The annual opener has gotten easier over the years with our full time, in his words, 3rd Generation Immigrant Track Worker, John Griffin. He spends all the hot months out here keeping the weeds at bay, filling in the squirrel holes, repairing any rain damage and getting a few miles in on the Freight Motor. Untold trips up and down the High Line slowly excavating or filling as the terrain dictates in our quest to move up the hill. Thanks John, for your activities you have taken on.
Friday was arrival Day and it looked like a family weekend at the railroad. The day before Friday Allan and Lynn rolled in. Matt "Z" brought up my trailer as he had the big truck and partook of festivities around my house Thursday evening. Greg and Becky made it out in the afternoon too. I got the late start, but Shelli and I made it out by 9:00 and enjoyed a bit of time around the fire barrel before the night ended. The breeze blew a bit Friday night as a storm was rolling in in the low lands. It rained in the Southern California area but not up this way. Saturday morning the breeze abated and the Sun was out much of the day. Some big clouds scudded over, but nothing fell out of them. We kicked a few ties and ran about a bit but for the most part just a nice day to check things out.
The new gasoline situation, with all its additives that don't fair well with small motors and even more with small motors that sit a while between use has been plaguing my Alco. An upgrade to some of the stuff found around my occupation has solved the problem. After using my Oklahoma credit card to drain the old concoction out of the tank, a fresh tank was refilled and testing resumed. It didn't start missing and stalling after it warmed up and it did start running smoother and stronger. It was even fun to run it as one didn't feel like they didn't know where or when they were to start pushing it to get it back to the barn. The boys were up working on the big stuff, so we went up and offered our support on their project. Enough fun for the day, it was Saturday night, so Steak Night it was. The evening was decently pleasant and not as blustery as the night before.
Sunday awoke to a beautiful High Desert Day. Probably ordered by the local Chamber of Commerce as it was their Art Tour Weekend and had good connections somewhere. Time was not wasted too much and the 4-4-0 was soon warming to a fire in her belly. Activities around the steaming bays. and lube racks, was busy. The sight was like a full size museum, the turntable aligned with Short line and oddball locomotives, not a mainline high visibility or cookie cutter type engine in the mix. A 4-4-0, an Alco RS-1, Plymouth switcher, GE 47 Tonner, Pacific Electric Steeple Cab Switcher. The worker locomotive that toiled their years in obscurity, not bounding from shore to shore pulling the fastest freight or shiniest varnish.
The smell of coal smoke filled the compound and soon it was time to run. With four trains running most of the day it was good to see some action around the place. A trip up the High Line with all the trains yielded a convention at the end of line. Then it was back down to the Car Barn to pick up track panels to haul them to the end of track.
A link to some photos of the weekend, https://picasaweb.google.com/Ratsgarage/JoshuaTreeOpenerNovember122014?authuser=0&feat=directlink
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