This page contains photo's and stories of work parties in the last two years.
We completed our small yard over the weekend of April 28th and 29th.
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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LEVELING THE TRACK ON SATURDAY MAY 5th,2007.
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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JUNE 2nd, 2007 WORK DAY.
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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ON JUNE 24th, A DRIZZLY SUNDAY, 17 OF US LAID, BALLASTED AND TAMPED 240 FEET OF TRACK.
Kathy Schimmelman took this picture of Russ, Gib and Jack.
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SATURDAY JULY 28th 2007
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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August 27th through August 31
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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September 1st & 2nd (Labor Day Weekend)
20 people showed up on Saturday and 18 on Sunday to rebuild the curve.
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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September 22nd Work Day
6 of us regauged and straightened about 500 feet of track then ballasted and tamped it all.
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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OCTOBER 13th, 2007
GOLD SPIKE
Kathy and I drove out first spike in June of 1996 and on this day, over 11 years later and with the help of over 100 volunteers, we drove a gold spike. A group of Boy Scouts from troop 22 struck the colors and over 200 friends joined us for this special day celebrating completion of our main line.
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.
WORK DAYS in 2008
In early February, heavy snow that took down over 40 trees across the tracks and roads on our place.
Sam checks out the snow midway on "Blackberry Hill".
Snow on Trestle #3.
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SATURDAY MARCH 8th.
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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Turntable/lift. March 2008
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.
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Work Day-Saturday- April 4th,2009
8 people show up to help clean up the roadbed and improve the view folks will see from the train.
Kitty and I talk about all the ferns on the uphill side of the tracks.
Peter is using a leaf blower to clean the roadbed. We then moved to the lake and cut back the salmonberries that incroached on our right of way.
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Looks like were done with the railroad except for the maintenance. Even though I have all the materials for a splended depot it will now not be built! No Depot-No hassels!
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