Workday Wednesday "Of Coal Trestles, House Tracks, Railroad Ties and Little Birdies"

Workday Wednesday August 9th

Of Coal Trestles, House Tracks, Railroad Ties and Little Birdies

Hey folks...the WDWD (WorkDay WednesdDay) crew enjoyed a heavy workload this morning!

We finally got the coal trestle permanently in place as well as the Spruce house track. 

New ties were inserted in blank areas in and around Nelson Yard.

We even found time to rescue a little cardinal chick that was in distress in the crew lounge.

Mark has fetched a passenger car as a "test" item for the house track.  

We thank Mark for offering Fred a left hand turnout to replace the wye that was at the end of the siding at Spruce near the depot.  What a difference a proper looking turnout makes.  Mark couldn't stay long but it was nice seeing him come out early!

Here's Lawrence and his lovely wife, Joan, standing with our good buddy Bernie!

Pat focused his efforts on the installation of the coal trestle.

Bernie had taken it home and painted the base black.

Bernie also added some piles of coal between the bents.

Looking good so far!

A view from the other side.

In the meantime this poor little cardinal chick was chirping loudly for its mother while gripping on to the electrical wire.

The chick remained there all morning.  We couldn't depart Fred's without rescuing the little thing taking care not to touch it with our bare hands and get human scent on it.  In the end, Mike retrieved the stepladder from the garage and, with thick gloves on managed to encourage it to fly off without even handling it.  The little thing did fly down onto the patio and when Mike approached it, it flew up into the branches of  the tree above the Ironwood depot.  Mother and father cardinal then came over and they all joined together happily as a family in the end!

Here's the new whipper snipper Pat purchased with the group's funds.

Looking good Pat!

Thanks for doing this on behalf of the group.  The nice thing is that it uses the same batteries we use in other devices around the property.

Bernie test fits the length of track found in the garage.

"A little to the left...no, the right...no too far...back to the left..." Pat advises Bernie.  (Just kiddin' ya Pat!)

That's a good test fit Bernie and Pat.  The track lines up nicely.

Meanwhile Fred had offered Mike some spare ties to work with in order to fill in some of the gaps around the railroad.

The box of nails.

Aha...an opening.

Now filled! 

 And...the angled tie was straightened after this image was taken!

Another big gap in need of ties!

Done!  The tie beneath the rail joiners was snipped flat so as not to add undo pressure to the rail joiners.

Looking good!

Another gap at the Blockhouse.

Filled!

Here are other areas...this one near Bellamy.

These ones at Mercer Siding.

At the western throat into Nelson Yard...not to mention hundreds more blank areas around the entire railroad which will be dealt with over time.

In short order Mike ran out of ties and had to snip some of his own with the side cutters.

Here's Bernie!

Over in Craggy Lee, Bernie and Fred cut the timber for the house track.

The circular saw does a great job here with Fred at his full arm's length!

The last little bit required getting out the good 'ole handsaw.

Done!

Happy smiles!

While Bernie and Fred were occupied with the larger tools, Pat had the unenviable task of cutting rail.

(You'll recall the pain in the neck this was for Bernie and Mike last week!)

The plank is in place!

The fit looks pretty good to me.

Grrr.....grrr.....grrr!!!

This isn't the easiest of jobs...

...but...yes...we can manage a smile for the camera!

Bernie gets out the level to test the angle of the plank seeing as the entire support system beneath the track in this location is slightly canted.

"Hey Mike!"  Pat calls out.  "Look what I found!"

Yeah...more ties...and they're already cut and ready to go into place!

Nelson Yard required a ton of extra ties.

By 1:30 in the afternoon the sun was so hot along with the humidex that Mike called it quits for the day.

(Besides the rail itself was burning hot!)

As mentioned a few captions back...there are still plenty of gaps system wide that require ties so Mike will be kept busy on other Workday Wednesdays for a quite some time!

It is relatively cooler for the lads in the shade.

Aha!  The little office is now in place at the coal trestle.

Pat managed to find this little coal loader somewhere in the garage or from inside one of the sheds!

It's perfect Pat!

Just what the coal dealership needs!

An overall view!

Love the office...also scratch built by Lawrence!

Lovely!

Perfect!

A long view.

Fred is contented!

Bernie screws the plank into place.

C-clamps assist with the work here.

An aerial view of the coal trestle.

Mike gathers a couple of coal cars...just for fun!

They look right at home here!

Indeed they do!

A lower angle shot.

Pulling back.

Even further back.

The track goes in.

Straight as an arrow, Bernie!

Thumbs up!

Our passengers are happy.

So is Pat.

As are all the lads.

We now have to remove the rail joiners.

Fred locates a pair of car stops for the end of the house track.

Bernie removes the rail joiners.

And Mike installs the car stops.

The Allen key does the trick.

The stops are in perfectly flush with the end of the track.

Lovely!

I'm enjoying this morning!

We all are!

The stops do their job!

We determined early in the day that the office/garage would have to be moved in order to offer realistic room for the house track.

The office will head across the yard beside the blue building and we will send the freight house on the right over to another location on the railroad.

The scene is developing nicely.

Bernie takes a much needed break.

Another look at the scene before the removal of the far freight shed.

In the meantime Pat has found a nice red pickup to help finish off the scene.

A nice low angle shot.

Looking good there Pat!

The red barn acts as a freight shed.

And the old shed looks perfect in its new location at Bellamy!

Loving it!

A look the other way at Spruce.

Video of handyman Fred!

With just a little bit left to cut Fred asks for the handsaw...but lets check out the video to see how successful its use is!

What's that Fred is heard to say on video!

Thanks for a wonderful morning and early afternoon, Fred!

You done well...working just as hard as all the lads!

You deserve a break for the rest of the day!

Thanks for checking in on our efforts from our Workday Wednesday.

With so much on our plate we did not get to any trackside trimming of foliage so we will have to conduct a last minute check before our train ops Saturday morning!
All the best...the WDWD crew (WorkDay WednesDay crew)

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada