Today we finished up the NARCO siding switch and connected one rail of the main to what was completed a few weeks ago. How it looked when we knocked off this afternoon… .
The highlight of the day was checking out the fully restored Caboose 27 which will wear this patriotic scheme for two seasons…
Because it’s so hot outside I’ve been doing a little research and got distracted. However I found this and thought I would share it. Perhaps it has been seen or maybe not but I love old hand drawn maps and architectural drawings.
Link to the page https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.pa4002.sheet?st=gallery
Nice. This and its subsequent sheets give pretty much every detail of the building. It’s really cool when HABS-HAER sinks their teeth into documenting a special building.
Good job! It definitely shows the track layout.
Most of what HABS-HAER has on file was commissioned by the Friends and drawn by local architect John Bowie. When it was learned that the station had to be demolished, the FEBT was allowed access to salvage what details they could and document everything. Mr. Bowie basically did an as-built plan.
It was those drawings and extensive photographic record was used to build the replica station. We weren’t so lucky when the water tank burned, but low and behold, they found the original blue prints in the vaults! The tank will be rebuilt as a functional replica. It is fully funded by donation and in the final planning stages.
In my stead, the combined FEBT and EBTF track crew has now completed 2700 feet of track in Saltillo. This is includes the station siding and the main line.
I will re-join them next week. Once a few hundred more feet of track are down we will have reached the end of cleared right of way between Saltillo and Three Spings.
Until more roadbed can be prepared, new track laying will shift to Pogue working RR South toward Price’s Bridge from Sping Creek Road.
Sounds like more progress has been made than is currently shown on the FEBT web site? Understandable, since the map is dated January 2026.
Any word on how long it will take to rebuild Pogue Bridge? And is that different from Price’s Bridge?
I think Price’s bridge it the deck girder close to the school. There are 2 and maybe 3 more plate girder bridges south of that I believe.
I’m not certain, but I believe that Rooster is correct.
Regarding the map, the yellow Bush Cleared section at Saltillo should now be orange “track wok underway”. When we reach the end of cleared track, work will shift to the yellow section by Pogue.
Work on the bridge is waiting for final sign-offs on a large state grant with federal matching funds. The final approvals out of Washington have been stalled for months. The feds were waiting several months for documents that were already submitted! The hope is to get approvals in time to go out to bid in the fall for winter work. That what was said last summer as well.
It has been proposed to built a ramp at the high school and just jump the creek 
Seems workable…
So I gave up a nice sit-down gig manning the FEBT Outreach Table at the Orbisonia/Rockhill Homecoming Celebration this coming Thursday so I can work track in Saltillo. I’ve missed almost 1000 feet of the progress there and really want to ride the Silver Sightseer speeder to the job site from the station. The last time I walked to the job site I was about worn out when I arrived!
Not to worry, I’ve still volunteered for the Outreach table on Wednesday and Friday.
BTW - The HUGE Huntingdon County / USA 250 Parade is tonight in Orbi / Rockhill 
As planned, I spent the day with the track gang building more track in Saltillo. By the time a thunderstorm rolled in and cut our work day short, we had gauged and spiked rail to a point over 1950 feet from the station. Including the station siding, well over a half mile of track has been laid.
As mentioned earlier, the work site is now a long way from where cars can be parked. In order to not have a crew worn out from the walk in, the railroad has assigned a speeder, the Silver Sightseer, to transport the crew and tools.
The Sightseer sitting at the station during lunch…
Shoving the tool trailer to the work site…
Current end of track. We only have a few hundred feet of cleared right of way left…
Yall are working like it’s pay by the foot!!! Awesome progress. Maybe might be coming that way next spring / early summer .
Yep. When we have 14 guys broken into a layout crew and a spike/gauge crew we can achieve 400 feet per day.
Correction: 400 Ft. per day WHEN the air spiker is on site. We are currently slowed down a bit by using only our battery powered spiker. It seems someone made an operator error with the railroad’s mobile compressor and blew it up. Several attempts to revive it have so far failed. Until someone donates one, or we locate one that is affordable, we’ll be running on battery.
John why is he standing on the tye your trying to hold in place , is he a buddy of Roosta
He needs to be directly above the spike and use his body to keep the spiker in place. It adds some weight, but if he was standing in the ground there would be no leverage to the machine.
The job I’m doing is called “nipping”. The tool is a heavy steel bar with a flat end, or spoon. The task is to keep the tie tight to the rail while spikes are driven. It takes a lot of down force to counteract the spiker. Hand spiking is the worst as the maul blows are much harder. The battery spiker is second worst because it takes several minutes to drive two or three spikes. Pneumatic spiking is the easiest as it’s much faster so the blows are nearly constant. The “Nipper Bar” or “Spoon” is quite heavy, perhaps 40 pounds or so. It seems to get heavier as the day wears on. Just moving it from one tie to the next is tough after several hours of this!
So with all this manual labor … are we going to be able to recognize you 
