Workday Monday Evidence

Workday Monday Evidence

Fred had been seeking volunteer help for Monday and Tuesday seeing as his neighbour had parked his trailer in Fred`s driveway in preparation for a major clean-up.

I was given the green light to assist by Lisa and we were originally going to drive over at 10:00 AM after the crazy Ottawa rush hour traffic would have dissipated.

Lisa informed early this morning that today was a federal government holiday and the traffic would not be as terrible so off we trudged to Fred`s at 8:00 AM instead!  Yeah!

You will recall that we stacked all of the old lengths of wooden planking pulled from Craig Leigh off away from the railroad to deal with later.

Well, this morning was the time to deal with it.

We took one of the boards I had placed beneath Craig Leigh to form the base for the lower shelving and used it as our `test` piece.

Freddie and I 'went to town' and by 9:00 AM we had all of the lengths cut!

Video of Fred's efforts early in the AM hours.

And...wouldn`t you know it...when we finished up our last cut, it fit the last remaining opening!

A perfect fit and a perfect number of boards!

Now we have tons of storage space available to suit our needs!

A look to the south!

A look to the north!

While, yes...this was a bit of 'job creep' from our original intentions of rebuilding Craig Leigh...it sure has resulted in pleasing results for Father Fred!

Doug dropped by momentarily to drop off some O-scale kits for me to build.

This Linn Half Track will be a beauty when done!

As will this gasoline wood saw for the sawmill structure and diorama we will begin building.

How about this Hyster logging arch!

And...this engine hoist!

All of these models are kit offerings from Sierra West Scale Models.

Then it was back to work clearing things up around the property.

Our next order of business was dealing with those plastic drainage hoses.

Some of them simply had hung down from the eavestrough and drained in behind nearer to the foundation of the garage...which was not a good thing!

The first order of business was to attach the black elbow piece to the corrugated piping.

Then...screw the grey length to the elbow.

I had earlier attempted this work lying down on the ground beneath Craig Leigh - to no avail!

It was Father Fred who recommended that I climb up top the benchwork where it would be easier to attach the sections.

I'm glad you thought of that one, Freddie!

So now...the water drains away from the foundation in this blurry image.

Here is where it collects from off the roof.

Next order of business...cleaning up the mess from between the sheds!

"Thar she blows!" shouts Mike as he tosses chairs, lumber and even an old rickety wheel barrow into the trash trailer!

"Wowsers" Mike shouts out!  "What a vas deferens...oops...he meant to say...vast difference"!!!

While Mike is having a grand ole time 'taking out the trash' Fred gets down to work with the reciprocating saw.

Video of Fred fixing the reciprocating tool.

It sure came in handy in cutting away those darned tree roots in front of the Craig Leigh passenger terminal area - those roots that everyone tripped over time and time again!

Saws-All video work.

More Saws-All video efforts.

Then it was time to dig out Bernie's track diagram for the entire area.

Video of our trackwork discussion.

Mike was able to use the newly cleared out area between the two sheds to pull out the tracks that Bernie had covered carefully so the labels wouldn't get wet.

Fred and I were able to locate all the appropriate sections and simply lay them out momentarily, but not tie them down.

Fred investigated all of the turnouts and he chose to replace four of them with ones he had inside the house.

Of course, we would have to begin laying the track in from this end of the yard where the existing rail is located.

I retrieve a boxcar with metal wheels and am reassured that we had managed to get all our levels correct at the ice house and at that far siding.

The car stands at attention so the trackwork is indeed level...but we already knew that with confidence!

"Houston...we have a problem!"

The lads had extended that far siding further than we thought when we raised the benchwork earlier last week.

Note how the tracks extend out in mid-air!

I spot a bicycle having arrived Fred's property.

This must mean that Chris is somewhere around.  

Indeed, it's now 1:00 in the afternoon and Chris has arrived to assist with the work.

Fred cuts a length of board to be placed beneath the airborne track.

Some shim is required so Chris assists Fred with the sawing.

Video proof that Fred did work all throughout the day!

Because there is a left-hand turnout just beyond the end of the board, Chris suggests that we cut away a portion of the board on an angle for improved clearance.

Now there is sufficient clearance for the rail cars!

Chris finds my camera to snap a picture of little 'ole me at work!

We have shimmed up the board and I screw it in place.

This siding can hold four freight cars now!

Fred is happy to have found the turnout throws.

I have to leave at 2:00 but Chris will continue assisting Father Fred with the "laying 'em in and tying 'em down" of the trackwork.

Fred informed that Pat Brewer arrived after I had left and also helped with the laying of some of the trackwork and turnouts.

Thanks so much, Chris & Pat!

Fred asked me to pull up some of that green carpeting that was hidden beneath the soil in the area where we had worked.  

You can see it to the left in the back of the trailer.  

What a cleansing feeling to see some of these old, unusable items heading to the dump!  

We would also like to thank Fred's neighbour, Mike, for offering up his trailer in order for us to conduct such a clean-up of the property!

Chris sent these next six pictures my way after I published this blog entry.

Here we see Pat nailing some of the trackwork down near the entry of the passenger terminal area.

While Pat began some garden work he discovered this carrying case left near the engine house at Nelson Yard.

Oops!  It should've been brought inside even if the locomotive may have been hiding in the engine house itself!

That's one handsome carrying case!

Pat took advantage of the nice weather to mow the lawn.

He and Fred check out the turnouts near the 'end of track' location.

Freddie certainly earned his stripes today!

Thanks for sending these pics my way, Chris!

Thanks so much for checking in on what we managed to accomplish on a gorgeous Monday morning and afternoon on the last day of September!

Here I am with my buddy, Wayne, holding his new Brian May "Queen" guitar!

Fred worked just as hard as Chris, Pat and I did.

Chris tells me that after I left Fred had surveyed the work that has been done at Craig Leigh, and he then quoted the famous speech of William Cornelius van Horne at the CPR's last spike ceremony: 

“All I can say is that the work has been done well in every way.”

So-o-o...on behalf of Friar Fred, we thank you for checking in on this blog entry.

We are the WDMD (Workday Monday) crew of the OVGRS

We happen to live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada