Garden Railroading: Workday Wednesday May 10th

Workday Wednesday - May 10th

A handful of OVGRS faithful found their way to Fred's property this morning to help get the layout in ship shape.

Plenty of projects were undertaken in various locations around the property with the main focus being on the replacement of the subroadbed beneath the pedestrian crossing where the wood had gone rotten over many years.

This initiative will be finished tomorrow when the track is re-laid.

We dedicate this blog entry to our fellow OVGRS member, Pat Brennan, who attended his sister's memorial service on this day. Pat's sister passed away in late April following a battle with pancreatic cancer, the same cancer that took my sister two years ago. Pat's sister was 63 years of age - far too young.

On behalf of the entire group, Pat, you and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.

All areas of the railroad were cleared of debris with Robin and Mike working the blowers.

This is the "before" image.

"On guard, Sir Robin!"

Mikey is like a little boy with a big toy!

Sid walks away with the pedestrian crossing mat.

Ralph is a smart lad. He doesn't want to get his hands dirty...but he wants to get "down and dirty" with the clean-up work.

"Stick 'em up, Mike!"

The tracks are lifted!

Pat in a hat!

That's a long way down, Bernie!

The spikes are coming up.

And so is Bernie!

"Ralph the Weeder" is a must for every gardener!

Craig Leigh wouldn't be the same without Robin's clean-up efforts!

Mike finds one of Paul Anderson's bottle cap car markers.

Skipper Marcel lends a hand - or two!

Fred - at the workbench.

He is removing the nails from the rubber crossing mat which Sid had brought his way.

Coming along, Fred!

That is definitely some rotten wood!

Yikes!

The track is removed up to Blockhouse.

Mike heads out front to clean the length of track on the big curve.

Chris removes the tarp covering the wood that is covering the Craig Leigh passenger terminal where many of the structures have been protected from the winter snows.

George and Ralph near St. Helens.

Chris removes the screws from the protective boards in Craig Leigh. A power drill will arrive his way in short order.

Bernie observes Pat's efforts.

Digging the trench for the new length of wood.

Looking good, Pat!

I snap an image of Bernie...

...who snaps an image of me.

These next few images were sent my way from skipper Bernie along with the captions.

Bernie goes on to say, "For Pat, Marcel and Bernie, the plan was three fold: replace rotten wood at the pedestrian crossing leading to the tower, remove the siding an switch for Block House, replace the track and realign from Block House to the switch stand. At the end of the day, we also replaced an eight foot board from the bridge to block house. It was not an easy job, but we got it done. The track we be laid Thursday morning."

The image above shows Marcel cutting the screws off so we could remove the eight foot board. The screws were rusted in place and would not come out.

All work was done under the watchful eye of father Fred.

Syd - cleaning out weeds.

Marcel and Pat still trying to remove the eight foot board.

Work place trip hazard!

Bernie continues..."We had to dig down so we could rest the new boards on gravel. When the eight footer was aligned it was too close to the rock wall, so Bernie dismantled it and shifted it back."