Garden Railroading: Workday Wednesday Happenings

Workday Wednesday Happenings

The Workday Wednesday crew assembled at Fred's on a lovely morning in early August.

Yes, the turning of the calendar page has brought a delightful turn in the weather!

Things are cooling down...fortunately...although this morning was rather warm while we were hard at work!

Bernie sent along the first batch of images you will see. He also wrote the captions. Thanks, Bernie!

Fred and Bernie decided to tackle the proposed House Track siding at Spruce on Workday Wednesday. It was a two part project, the first assignment was to replace the Y-switch entering Spruce and straightening the alignment of the main and passing track. The second task was is to install a new House Track switch and siding by the station. Here we see Fred with tools at the ready to remove the wye-switch.

Fred is removing the wye-switch throw.

The Y-switch has been successfully removed. The wye-configuration is easily seen in this photo. This caused an alignment problem with the main and passing siding.

Fred is deep in thought as we prepare to install the new switch.

The new switch is in and Fred is tacking it down. We then had to cut track to fit. That was not easy to do as the saw was quite reluctant to cut through the track. We even enlisted Mike at this point.

Here we see the overall view with both switches installed. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to install the House track, a job for next week. The throw for the new siding switch has been tacked down so as to not cause problems during Saturday’s operations.

Mike was done playing in the weeds and rubble beneath Nelson Yard and found himself at work cutting track and tacking down the throw on the new switch. That was shortly before we found a new task for him.

Fred has coated the base wood with preservative for the new Cedar Rock trestle. Stinky stuff.

Hey Bernie, thanks a ton for the great images and captions! Much appreciated my man!

Now...over to Mike's images from the morning. Bernie is test-fitting the new turnout.

Father Fred looks on!

I've been brought over as Bernie and Fred asked my opinion as to how straight the trackwork was.

It's looking mighty nice. Yes...there is an "ever so slight" curve built into the actual switch section which cannot be removed.

Even with this slight aberration things look one heckuva lot better than before when the wye turnout was located here! We must thank Mark for offering Fred the proper left hand turnout for the job!

The lads test-fit a plank of wood that will be located beneath the new house track...a job for another Wednesday as Bernie has indicated.

Here's Bernie...

...and his little pet friend!

The plank will have to be cut to shape when Bernie goes to take on the house track install.

Yet another cool looking creature!

A glance down the track from the other end of town.

Pat fetched a straightedge and you can note the slight curve in the outer rail that is built right into the switch section itself.

We determine the look as being "acceptable"!

Goodman and Hamer...errr....or is that...Goodman and hammer!

Pat has waited until later in the morning to cut the grass as the dew had yet to evaporate.

Keep it up, Pat...you're doing good!!!

Mike kept himself quite occupied in the caverns beneath Nelson Yard. Why...you ask?

Because these rarest of gems could be found in amongst the rocks and pebbles. Like highly valued gemstones, these chits are highly valued by our Nelson Yard crews.

Mike gets down on his knees and belly to conduct the work.

"Working on the railroad is a ton of fun!" he calls out with a smile.

Hidden treasures abound!

From a couple of rakings, Mike has brought these five to the surface alone!

And...such a treasure trove as never seen before has been unearthed by the lad known as "Spike" Hamer! In total 15 Nelson Yard marker chits, five bottle caps, two painted pennies, two pencils, a golf ball and some siding from one of the Nelson Yard crew quarters was brought back to daylight!

In Z-scale, these chits would rise as high as the CN Tower!

It's time for a bath in Fred's kitchen!

Some detergent is required.

For we bring this old dirty Nelson Yard marker...

...with the aid of the brush...

...back to shiny and new like this!

How about this puppy?

Voila!

Even the grimy pencils received their bath!

They are brought out in the sun on the crew lounge table to dry off!

Back in Spruce the lads are "laying 'em in and tyin' 'em down" as Gordon Lightfoot once wrote!

Knee pads offer Bernie's joints a bit of assistance!

Mike heads over to the plastic bin holding extra lengths of track.

Hey...yet another one of those alien creatures! How cool is that! They must've rode in on a meteorite!

Meanwhile, Pat has helped to keep the weeds from meandering across the rails.

And...his newly cut lawn looks impressive!

Mike holds the rail as Bernie begins cutting!

Bernie's and Mike's antics as captured on video!

Bernie inserts the piece of track where it belongs...or does he...as witnessed in this video effort by Mike.

That's better...says Bernie...on this video!

Video work of Bernie sliding the rail joiners into place.

Bernie will now add ties to the two rails we have cut.

A lovely stack of tie sections will assist in the job!

Say...isn't there a famous painting that goes something like this?

Bernie drills the holes in the new ties.

Fred advises that we nail the turnout in this position for Saturday's train ops. Bernie and he will work on the new siding spur next Wednesday.

Fred was pleased to have found a package of wheel stops to be placed at the end of the new house track spur.

That's a jewel of a find Freddie!

We're already past noon (and lunch time) when Mike remembers another job requested of the Workday Wednesday crew.

While a month or so ago Mike replaced the eye bolt to hold the latch of the door to the car storage shed open...it was but a "Rube Goldberg" fix as the fascia board was rotten to "you know where"!

This pasta Saturday...errr...no...this "past" Saturday, George and Len had asked Mike if the Workday Wednesday crew could replace the rotten fascia down in Rat Portage in order for the latch and eyebolt to work properly.

Unbeknownst to Mike...Bernie is taking these last two "butt shots" of the Hamer lad "working like a donkey...or a mule...or an ass!" Hehehe! 😁😄😎😄😁

Initially Fred didn't think we had any boards left on the property suitable for replacing the fascia and he would have had to pick some lumber up during the week. This sent Mike on a "scavenger hunt"...and...lo and behold...success! This perfect length of fascia was all that was left on the entire property and was found under a pile of larger boards beneath the Northland Ore Dock.