Steve Nelson came out with Sydnie for the weekend and brought along the C-21 and a string of cars. Chris Burns rolled down from the North and had the Navajo Construction Cab for something to ride around on. Allan and Lynn Ratliff were out before us kids and Dad had the GE and enough flats to make his WSL #4 caboose look good. Greg and Becky brought out the Skeletons so his load of empties looked even better. Sydnie and Caleb even were spotted all weekend, and Colette and the pups had the Curve staked out. Shelli and I made it out after work on Thursday, a whole pickup load of goodies for the railroad, concrete and firewood.
Around the railroad John Griffin finished off the rock breaking project on the High Line and the grade is almost to the abutment of the next trestle, sans rockwork for a path up the spine of the mountain from the end of the curved trestle up to the Pauline siding area. So one does not have to walk the whole High Line to get up to the top. Bill Shepherd did the path work and this weekend it got a lot of foot traffic, so a well placed path it is. Even saw a few people up on Bill's path to the top of the mountain that heads off from the firebreak road too. The view is getting better the higher we go, and from the top you can see quite a panorama.
Thursday and Friday the Tolan's were out, Jeff put in a few miles on his Chloe, he spent the summer doing a lot of bearing work and even painted her up, sure is looking and sounding good. It was good to see the whole lot of Tolan's Kevin and Lori, Jeff and Tiphani...and the dog.
Jerry McPheeters has taken over the repair, maintenance and operation of the Edwards Motor Car and 'Trailer', his first project was to get it back into good running condition with a going over of the drive system including the chain drive and idlers. It really has just been sitting in the back of the Car Barn for a number of years waiting for the right time. Jerry has done wonders with the girl and it is good to see it out and about. Having one person in charge of it and responsible for it keeps it from being neglected and not maintained. Enjoy Jerry, it looks good. John Griffin has been using the Freight Motor for a work engine for a few years now and of course he keeps that one in top shape as well. Bill Shepherd helped him with a nagging fuel leak on it over the last month or so.
Saturday was a bit warmer that Friday and we had quite a few visitors too. It is amazing how many find out about the place from the internet and drop on by. A few genuinely interested folks too, we just might see them back again, The 4-4-0 ran around on Saturday, The Nelson C-21, Burn's Construction cab, the Edwards and the GE 47 tonner; we had a track full of operations for a while. Over the weekend there was plenty to see at times, and sometimes nothing, that's just the way it goes.
Saturday afternoon Jerry offered a hay ride to those interested for a trip around his neighborhood in Landers, of course everyone made it back in time for Steak Night.
Sunday we spent some time up on the High Line and made the forms for the first abutment and even poured the concrete for it. The new location of the Batch Plant makes the distance the mixed concrete has to travel significantly shorter than it was getting to be, hence the move from down at Tedder. The raw material still makes the trip up the hill and we have enough room to move around the plant when we are a mixing. Right now water comes up in buckets, but the plan is a water line, and eventually a water plug for the steam engines. Wouldn't an old tank car like Tank Creek on the Silverton branch look okay?
The trestle piers will be located and formed and filled in the next couple of sessions, and soon we will have another trestle to get us further up the mountain. Come on out and enjoy the scenery, the railroad and the high desert. See you in two weeks for the Mid Winter Weekend January 15-18.
A Picasa link for pictures of the weekend at, https://goo.gl/photos/dSbjtsijNMYF9XY97 any questions the usual E-mail is ratsgarage@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment