Martin Luther King Weekend at JT

January 15,16,17,18, 2010



Something a little new this report, I am going to write this as time permits during the weekend for a different perspective, allowing me to try out this new lap-top device. Last time I had a personal electronic device at all times was an ankle bracelet courtesy of the county. Enjoy a different approach, if it makes you want to come enjoy the railroad then it works, Brian

Saturday morning: With the three-day weekend and the promise of Southern California finally getting a little more rain this is turning out to be a great time to be here. The weather in the Southland is clouding up, Friday it was grey around here all day until late afternoon, this morning the high clouds are across the desert with a little blue off to the west over the 15” mesa. Mom and Dad are here and I showed up around three o’clock yesterday afternoon with Greg, Becky and Sydnie rolling in after dark to round out the arrivals so far.

Greg had worked on the new switch frogs during the week, getting us prepared to work on the yard tracks above the Shepherd Lift area. Jimmy Booth donated four sets of switch parts from Train Mountain for this project and now it is time to get them in. It will be a great asset to the railroad to have that yard fully functional before the next session of playing trains out here.

Earlier in the week, Paul Westover made a trip down from Tehachapi with a load of full sized railroad ties for our landscaping and stairway projects, Thanks Paul, and Uncle Pete too.

The sun has finally edged over the hill to help warm the day, the Cactus Wrens are warbling, they sort of sound like someone trying to start a car that won’t fire; ying, ying, yingyingying. The new firewood is doing great, and I hear life start to stir in the other trailers. It is a beautiful day at JT.

Saturday afternoon: As the dinner fire is starting to get a good bed of coals, it is a good time to update. After the morning breakfast, we unloaded Greg’s truck and took out the steel for the front of the engine house. We needed to do some measuring to make sure that it was right before cutting expensive steel. The next project ended up to be a Better Homes and Gardens job. We worked over the defacto walkway from the lower end of the campground up to track level at the engine house lead. With the new ties that Westover brought up, we made a stairway up the hill so everybody could walk up a real walkway instead of picking their way up and over the rock embankment. Of course, we cut them in half so the walkway is four foot wide instead of looking like the approach to the Supreme Court Building. In moving the ties from the storage area, the storage area got a once over to clean it up and organize it as to be able to get the rest of the cinder blocks moved to here. Matt Z. made it out about noon today, we had been waiting for ‘sparkplug’ to arrive all morning, glad to have him come out and lend a hand, he is a great asset to any organization, thanks Matt. Off to cook dinner…

I’m back: had a great steak, cooked on oak coals of course. The evening is cooling but isn’t too cool, great time around the fire. This afternoon we started working on the switches at the Shepherd lift lead, we have a frog cut in and are working on the rails working up to the points. Tomorrow we will continue and hope to maybe finish another switch too, making all three tracks accessible. So much for a stormy weekend, no rain yet. The GE 47 tonner has made a few night laps, the headlight's beam bouncing off one side of the canyon or the other as it winds its way up and down the grades.

Sunday Morning: We are moving the cinder blocks from below the dining car to the narrow gauge storage area below Tedder, a project we can do till it warms up a bit and we can go back to work on the switches. Matt and I loaded El Pepe the omnibus, Brendon Hilton’s electric flat bed, with 36 cinder blocks and brought them down to the upper crossing where they are trans-loaded to the flat cars, at 12 to a car, for a trip down to the storage area. Dad was at the engineer’s potentiometer on the GE and soon Greg made it out of the trailer as well. The big split face blocks are heavy and do not stack as well as regular block owing to their irregular outer face. Once we had that pallet of block moved, we had two pallets of regular block and we could move them at fourteen blocks to a car. We had all the block moved by nine thirty and we had done our part to clean up the area. The pallets will soon be back at the block company in San Bernardino.

Soon after it was back to the switch project, and by lunch, it was progressing well. With the close proximity of the three switches, it was necessary to pretty much work on all three at the same time being the longer switch ties might traverse all tracks. We had plenty of help, physical and moral during the project. The girls all came out to sit on the wall and watch as well as Kevin Kane and Terry Watson. New Members Bob Whitt and his friend Miles kept an eye on us while getting the G-scale track back in condition too. We had a visitor, Bill Mallard, from the Burnaby Central Railroad, British Colombia, down and he really liked what he saw.

The Day was warm and quite clear for an approaching storm, but by about three o’clock the weather started to deteriorate and soon it was time to find the earlier discarded extra shirt. As the day went on it got colder and after dark, about five thirty the rain started. Nothing much, just a steady drizzle for and hour or so, but this is the desert.

Monday is here and it is time to make sure all is packed up, and put away where it belongs. Matt and I did a little dirt moving around the new switches and retamped the completed sections of track so the rain would settle in the track where we wanted it instead of just where it was. We even moved some of the 7 1/2" storage items from the inner loop area to get out of the way of the ever expanding 'G' scale outfit. We made some progress over the weekend; started work on the switches in the Lift yard tracks. A better walkway to the steaming area and cleaned up around the open area with the moving of the cinder blocks. Good progress, good people and a good time, see you President’s weekend in February.