Workday Wednesday Happenings

More From the Workday Wednesday Crew

Bernie sent me these images from the past two "Workday Wednesday" sessions when tons of new developments materialized including the construction of another siding at Ironwood.

The following words are written from Bernie.

I arrived late from a dentist appointment. Pat Brennan was just leaving for an Ottawa Railway Historical Society meeting. As a result, I believe he photographed the clearing of the gravel and the laying of the first 2x6 piece.

I caught Pat and Lawrence fitting clamps for the cross piece for the second 2x6.

More soil has to be removed.

 Father Fred overseeing the installation.

Lawrence installs the second clamp.

 Pat drilling screws into the cross member.

 Ready to fit the second 2x6.

Lawrence aligning the two pieces.

Hmm, they're not level.

Slight adjustments required.

Clamp was loosened at west end to allow the first 2x6 to be adjusted.

Second 2x6 clamped and ready to be screwed to the cross members.

 Lawrence with drill.

 Pat and Lawrence spent some time realigning some of the stones along the roadbed.

Bernie got to backfill the holes that were dug out for the attaching cross pieces.

 Bernie was surprised by the amount of dirt and stone that had been removed to fit the new siding.

 The boards are aligned and secured. The stones have been reset and Fred is already installing the west switch

The east switch has yet to be installed.

 Pat and Fred take a well earned rest

Fred has now installed the east switch and is fitting the curved track.

Fred is pretty satisfied with the work carried out on Wednesday.

Fred had advised Bernie that the track work had been completed. So, the next day Bernie prepared two six car trains with locomotive and caboose to test the new siding. Here they are lined up at Mount St Helens.

 The first test train has entered the new siding. The six car train just fit with enough clearance at the switches. There was some bouncing of the cars at the east switch, but a readjusted track joiner fixed that problem. The good news was that there was plenty of room between the steam locomotive and the stones. That was a concern when first planning the siding.

The second six car train ran smoothly through the switches.

 A very happy Father Fred with Ironwood's new siding. Saturday will be the real test.

The next Wednesday Chris and I pulled weeds. 

 Fred is fixing switch cables at Falling Tree.

Lawrence was making the stone work at Falling Tree better looking.

Getting there Lawrence!

More landscaping being addressed by Chris.

 Lawrence made a new fence for the building at Peter's Pond. Pat's Stone Works. We are not sure which Pat as Pat Brennen already has Brennan's Gap and Pat Brewer does not have anything named after him. However, Pat Brennan was real proud of the work he did at Peters Pond. So I guess they will have to share the fence and stone yard!

The new facilities look awesome lads!

Thanks for sending these great pics along, Bernie!

All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada