised rain...

And that promise was fulfilled.

Saturday

     Saturday morning greetings

"Dr Dave" the Mini Excavator surgeon, gets back to work loading driver tires.

Wimbley moves M8 out of the Engine House

Stackin' tires

Noah sweeps the flat car clean

Replacing ties

Dwayne and Gavin spike new ties

Tucker joins the fun

Tie replacement continues

The area between Engine House Track #2 and the Car Shop Track is now completely clear for the first time in decades.

Loading debris

Mike, Mike, and Glen work in the Machine Shop

Working on the ties at Switch #9

Gavin, Dwayne, & Joe

Debris clearing continues between replacing ties

A fantastic Gumbo lunch was provided by Glen back at the Lodge

This was TASTY!

Dr Dave slipped a track off of the Excavator

The whole crew gathered to lend a hand

We tried brute force for a while...

...without much success.   

We eventually had to use the tractor and a chain to get it back on.

M2 on the ground.

   No problem. Dr Dave swiftly re-railed her.

Done for the day!

It may not LOOK much different, but there's 2 dozen new ties in there and it's ROCK SOLID!

With the track put back in service, Jason moved M4 back to the Engine House.

Special thanks to Carly & Noah for providing all of the whistles for these movements.

End-of-Day debrief in the RR&G Engine House

New window in the Tool Room

Sunday

One of the unspoken perks of volunteering on the RR&G is the occasional ability to park your truck in a unique location.

That's a heckuva tire pile

    Dr Dave is back at it early Sunday morning

Work continues on SRH #3

She is scheduled to (temporarily) lose her boiler in the coming week.

The final ties of the weekend go in.

   Dave moves ballast (dirt) over the new ties

Moving the last of the debris

Spiking, tamping, and cleaning is just about complete.

Jason drives another spike home while Dr Dave uses the bucket to hold the tie against the rail.

Cleaning up and clearing flangeways

Andrew tests the repaired section with M8

DONE!

Debrief

Tucker hands out new RR&G Rules Books for the crew to study.

After the debrief, the crew parted ways and headed for home.

Come join us next time.