Spring Clean-Up

Spring Clean-Up

We thank Bernie for sending us these great looking pics from the earliest of the spring cleanups!

What follows is Bernie's account of the work being done on the railroad.

Once the OVAR Interchange and the Zoom display is done, I take a week off. Local walks and yard work take up most of my time now that summer appears to be here. Some of us got over to Freddie's on Saturday to do yard work. The grass was quite deep, so it needed cutting. Still lots of leaves around Firgrove. Malcolm is continuing to realign the retaining walls.  Lawrence has done a great job realigning the stone work. He will also be working on the bridge. Freddie and Andrew were adjusting and lubricating switches. Marcel is back from Arizona after his 14 days of isolation and negative tests. Marcel ran a CN RDC around the layout. Andrew brought a brand new shiny Burlington GP-7. Doing yard work at Freddie's gave me a break from doing yard work at home.  A few photos to whet your appetites.

Friar Fred is praying to Mecca, as Bernie tells us!  (I think Fred needs to turn 90 degrees to the right!  Hehehe!)

Marcel helped clean the track and ran his RDC as Lawrence worked on the stone work.

Andrew unboxed his pretty Burlington GP-7 and ran it as well. He also helped Fred adjust and lubricate switches.

The pond has been filled and loose stone on top. We will have to get patio stones on it because the chairs sink in.

 I also filled four cans of needles from Mount St. Helens. They had been raked into piles so the lads could spread excess stone dust in the shaded walkway area.  There was a lot of stone left so they spread it around by Bell, Spruce and Mount St Helens. It is deep in places and I am not sure how we are going to be able to rake the high quantity of needles that will surely fall on the this loose stone. I really think we are going to have to get patio stones down on that area.

Marcel examines his RDC as it takes the curve out from Glen Hammond.

Lawrence is hard at work focusing his efforts on the retaining wall near the junction.

Those walls look great!  Thanks go out to Lawrence and Malcolm.

The leaves around Fir Grove were ankle deep.  Four bags were filled from this area alone.

Love the new addition to the fleet, Andrew!

She's a true beauty!

 

Firgrove looks a lot cleaner now!

Lots of items to be picked up curbside!

Thanks, Bernie, for sharing all of these great photographs.  When restrictions are lifted and we are able to gather (with social distancing in mind) and without the threat of serious fines we should be able to assemble the canopy in preparation for some form of train running hopefully in the near future!

All the best,

Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada