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 .