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.