"The Corners" is Rejuvenated
A smaller group of OVGRS members descended on Fred's property Friday to address the situation of rotted roadbed in the southeastern corner of the property simply known as "The Corners".
The crew came prepared to work through the lunch hour if needbe.
The warmth of the sun was a welcome relief from the recent frigid temperatures and made for excellent working conditions!
The old and rotten roadbed has been lifted and the new subroadbed is now installed.
While these first couple of images and the following videos showcase our finished efforts, this blog entry serves to illustrate the entire process from beginning to end.
Some video footage of the newly installed trackwork. More ties will be installed this coming Wednesday when the work crew gathers once more.
Marcel found his throttle for his newly purchased locomotive "sans" tender which he recently purchased and we used the engine for our various test runs.
A later test run as captured on video by Mike.
If these two passenger cars navigate the new track area in a reverse move then all other rolling stock should have no problem.
Let's check out that reverse move on video.
With tools and coffee cups hanging around we continue to conduct our final test runs.
Continued video efforts nearer the end of the work session.
A lower angle view as snipped from the next video.
It's 9:00 AM and Bernie has his camera out to snap the next batch of pictures. Here we see Marcel making the cut having "measured twice" before "cutting once".
That's Doug in the background. He and Bill will be working on the new station for Glen Hammond.
This work will involve a lot of bending over as most of the effort will be taking place at ground level. Marcel attends to the next stage in the process.
Here I am about to place the next length of roadbed into its designated location.
I offer up a smile to Bernie as the cup of Java Fred has made warms the cockles of "me" heart!
While we are far from Christmas...Marcel has been busy with the Hoe Hoe Hoe!
At all joints we have supports beneath the planking. We make use of Fred's clamps to ensure a perfect fit when we go to screw the main plank atop the joint support.
More stones were purchased as the day went on. Marcel headed out to the lumber yard to do so. Later, Bernie would do the same for track nails...which we finally found just as Bernie had driven out from Fred's driveway!
Marcel & Mike on a sunny morning!
Aha! The clamps sure have come in handy!
We are slowly navigating the sweeping curve thanks to Bernie's great measuring skills and the little drawing he produced on a small strip of paper!
Beautiful!
Meanwhile, over near the crew lounge Bill and Doug are kept busy with the upper part of the Glen Hammond station.
Smiles abound.
Bill is fitting the train order board to the lower roof area of the station.
A look from the St. Helens end of things shows the new roadbed with the stones which will be adjusted to allow any cant to slant to the interior of the curve - a form of super elevation!
Chris & Mike.
Mike's on his second cup of coffee!
It's good to have a decent set of clamps when performing track surgery!
Chris & Mike work the rail joiners in place always with an eye to smooth rail alignment.
Thanks, Bernie, for all the above images you sent my way!
These next three images came from Chris. Check out the windows Chris has been producing for us as he is a master 3D print genius!
Chris caught me checking the tracking of this van over a joint in the track which we had to nail together as it was on a curve.
Chris then suggested that we lift what we have done and have all the joints occur along straight track. This created more work for us, but there was no better time to do this than now and it truly was a great suggestion.
Here I am nailing in some of the ties to ensure the track and rails stay in place.
Thanks for these three images, Chris!
These next five images come from Marcel. He has managed to catch the clamps doing their job.
Mike is forming a bridge above the new roadbed.
A second look from the perspective at the tunnel entrance below Mount St. Helens.
The lower new track to the left will be part of the Bell Sub while the elevated track veering off to the right is part of the Spruce Sub.
Mike ensures the rails line up properly before tacking the tracks in place.
Chris lends a hand.
Thanks for these great images Marcel!
These next six pictures come from Henk. We spot Marcel and Mike in an intriguing pose. What great models the pair make!
Marcel has poured some more stones in and Mike is spreading them out across the roadbed area.
Henk managed to capture these images of his Annie running light on the new tracks.
Looking beautiful, Henk!
Another finished look at the trackwork.
Thanks for these images and the video, Henk!
Back to my old camera. We spot a station with the windows being worked on. Chris will have 3D printed some lovely windows for us which will be placed in their proper locations.
Bill is all smiles.
Bill holds the train order board for us to examine.
He has drilled holes in the upper section to accept the train order board.
Heading back to the corner of the property we see more stones going in.
Marcel is all smiles as the weather has cooperated beautifully!
A third glance from the St. Helens end of things.
Likewise, Bernie and Chris are all smiles for Mike`s camera!
Doug and Bill continue with their efforts.
The train order board is going in nicely where Bill pre-drilled the holes.
Back near the fence where Wellington Lake is located Marcel and Bernie get down to business as the sun wreaks havoc with the photo.
Bernie marks the two sides of the board in order to draw an angled line across the top. Fred has reminded us to ensure all boards are positioned with curved face down.
Bernie gets down to business with the skill saw.
Looking good, Bernie!
More smiles.
Jimi Hendrix wrote the song "Purple Haze" but Chris is captured in a "Sunny Haze"!
Bernie's planning and cuts are perfect!
Indeed, fits like a hand in a glove!
Bill and Doug call me over and ask me to bring my camera.
Aha! The new Glen Hammond station is now in place.
Looks great lads!
Bill kneels for prayer time.
Doug enters the church as well!
We can't wait to get operations underway where we will be able to come for a stop at the station!
Bill & Doug tell us that the depot can remain in the great outdoors.
It doesn't require being put inside.
Nor does it need a cover.
Monseigneur Henk arrives on the scene in the Glen.
He conducts a prayer and gives his blessing on the new depot.
With Monseigneur Henk's blessing, this station will weather all conditions Mother Nature throws her way!
With the newly laid wooden roadbed now in place, Marcel grabs up all of the sections of track that we had pulled up.
We have to determine the order of the trackwork once more.
Following the station blessing, Henk makes his way back to "The Corners" area of Fred's property.
Chris begins sorting the various lengths of track.
The first piece goes in!
Bernie grabs some more java to refuel!
Marcel's better elevation!
Chris takes a much needed breather for a few moments.
You have to remember that we are doing a great deal of bending over and kneeling down and the good old joints tell us to stand up every now and then for a break!
Our next determination will be if we wish to elongate the Ironwood Brick siding that is now stub ended as you see in the middle between the two tracks or do we wish to add a second siding at Ironwood Brick allowing for easier access to the ore cars which would reside on one siding alone. TBD!
Marcel grabs a couple of passenger cars from the shed.
Time for a test run through the curve.
Video footage of the test drive!
Indeed, Mike...looking good so far!
Let's try another run for the video camera!
Marcel pulls out his steamer which you have already seen.
If the passenger cars can be pushed and pulled successfully as witnessed on video, then we know we have done well.
Marcel begins his run beyond the turnout to the spur at Wellington Lake.
Continued video work in the area.
Coming through.
Cool video of the scene!
Two handsome lads resting in the shade!
Fun video!
A low angle shot.
A low angle video.
Chris test runs a van.
As mentioned in an earlier image caption, after we had laid quite a distance of track we became more concerned about the fact that the joints all appeared in the curved areas of the track.
Chris recommended lifting the track and starting again while making "purposeful" cuts along the straight areas. We are very happy to let you know that this plan worked and the trains ran flawlessly through all the jointed areas.
Thanks of the recommendation Chris!
Van video!
Marcel gets out the cutter to make the newly advised cuts in the straight areas of the track.
Cutting video!
"I'm not touching that tool!" Henk tells us with his body language.
And...neither am I as I want to keep my guitar playing fingers firmly attached to my hands! Heh heh!
Another heavy rock gets carted away.
Chris shovels more stones in under the roadbed.
A well-deserved smile from Marcel!
Chris is confident in our work as the van tracked perfectly!
Any areas where we are without ties will be dealt with this coming Wednesday morning, weather permitting.
More well-deserved smiles!
And to think...Marcel drove all the way from Arizona just to help out on the railroad!
Hey Marcel, does your license plate imply that you "ate" 64 meals for two!
Hey, Fred's property has a built-in "coat tree"!
Bernie takes a well-deserved rest as the clock has now reached the afternoon hours.
The finished job.
Lovely!
Father Fred returned from an important meeting later in the afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see some of us still here relaxing after completing the job!
As for me, over the last ten days I started and completed both these kits of the same station in HO Scale and in N Scale for two elderly brothers living in southern Ontario.
This is the St. Marys station built by the CPR in 1913 and razed in 1980. The two brothers grew up in St. Marys (no apostrophe in the name of the town). At one point the station was painted with a cream/white trim and at another time with a chocolate brown trim. The two kits from a Canadian kit manufacturer in Calgary, Alberta called Monashee Laser Engineering were offered up with the recommendation to select the trim colour of your choice so for interest to me as the modeler I used the two trim colours for a bit of variance between the two structures.
Here we see the two stations on the display table at the St. Lawrence Division meet of the NMRA this morning at a local church in my neighbourhood.
N-scale modeler "par extraordinaire", OVGRS member Chris, admires the smaller version of the kit!
Mike R. snaps the official photographs for the SLD's Mailcar Newsletter.
I also brought along two of Fred's diesel locomotives to help promote our large scale endeavours.
Many of the NMRA members were most impressed with the size and heft of these "little" puppies!
I also shared with the group a recent structure I built of an HO scale Boston & Maine yard office.
Grant also did his bit in promoting our large scale endeavours by bringing out this gorgeous steamer which he has brought out to Fred's. Grant showcased the lights, sounds and running ability on the short section of track which proved to impress the assembled crowd!
Grant has turned the headlight on and is in the process of explaining all that he can do with the throttle.
When I brought this 45 tonner from Fred's place it was a tad naked...without the front rails.
We found them sitting on the shelf near the locomotive in Fred's boardroom so I brought them home with me to adhere to the engine.
It didn't take long at all to "press fit" the stanchion posts into the accommodating slots on the front corners of the locomotive.
Looking good!
A 3/4 view of the diesel.
Indeed, Father Fred is one happy camper.
The group now has some new roadbed and trackage laid in an area of the railroad where the wood had gone rotten over many years.
Our large scale hobby is being promoted in many ways.
So-o-o-o, on behalf of Fred and our dedicated work crew, we wish you all the best in all your railroad endeavours!
The OVGRS group
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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