Let's keep digging back,

A couple of more pictures from the Ratliff Vault. More from the group; Joshua Tree & Southern Annual Meet 1980.

 The first one is yours truly on Francis Moseley's Fruit Growers Shay. As of November 1980 the lower end of the track is not to the what would be the bridge abutment at the steaming bays. Long before the switch to the High line, which will be about where the engine sits. Long Before the switch to the steaming bays which will be yet further down the track that is not yet laid.

The second picture shows all the activity and all of the equipment out that weekend. Working left to right. Greg Ratliff's four wheeled D&RG flat, a project between him and Rudy Van Wingen. The C&S 10, Rudy and Brownies hard working Mogul. The flats we haven't figured out whose they were. and to finish the first train is a Yankee Girl Mining Company dirt hauler. These two cars hauled the brunt of the early dirt from one end of the railroad to the ever expanding other end. The Steam crane with drag line of Jerry Brown. A two inch model that was a joy to watch Jerry operate. He was filling the Yankee Girl cars with it and kept the crowd enthralled with his skill at it. That is Bob Gantz's Steam Donkey with the pile driver attached. I am sure if we dig deep enough about that spot we could find a pilling or two. The engine behind the crowd is Harry Haas' 2-6-0, with a few flats and a Yankee Girl dump car too. Unloading out of the station wagon would be Francis Moseley with his Shay. It is loaded in the wagon on the 4 3/4" gauge trucks and had to be transferred to the 7 1/2" gauge trucks at the ramp. The background has changed a lot in 38 years. From a few camp sites to the Cope house changing and look at the uncluttered view across the valley. There are a lot more houses out there these days. 

The last shot is of Lorin Brown, one of the partners in the C&S 10 project. Lorin was the engineer and design trust of the project. Many of the switches and parts to switches we are still using along the railroad are from his jigs and plans.
Another view into the past from Joshua Tree.

A look back

Sometimes you need to give credit to the people that light a fire under your ass to get things done. Jim Kreider, I guess I can thank you, you referenced I needed to dig into the Ratliff Vault and pull out a few treasures. I grabbed four cubes of slides and scanned them to the computer; Joshua Tree & Southern Annual Meet, November 1980. We did not name it the Rudy Run, in his honor, till after his passing.  Quite a turnout for four hundred feet of track. Looks like we had three Steam engines, a Steam Donkey and a Steam shovel, and a plethora of talent and admirers. This a just a few pictures to whet the appetite to a look back on a weekend just past 38 years ago.
The first picture, riding the flatcar. That is Rudy Van Wingen, who's crazy vision to build a 7 1/2" railroad up a mountain instead of around a circle is why we are out here. Who said you couldn't have fun running back and forth on 400 feet of track, moving dirt from one end to the other? The next time out we would have 420 feet of track to do the same.

Those two distinguished gentlemen pictured had forgotten more that I will ever know. Francis Moseley and Dick Bagley. Francis owned the Corwin Shay and it enjoyed it's time on the mountain, working up a real grade. I think this might have been the only time Dick saw the railroad at Joshua Tree, it surprised me when I saw the pictures. It had been a while since I took them. Francis' generous donation from his Foundation allowed us to continue as we are today and his collection was the beginning of our Station- Museum.

Francis taking lunch while the Shay waits. This location would be by the power pole above the Shelter. Notice the breeziness of the Shelter in the pictures. Not protected as it is now.

Enjoy a slice of history, there are some interesting ones to come. See you in a few weeks for the New Years Weekend. December 28- January 1. Any questions, send me a line at ratsgarage@yahoo.com.

Thanksgiving at Joshua Tree

Thanksgiving Weekend at Joshua Tree is a low key event compared to two weeks previous. We usually have a list of projects from the Rudy Run, or a good idea what needs to be addressed. This year we still had to clean up from our October 12/13 rain event that gave us a whole lot of rain in a little bit of time.
Wednesday afternoon and evening saw all the Ratliff's make it out. Thursday morning and mid day we had Jeff and Tiphani roll in as well as my neighborhood friends Marshall and Matt roll in for a night and a day of helping out. Matt Z made it out Friday mid day to round out the players for the weekend.
Thursday morning we unloaded and stayed close to the picnic shelter as Turkey was the project of the day. As we eat early enough to get most of the meal in before the Sun drops over the hill and cools the place off rather quickly. Still we had three trains make a run around the place. The 4-4-0 stayed in the bays aiting for Friday. Allan's GE, the Davenport and the Alco moved about the place. Let's just say the Turkey was great, the fixings were plentiful and enjoyed by all that made it to the meal. I think we had fourteen enjoying the feast.
Friday, time to boil some water and enjoy a beautiful day. The Sun poked over the hill and sweaters and long sleeve shirts we replaced by a t-shirt for the Sunny duration of the day. Shovels and sand buckets headed up the High Line and soon train loads were coming down clearing the last of the washed down dirt from October's Storm. We loaded 150 buckets, all but ten making it down the hill Friday. At ten buckets a trip, the rails were busy with the 4-4-0 doing the yeoman work, Jeff and I splitting the engineer duties. Marshall and Matt helped out considerably filling and dumping buckets. Kevin and Lori Tolan were out for Friday,as were Leone and Larry Fisher, the later had not been out for some time as his Museum keeps him close to the track so to speak. Good to see all of our visitors. By the end of the day all trackage on the High Line was operable, including the tracked section of Pauline, the siding at the end of track. Friday evening the appetizers came out around the grill. Even deep fried some mini corn dogs as the deep fryer was still available. We do not go hungry out there.
Saturday was another beautifully warm day,  With plenty to do and enjoy it was over all to quickly. The shelter area around Tedder was cleaned up and plenty of stuff that had accumulated seemed to disappear. There was always a train running so things went by rail to their prospective locations on a flat car. Steak Night was the flavor of the night, another feast.
Sunday , as it is always is a slowly pack it up day. Things getting delivered of course by rail , back to where it started. A great weekend with plenty of small projects addressed and tackled. Clean up of the picnic and Tedder area, a bit of track work was addressed, and finally after three of our planned weekends the railroad is back in operating condition fully after The Storm. A big thank you to those that had a hand in that recovery.
We will be back out for New Years Weekend, December 28 through January 1. Hope to see you out there. Always a fun time. Any questions give me a holler at ratsgarage@yahoo.com, Brian.

Rudy Run 2018, November 9-11

This past weekend was our annual Fall Meet which we call our Rudy Run. He would have liked it.
With plenty of action going on and unloaded by the time I hit the gate Thursday evening, we were off to a good start. Bill Shepherd was in town and most likely doing some project that will go unnoticed to the untrained eye, he almost always has a shovel or a like tool in his hand. I saw a certain water tower had a roof on it from afar, that might just have been his handiwork. All the hard work two weeks ago to get the track cleaned up from the storm was going to pay off.

Thursday evening was a Carne Burn Night, My Thursday night ritual at home went on the road, so I cooked out here

Friday was a blur, with a few things on my to do list it was soon over, plenty of running by others and a day not too cool and or breezy. Unlike some other parts of the State. This time around for the fierce winds, we were in the lee, other times it is all directed here. Friday night saw the grill in action again as appetizer night is growing in participation, bring something to share and it will get cooked up. An ongoing hors d'oeuvres plate. A bite or two of that and as it is finishing up something else goes on the grill. The evening was quite enjoyable around the fire with a few travellers showing up through the evening.

Saturday morning there were nine steam engines at the bays with one more at the unloading area yet to roll down for ten. At least seven gas or electric engines, could have been more as some only get used for transporting to and from the bays. Things go busy fast, good thing I fired up early as soon it was very active and the weather was just beautiful. T-shirt weather and nary a breeze making for a most enjoyable day to visit work all the folks from all around that make the journey.  Saturday evening was Steak Night and the grill was again the center of attraction as food can be. After dinner I counted thirty folks around the picnic shelter. Probably wasn't all of them so add a few to the count.

Sunday morning was the annual meeting so things slow up a bit. With a few people packed and gone for their trips to far away places and most loading up Sunday for their trips home. There still was plenty of action on the railroad. Sunday afternoon rolled around and left the folks that had Monday off or those that leave the place for themselves. Another great weekend out in the High Desert enjoying the fruits of almost forty years of building a railroad out here. 

Thanksgiving Weekend is the next time out, a long weekend for some and a good time to check the place out. Not as much activity, but still the same great place. see you then.

An Interesting View from the Highline

 An opportunity video, just the right place and at the right time to get one of the views that best describes why some of us like coming out here. All the toil, time and tears to make a railroad up the side of the mountain. Without moving any more than necessary as to preserve the beauty around the railroad. Enjoy 1:21 of why we like it out here.
Saturday of the Rudy Run, November 10, 2018. 

State of the 7 1/2" Railroad

Just in case you might miss the meeting come Sunday, I'll post my report here as well.

                                                 State of the 7 ½” Railroad at Joshua Tree, 2018

 

Here it is 2018, a lot has transpired since a hot summer workday in 1979. When the corner rock was laid, on what is now approximately five eighths of a mile of unique railroad in the High Desert.

 This last year we added the second track into the station, making for an easier time to get up the hill with downward traffic approaching.

 Onward expansion up the High Line has taken a break to once again catch up on infrastructure maintenance on the rest of the railroad. We purchased new rail to allow us to re lay the outer rail on some of the curves that have seen the most wear over the thirty plus years that some of it has been in the ground. Our unique railroad with sections of track that get ran over twice in a circuit, the outer curves on the single track areas have paid their dues and are scheduled to be replaced in the next few months.

 A plan to start two weeks ago was changed due to a very harsh storm, which gave us two plus inches of rain in a short time in early October. Even though we had dirt wash down the mountain side throughout the railroad, all except one location was just accumulated on the roadbed where we could shovel it up and either transport it to our dirt pile near Teddor or fill in roadbed where it was needed as ballast.

 Our Season opener truly was as we hauled 280 plus buckets by rail from affected areas, equaling approximately 14 tons of material. All by rail, in five gallon buckets, on flatcars. Thus, allowing us to be operational this weekend, so we can all enjoy our Rudy Run. There is plenty of dirt left up at the top of the hill on the upper level of the High Line at Pauline, that still needs a ride down the hill and I am sure most of it will have gotten that ride by the time the Meet is over.  

 The condition of the railroad after the massive rain, can only be attributed to the quality of the rock retaining walls and the thorough compaction of the fill in our embankments. We will continue to build our railroad in such a way so in the future we again might be spared the damage which can occur. I do want to thank Bill Shepherd for his guidance and knowledge in this area. Most of the washed down dirt was in areas of newer construction and we certainly weathered the storm well.

 And a big hand to our all season track maintenance Man, John Griffin. His diligence on keeping the little problems at bay by attacking them when they are still small certainly help us when we get out here after it cools off. Yes, his beloved flat cars went traveling this Spring, Summer and Fall, but they are back on the railroad and seeing plenty of service already.

 If we have enough time and talent, if and when we finish the rail re lay project, we should be able to start construction of the siding at Bjerrum/Beer-Rum. This would really help the operation, of work and pleasure traffic, on the High Line. And, of course the turntable area is certainly settled now after that rain as well. 

 The club locomotives and equipment are being well cared for by their respective caretakers. John Griffin is the custodian of the Freight Motor, and it is most handy in his work about the railroad year round. Jerry McPheeters has taken on the Edwards Motor Car and Trailer and it has had many things reworked and improved on it as well. Matt Zacharzuk has made the Davenport Switcher into a fine and reliable locomotive, a new set of batteries was in order and well deserved too. The work car was reworked and it now contains our track work equipment. I just might get around to finishing it someday too. Trying to make the roof details stay with the car and making the roof hinge is not the easiest of tasks.

 All in all, our railroad is doing quite well, some might say it needs attention, and it just might. With only about eight times a year we gather out here in any quantity, and most are only here twice a year, this railroad is doing well. Most of the problems about the railroad are taken care of and most of the equipment runs about it just fine. Coming from a mechanical background, if one thing has a problem and all others don’t, it usually is the one thing that is the problem.    

Any further questions, you can find me out on the railroad, enjoying the fruits of our labor.

 Brian Ratliff, 7 ½” Railroad Coordinator.

 

It Really was Opener Weekend

This past weekend October 26-28, 2018 it really was an Opener Weekend. With a big dump of rain in a short period of time on the evening and morning of October 12 13, 2018 a lot of dirt was washed down the mountain around us. The neighborhood was effected as well and signs of digging out were very apparent on the way out Thursday evening. A lot of sand still on the roadways throughout the area. Willow Road is very sandy and rough as the local race teams like to travel it at great speeds, much to the detriment of the road condition. I the past two weeks it has dried out and the dirt that needs moved is pretty dry already. Less water weight to shovel up. By the time I arrived at dark, Allan was set up as was Colette and Bill had set up camper after his trip from up North. A nice Carne Burn was had on the grill, opening it up for the season.
Morning came soon enough and a walk of the railroad was first thing in order. Our system of building with one bucket at a time and compacting it as we go seemed to pay off. No real settling or erosion to speak of on the 7 1/2" railroad. Except for a washout within 15 feet of the lower end of the line at Thompson, all damage was just run off and the deposit of the sand, soil and rocks from above onto the roadway. Now that the dirt had dried a bit, it was just shovel it up and clean up with a broom and move on to the next spot. A lot of the dirt was used to fill in along the grade where it was low or where the ballast needed improvement. The annual clean up of along the right of way from the usual slough of the sides of the hill. Where the rain had really washed down dirt we had an alluvial fan deposited above the track. At times or places it was eighteen inches deep and spread out from there.

 The Ophirish Trestles were well rinsed out of loose soil, exposing the decomposed granite below.

 John had spent the better part of a week cleaning up the track between the unloading area and the steaming bays for the arrival of the work party locomotives.

 A overall view of some of John's handiwork. using the above shown box built for the Westside 24 ' flatcars. A stop gap measure that will be used quite a bit in the near future for hauling ballast and debris.

 What the Picnic Shelter steps and roadbed looked like after the storm.

 After the track and steps were cleared it was looking quite grand.

 Jerry brought  out his Kabota to help in areas away from the railroad. And ongoing diversion ditch to train the errant stream away from the lower side of the wash. The sand removed went to build up the upper campground road that had been beaten up pretty good by the storm. Jerry also worked over the lower section of the firebreak road to help future runoff from going off the side of the embankment and into the picnic shelter area.

 The steps off of the steaming bay shelf needed another step as the rain cut about a foot of sand out of the wash at that location. Bill's handiwork was evident here as well as other spots that needed a skilled hand.

 A handy flat faced rock to work as the last step.

 This is the roadbed directly above the bridge trestle by the steaming bays. Directly above this on the higher high line was even more runoff.

 The diligent work crew, working with by now, two work trains was moving buckets of fill out of here at a pretty good rate. Mike and a buddy Chris came out to help for the weekend. Greg and Becky made it out Friday night and Sydnie even rolled in to surprise us Saturday afternoon.  Jeff and Tiphani rolled in late Friday night and brought out the Climax to gave the hill a challenge. The RS1 worked on Friday and got most of the lower trackage cleaned up. Allan's GE was pushed into service Saturday mid day and the bucket count went up quick.

 The only rock that ended up in the way of progress.

 Loaded on a flat car for a trip to it's resting place, in the washout at Thompson.

 The lower switch at Pauline, on the upper High Lie. The frog to the switch is in the lower picture.

 After removing 280 five gallon buckets of dirt in two days, this opened the railroad to within fifty feet of the current end of line. The siding needs cleared out and that will be tackled as we host the Rudy Run on November 9-11 in two weeks. Plenty of chances to work as well as play.

 A before picture of the dirt pile after the storm.

     A picture of it with the addition of the dirt removed from elsewhere. Not including dirt used as ballast along the pike.
Sunday was a running day and with up to five engines and trains running we enjoyed the great Fall weather. A t-shirt was all that was needed all weekend, but give it two weeks and you will know where your sweater is, close by if needed. A great time was had by all, I hope I didn't miss many.
We are ready for those that come out on two weeks for our Fall Meet which we call the Rudy Run, Rudy would have raised his glass on the progress. Hope to see you there. Any questions give me a note a ratsgarage@yahoo.com .

Adapt and Overcome

With our recent deluge of rain in the High Desert we have a little Right of Way clearing to do. The Club workhorses, the two flat cars, are collecting demurrage off site but that does not mean that work cannot go on. Our ever busy local dirt mover has adapted a gondola box to one of the Westside 24' flatcars that were delivered to his rescue for use if needed. They are needed and his handiwork has created two more boxes for additional flats for this up coming weekend of railroad maintenance.
John Griffin, not one to sit around idly waiting for a planned work weekend, John has taken on clearing the track from unloading area to the steaming bays so when the big stuff comes out to get some work done, they can get steamed up.
 Using the best techniques of their prototype, the Westside Lumber Company, use and reuse. John salvaged some somewhat straight lumber to make boxes for the flats so he can load by the shovel full instead of by the bucket. The flat cars can handle the load as they can handle five or six full five gallon buckets, and have faithfully for many years now.
We have plenty to do and all comers are welcome to warm the handle of a shovel or broom so we can be ready for the up coming Rudy Run November 9-11. Do not worry that we will work you to the bone, we enjoy ourselves too and get work done as we play. The weather is supposed to be nice and the grill will be getting a workout in the evenings too. See you this weekend. Any questions, feel free to send me a note at ratsgarage@yahoo.com, Brian
A few pictures from John Griffin showing his progress and handiwork.....

 One of the mud flows that John cleared for this weekend.

 Always time for a nice photo.

 A picture of the AWOL club flatcars and it's dirt body for moving dirt.

 John's handiwork aboard a Westside 24' Flat.

 Making do.

After a coat of paint the Gondola conversions look pretty good. Hence a requisition of two more for maintenance purposes. This load came from the track along the Engine House. Plenty more this weekend. Come on out and assist if you can.

 

We Recieved Rain in the High Desert

 After a Summer of no rainfall in our usually wettest time of the year. Yes, more falls as Thunderstorms in the Summer than drops in the Winter. Friday October 12th, Tropical Storm Sergio made its debut in the High Desert and much of Southern California for that. Reports at Midnight were three foot of water going over the falls on Willow Wash above the Jack's Gap Bridge. Other reports were of 2 1/2" of rain on the Mesa North of Joshua Tree, so every bit of that could have been dumped at the tracks. From the looks of pictures sent and posted, we certainly got more than our share of that.
Fortunately, no trackage was undermined on the 7 1/2" as that is all I know of. We have plenty of places where sand and rocks have flowed over the roadbed and we will be digging that out come Halloween Weekend the 26th-28th. Members were up Friday night and more arrived Saturday for assistance at the Simi Dabah Studio Art Sale in Town. A section of Highway 62 between the Post Office and Park Blvd was under three to five feet of sand and rock as the almost always dry wash wasn't.
Pictures are from Brendon Hilton, John Griffin and Mike Thompson, and thanks for letting me use these and sharing them. Looks like we have some free ballast material to spread around to places or at least stockpile it for our continued expansions. See you next weekend October 26, 27, 28. Bring your work gloves and your favorite shovel. The flat cars are going to get a work out hauling buckets of fill from source to stock pile.
Appetizer night on the BBQ Friday and of course Saturday is steak night. Bring your favorites. Any questions, send me a note at ratsgarage@yahoo.com , See you there, Brian

 The track at the picnic shelter steps, this water came from the road above.

 The steps were filled in too.

 This is the lower switch to Pauline, up on the upper high line.

 Below lower Ophirish Trestle.

 At the ballast pile below Teddor. We will not have to move this far.

 At the present end of line, on the upper high line.

 Just above the curved trestle /bridge above the Teddor Mansion.

  The cut at Big Rock received it's share of run off too.
As you can see, we have a lot to do before the Rudy Run in four weeks, see you out there.

A Quick Trip out to the Tracks.

Sunday Morning of Labor Day Weekend I hit the road before the Sun had even thought of cresting the horizon. It met me as I crested the hill into Yucca Valley, a nice view dirty window and all. John Griffin met me at the gate and we unloaded some flat cars for his use in the ongoing maintenance of the facility. He had spent the warmer parts of Summer keeping the trees and buildings up to his high standards. With the days cooling off he has some bigger outdoors type projects up his sleeve. Hence the need for flat cars to carry the goods.

 

First order of business was to bring the Joshua Tree number 7 up to the loading area. The batteries have seen better days and some improvements are in line with 7's maintenance division, hence a trip down the hill for things to get looked at.                                                                                             

The flat cars got a trip down the hill shepherded by the trusty Freight Motor.

 

A short visit and it was off down the hill and up the other side of the basin to the Mesa to drop off another load of wood to be split at our off site lumber facility. A good member down in the El Cajon area had a huge tree/trees cut down on his property and donated us the wood to keep things warm around the picnic shelter for a few years. We have to haul it, and we have made many trips to the McPheeters Lumber Mill with numerous loads to be split some time soon.

A bite to eat at C&S Coffee Shop and back down the hill. Made it home before Noon with plenty of time for a much needed nap. Just because you haven't seen any life on the blog lately doesn't mean things are not happening. I'll work on better updates in the future.
New calendar under the 7 1/2" division for your planning purposes. As usual, any questions give me an email at ratsgarage@yahoo.com. Brian