Workday Wednesday on a Tuesday

Workday Wednesday on a Tuesday

With a pretty confident forecast of rain for Wednesday, Bernie contacted me indicating he might head over to Fred's place today (Tuesday) to work on the railroad instead.

I checked with my 'Better Half' to see if I could sneak out of the house for a few hours - and was granted a 'positive'.

So off Bernie & I went to Fred's place to tackle the beginning of an extensive project to be undertaken in Craig Leigh.

Bernie had visited the hardware store and picked up a few more track nail removers.

Well...we railroaders call them 'track nail removers' anyway!

Fred immediately got down to business with the new tool.

Freddie uses the drill in reverse to remove some screws in order to lift the throws for the turnouts from the planking.

"Ahar Matties!" he is heard to say!

Bernie gets down to business as well.

While the two lads are 'hard at it' I begin the process of labeling each track length with a number and alphanumeric system so that we can keep track of all the track sections and ensure they go back in the exact location where they were pulled.  Bernie had already mapped out the track plan on the file folder.

Track lengths were labeled with numbers and turnouts with letters.

An aerial shot of Frederick.

And...one of Bernard!

We make use of any device to act as a fulcrum in order to remove the nails.  

Typically the rail head serves this purpose but because there is the structure in behind we use one of the other nail pullers as the fulcrum instead.

That's one long section I've got going there!  

It is labeled 2a, 2b & 2c as there are three distinct lengths for Track 2 plus the turnout as well.

We have decided to place all the labeled track sections in behind the storage sheds.

That's one heckuva pile!

Oops...when we removed one section of track we pulled the rail from the turnout!

No problem as it was simply pushed back into place.

Interesting turnout track video.

Hey Bernie...where did all the track go?  😎💪💪😎

Are you planning on crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope, Bern?  😀😄

An aerial shot of the empty planks that will be pulled up in short order.

A look from the other end of the passenger terminal area.

Bernie carefully moves one of the structures Lawrence had built.

He doesn't want it to be damaged when he cleans the surface with the blower.

Blower video action.

This next step in the process was a 'son of gun'!  

Before Bernie could remove the screws with the power drill, I first had to start them off with a regular Robertson screwdriver.

Once I managed to get a screw to 'surface' from beneath the planking, Bernie could go to town with the drill.

But here was the problem with almost every screw head.  

I had to use a sharp device to clean each single one.  

The head on the left took about two to three minutes to clear out from two decades of accumulated 'gunk'.  The screw on the right is deeply embedded in the wood and will take five or six minutes to pry up enough for the power drill.  Many screws were buried so deep that it took a while longer to attack those ones!

If I couldn't clear a screw head or it stripped I had to try another tack...the trusty old crowbar.

Being a guitarist I was very careful not to wrap my hands around the crowbar in case I would squash them when a screw or the board would lift suddenly!  😲😲😲

See the problem here...some screws were so buried in the wood...they were actually invisible from up top.  

This shot was taken after I managed to pry away part of the planking with the crowbar.

Here is a look at the situation with a couple of rows of planks removed.

Fred & Bernie take a short break from work.

We then went for lunch in the crew lounge...but we once again were 'on the clock' so...following a quick bite to eat we were back at it again!

For longer lengths of wood, the good old Saws-All gets a workout!

Bernie is burning off a few calories from lunch in this video!

Further views with more planking gone.

Wow!  To say the least, our Craig Leigh yardmaster for this Saturday will have to place the cars (and passenger trains) destined for this neighbourhood all around Douglas Yard just as Bernie had done a couple of weeks ago when we conducted a test run.  

The passenger trains were staged adjacent to the engine house on its peninsula.

Here is where we stopped the work.

A closer view shows the darker plank in back to the left.  This is the end of a siding that always had a slight slope to it.  We will shim up this plank next week so that cars will no longer move when placed on the siding.  

The main line will slope slightly down to meet the main at the right as it always has done before...but that was never a problem as cars are always coupled to a heavy engine and do not roll on their own.

Fred used his tractor to bring in more gravel.  Here he is driving back to the crew lounge on video.

All that mess of wood will be cleared up and we will lay new planking low down using the wood we have removed from the passenger terminal area.

We decided to leave the newer planking beneath the station at the end of the line as it was a recent build.

More video work from the area - with a bit of humour thrown in!

Bernie & I removed the Scobie structure so as not to damage it while removing planks.

The Saws-All came in handy once more.

The lads look over their efforts.

The Scobie structure is placed back where it belongs and we tucked a short plank in front of the structure as a momentary support.  

When we go to lay the new plank lengths, that short section will then be removed.

An aerial view of our work from atop the engine house peninsula.

Another view from atop the ore dock.

Yes, we will have plenty of storage space when all is said and done!

Aerial video.

Low angle video.

While Bernie, Fred & I were busy 'demolishing' things today, my neighbour three houses down the street from me was doing the exact opposite.

He had a WDTD (Workday Tuesday) gang constructing something.

He is adding a carport to his home and that I-beam you see on the ground will be elevated into position at some point in the day.

  It weighs 3000 lbs!

This behemoth vehicle with its telescoping crane will handle the job with ease!

Hey Fred...we may need one of these on the property to assist us with the rebuild of Craig Leigh!

When I returned home from Fred's I went over to check out their progress.  

The crew first built the two wooden supports and reinforced them with much lumber before a welder went to town welding the two metal vertical supports to the I-beam.

The cross members went up pretty quick!

Back at Fred's place...Bernie is pretty tired at the end of four continuous hours of work.

Me too!

Photo taken in front of Ted's Hobby Shop in Pointe Claire on the West Island of Montreal...which I may have shared with you before.

And...we have a very contented Father Fred in our midst.

Next step (possibly tomorrow or Thursday) is to head to the lumber store with Fred and his neighbour (also named Mike) and his truck to select the lengths of lumber we need for the job.

But for now it is time for a hot bath to soak these aching bones and muscles - contented with a job well done on a perfect cool, overcast day with no rain at all!

We are the WDTD crew of the OVGRS in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada