Presidents Day Weekend at Joshua Tree
The weather man was right it was going to rain this weekend, at 9:00 am on Monday it started raining. The rest of the weekend was the standard; cold nights and T-shirt days as long as the sun was out.
Paul Westover came down from Tehachapi Thursday afternoon and offloaded another one hundred feet of track panels for the 7½”. I meet him at Barr Lumber around 11:00 on Friday, as I came into town, to pick up a few items that we would need to finish off on the hoist project. It sure is neat to get out a little early for a long weekend and even better when you get to stay a day longer too.
Terry Watson was up and waiting when we hit the gate, eager to see what was in store for the coming day. Al and Lynn Ratliff came in the gate not twenty minutes after we did; it is nice to have Mom and Dad make it out after not being able to the past couple of times. We got the trailers set up and even unloaded the GE before the sun dropped over the edge and the cool started to take over. Tom Arnold was up for the weekend too, and we put him to work the whole weekend.
Saturday dawned with nary a cloud in sight and soon as the sun reached the valley floor the temperature rose as quickly as the sun. By 10:00 it was not necessary to have more then a t-shirt on if you were in the sun. Saturday night I had a pretty good sun burn going on the nape of my neck, I completed it on Sunday. Greg made it up pretty early Saturday morn’ with the non-used section of the hoist, it will be used about the hoist area, just not on the lift. The end track sections of the hoist were fitted and refitted before welding them in place.
The header plate on the block wall was secured to the block work with the remaining fasteners. After that was done the track crew could build the remaining track panel to length and grade it. They also started on the two outer lead tracks from the lift, as there will be three tracks to choose to off load to from the lift. Terry Watson brought out his hammer-drill motor to put the holes in the wall for the header plate. Gary Conley assisted with the drilling and tapping of holes to secure the rail to the hoist trolley.
And visitors in the gate during both days, Ray and Sunny Martin, their son Matthew assisted in the work of the weekend. He is a member of So Cal Live Steamers and was camping down the road. I do believe we will be seeing more of them in the future. By Saturday evening all that remained to see the hoist operate was electrical and air. The air could wait and could be bypassed but the electrical was Sunday’s project. On the track side of things the track crew had laid sixty feet of panels and had rough graded them as well. The grading for the third lead was pretty far along too. And it too would get attacked come Sunday as well.
Sunday morning the Heisler got a steam up and ran for an hour or so, she is developing a lope and needs a little more attention then she has been getting, so back to the bays she went. After the sun hit the hoist area it was back on the project, with the fish tape in hand we ran the electrical to the pump motor and ran the air line inside the conduit as well. After filling up the reservoir for the hydraulic fluid we soon found out that the lines were crossed; it had been a year since we disassembled them, at least everything is now well lubricated.
After we figured that out, we ran the hoist up and down a few times to get the air out of the line and it was time to give it a test. Everyone was to pick a spot a go for a ride. Pictures were taken at the lowest setting; on the ground. And then I raised it to the top and took another shot for posterity. Top of rail is 11 3/16” at lowest and 6 foot 5 ½” at highest.
Gary and Allan worked on the sheet metal for covering the wheels as to keep from running over fingers during movement. All the new track panels got rail joiners attached before sundown on Sunday. And most of the track got at least a token ballasting before dark. Quite an accomplishment for all that lent a helping hand, a big pat on the back for all.
Sunday evening saw all leave except Mom, Dad and I, quiet came back to the campground and the evening was warmer then the two previously. The cloud cover was coming in and by mid morning Monday the much talked about rain was finally coming down. Being antsy to do things while having a morning about the place, I figured with the string line and a few stakes, the radii of the existing curve and duplicated it on the other lead track. That made the yard look better. Soon I was digging out along the upper side of the lead tracks for a tie retaining wall to keep the sloughing sands at bay and to give one a decent walking path while traversing the area. The GE and a few flats did the yeoman work of transporting the heavy ties to the worksite.
The rain was getting serious by now and the first break in the clouds Dad and I loaded things in the respective trucks and secured them for the trip home. We picked the right time as it really never let off again till after I left at least and it rained all the way home for me. It even was trying to snow at the top of Morongo grade on the way out of Yucca Valley.
A great weekend, with a lot accomplished by those that made it out for the weekend, one more session on the yard switch and grading the lead tracks and we will have a functional, larger and safer way to load and unload equipment. I’m looking forward to seeing it in use as I’m sure you are too. See you at the Narrow Gauge meet March 12-15, 2009.
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