2015 Narrow Guage Meet

Great weekend, you missed a good one if you missed this one. Weather, people, trains....

 

It was a very busy weekend from Thursday through to Monday. Bill Shepherd is in town working on a project up on the 15" but spent some time on the high line mid week and we are getting close to being through the rock moving section above the Tedder Shed. Things around the steaming bays started Thursday too. The Burns', with RGS 41 rolled in from Salinas. John Norquist with his RGS Goose 7 all the way from Upstate New York or Phoenix. The Stites' GE 47 Tonner and Steve Nelson's C-21 fresh out of the paint shop made some track time Thursday. The Thursday night crowd was in full swing by the time Shelli and I got in. Greg and Becky weren't too far ahead of us.

Friday Morning Five of us made a run to Palm Springs Air Museum to see FiFi, presently the only flying B-29, we stayed long enough to get a walk around her and watch the lumbering beast take off; then back up the hill to play trains. Friday I got a chance to get out the 4-4-0 and the Alco but didn't get to run till Saturday. Paul and Celeste Lavacot brought out Goose 6 to round out the RGS faction with the addition of Maywalds #20 to 6,7,20 and 41. Colorado and Southern was well represented with Thompsons 2-6-0 #13 which spent a lot of time out running flawlessly. Anthony Duarte had his 0-4-0 out and ran the wheels a little smaller. Out for it's debut in its new electric drive system and Sumpter Valley Yellow paint job was the Joshua Tree Davenport. After a few years of neglect and attempts to at least stay on the track Matt took the project under wing and got her to roll, and it spent a weekend a while back in tow just to see that it would do that and it was off to the next segment. Greg and Matt worked out an Artzberger drive that works well on the GE's so they adapted that to the Davenport. Right now it is running sans side rods but it still did wonderfully all weekend. It has four batteries under the hood and in the cab so she has some weight to go with the torque. The paint and body work were done by Matt and JT&S #7 starts it's next assignment ready to go.

     The weather was almost too warm the whole weekend, and a jacket was too much for when one was by the fire. The place was green as the wildflowers were still in the growing stages. The Mullberries were pushing out buds and fresh green leaves. By the end of the weekend little yellow flowers were starting to emerge in the sunnier of areas. Wildflower season is near. It was a busy weekend and I do believe most everybody had a good time, plenty of old familiar faces and quite a few new ones too. I hope I didn't miss many. Of course there is a link to my Picasa for a few pictures, not bad for an iphone, and I stole a few from others if I could. Off to Maricopa Live Steamers for a road trip.

 

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/Ratsgarage/NarrowGuageMeetMarch2015?authuser=0&feat=directlink

All Sorts of Progress

Our resident workaholic, John Griffin, has been tirelessly plugging away on the rocks in our way on the High Line. Affectionately called Gibraltar Numbers 1, 2 &3, John has been trying different methods on each to see which way is best, easiest and looks the most on what we are trying to achieve.
 First and foremost is aesthetics. We are trying very hard not to make our trek up the hill look like a Caltrans project, with a scar up the side of the mountain. We are only trying to move as little as we need to traverse the countryside. Second, we don't mind sweating a little to reach that goal. John likes to get out in the fresh air and has with very little micro management on my part done a prenominal job with what he has chosen to work with. His go at it alone and at his own speed method has shown great progress. Today I was sent many pictures of his latest achievement. Gibraltar number three has now a new name of Half Dome,

as the offending half is now being split up into moveable sizes. The other half, with no need to move will stay put. It's drill marks a lasting testament to only removing what need be.
  Gibraltar number One was taken care of by only removing what was in the way by slowly chiseling away at it till it was below grade or out past our parameters. Number two is still a test bed for a different way of  removing the offending granite. John has had good luck with what are called Wedges and Feathers. A series of holes are drilled in line and the feathers inserted with the wedges in the center of the hole. by hammering the wedges further and evenly the rock splits and becomes a more manageable size. Great work John, see you next weekend.
 

The End of Track

The end of the year does not signify the end of anything but a calendar. Time marches on and life continues. Just like the end of track over the years out here at the tracks. It is just a line in the sand that we have reached, and after time, unless we look back upon our archives we do not realize how far we have progressed over time; be it a year or a decade. For some of us grey beards that have a few years in this place we talk about things that have been in the ground for ten, twenty and even longer than thirty years. The 7 1/2" started in the hot Summer of 1979. There are pictures of young and even younger working on this railroad. Some are still with us, and some have gone on to other places. But after every time we have gone home from here the end of track is somewhere. Some years it moves often and other years it inches along. Some times it isn't even at an end but where we are working to make this place better for the next time we come out. Enjoy a look back at the progress.



https://picasaweb.google.com/Ratsgarage/EndOfTrack?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Shelli's View Through the Viewfinder

One of Shelli's interests is photography, and more the process after the picture is taken. The shading, cropping and the like to bring more out of the subject. You know me....good enough picture and it gets the message. Shelli spent a while the last trip out and took a load of pictures, came home and went through them and gave me two dozen to put into her own report of sorts. I do like to use other peoples pictures and to see them because they look through different eyes then mine. Hopefully this will be an ongoing segment in the Joshua Tree files, as wildflower season will be upon us soon and be in full bloom during our upcoming trips to play trains. Enjoy the view from beyond the tracks.
https://picasaweb.google.com/Ratsgarage/ShelliSViewOfJoshuaTree?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Visitors Surveying the Railroad

John Griffin was out at the tracks yesterday afternoon and had a few visitors pop in to check the place out. I've never seen them in a herd before, it is nice to see them in our area. Enjoy.

President's Weekend at the Tracks

February in the High Desert is a joy and the weather usually cooperates nicely. This year was no exception and it was T-shirt weather all weekend, and we all know I have a few of those. Shelli and I made it out Thursday night and had the place to ourselves. After a very busy couple of weeks with the airplanes it was nice to get down to a good old lo-tech steam engine. Friday morning the Sun over the hill beat us up and out of the trailer. I forgot how bright that door window can get and how quick. John Griffin was out early and we surveyed the recent progress. The guy works four or five days a week out there and apologizes that he can't get more done; he's got us beat, no worries. Great job John, your pace of getting things done is fine with me and I'm sure all will agree.
 Allan and Lynn made it up in the afternoon and it is good to see Mom out as she and Dad haven't been out since Thanksgiving. Friday flew by and soon it was evening already. A fire for not much more than effect flickered till after Greg and Becky showed up around their usual time. Saturday morning Art Barter rolled in with his Shay and a few flats and stayed till after dinner. At times he had the track to himself which with a Shay was a pleasant repast to not have those pesky rod engines climbing up your backside.
 I'll admit I did the romantic thing as it was Valentines Day, Shelli and I went for a drive through Joshua Tree National Park. I did go in the least accessible way, Berdoo Canyon, but we had a blast bouncing around rocks, boulders and little four wheeled drive vehicles in the big ol' Blue Truck. Dinner in 29 at the Rib Co. to top it off as well. Sunday was another beautiful morning and the 4-4-0 got a workout in the morning and the Alco in the afternoon. The Alco sure runs better on that 100 Low Lead from the airport. It starts good after it has set and the gas doesn't separate like the crud you get for automobiles these days. Things got put away in the afternoon and by Monday we all bugged out for one's each respectable homestead. A good low key weekend where we all enjoyed the weekend weather and company. Next month is the Narrow Gauge Meet and it will be a bit busier. The wildflowers should be coming out soon so bring the camera too.
  Shelli took a lot of pictures of plants and animals this weekend and when she gets them all sorted out I'll make a blog post just for that. I might have taken ten pictures all weekend so you'll have to use your imagination when it comes to pictures. See you in March. 

Mid Winter Run, January 17,18 2015

                                 


Mid Winter at Joshua Tree usually is a great time to be in the High Desert. This last weekend was one of those, a great time to be out. Shelli and I made it out late Friday night as usual. Greg and Becky were out already. The folks kept it close to home. Our plan to get up the hill and move as much dirt off of the grade so John Griffin could focus on rock breaking was our goal. The Plymouth came out but we ended up using the Alco for yeomen duty of running the loaded buckets from end of track to our growing dirt pile at the far end of the switchback siding area. Till we get to a better place to stockpile rocks and such that is the better of dragging it all the way down the hill to below Tedder. We have plenty of room for pile of big rocks, little rocks, sifted roadbed and plain old fill dirt.
  Saturday dawned a nice morning and soon it was off with the sweaters. A batch of buckets and up the hill we went. Terry Watson said a donor might be up to drop off a few things and low and behold he showed up. Terry took care of the visitors and Greg and I started into earthmoving. A good old pick axe was getting better results and soon we were taking 8 bucket train loads down the hill. Memories of the days when we were excavating for the lower trestle. After we retired a tired old bucket because the bail failed we soon had a ten bucket train. I attempted to take note of trips and loads including a picture of progress every trip. That plan worked great and as you can see from the below pictures we advanced a good ten feet or so up the hill. We are in fact far enough to go back to a single track width for roadbed as the siding distance is long enough for our requirements: if you can turn your train on the wye you will fit in the sidings.
 Saturday afternoon before heading down the hill Greg and I with the help of Shelli ran 50 full buckets off of the hill. Saturday Night Steaks were delicious and we attempted to find the Lovejoy Comet to no avail. Sunday was another beautiful morning with a high overcast to keep the Sun from bearing down too much. We added another 40 buckets to the total and even did a little scouting of the future grade up the hill to ease some nagging doubts that were popping up.
 We had a visitor from the Inyokern area that is interested in building his own railroad around his property and had questions on building on a hill such as ours. He probably left with more questions than he came with, but that what happens when you start out around here. He'll be back. We did run trains for pleasure too and it was a very fulfilling weekend. Looking forward to the Standard Gauge Meet February, 13-15. Time to bring out the skinny wheeled ones to play on the hill. With the Alco and the 4-4-0 I have been addressing the wide spots as they widen out. Of course there is a link to photos below, but more important, an invite to get out here and see the place again. We had a visitor that hadn't been out in 15 plus years. That is too long a span to see the place. See you next month. Brian

https://picasaweb.google.com/Ratsgarage/MidWinterRunJanuary17182015?authuser=0&feat=directlink