It got a little chilly overnight here. But day time temps are decently warm.
Peach trees are blooming and the weeds and unwanted grass are taking off on the RR.
Ralph
Regional weather, right here on LSC 
Bright sunshine this morning, temps are supposed to reach into the 50’s. I WILL get the West leg tamped, track re-layed and ballasted today. Then on the the East leg to do the same.
mid 70’s for a high today. 60’s for a high tomorrow. This after a week of highs in the upper 80’s and low 90’s.
A bit more of the snow has melted. Now the B1RDS (Ring Necked Pheasants) are scratching where the 2 Dog Excavating Crew was digging. Ya can’t win fer loosin’, can ya?
Good progress today. Completed the west leg and cleaned out under the switch at Indian Hill Junction. The Northville Spur is now fully operational. Took a train out to check and the vertical curve problem is solved. By lowering the track at Walk Crossing I may have introduced a clearance problem for the 1:20 stuff. The concrete culvert to the right of the track in the photo below is now higher than the rail. I may need to grind it down to get the foot board of the Shay past it. [url=lsc.cvsry.com/WalK_02-1280.jpg]
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/WalK_02-720.jpg)
[/url][color=blue]Culvert at right will need grinding - FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] After I finished with Indian Hill and the west leg, I pulled all the track from the east leg including the switch at Pine Summit. Rough grading is complete. I hope to tamp and finish grade the west leg tomorrow. The main line needs a little work still and Deep Cut is in need of serious help.
“Deep Cut” will always need help. Its like the mud slide on the Unitah, they had to permanently station a shovel there. It was just easier.
I have a cut similar to Deep Cut. Not as deep as Deep Cut. The only problem I have is with frost heave in the winter. It held up fine during a 12 inch rain.
I think next winter I will find a way to cover it when not running trains.
Ralph
Ric Golding said:True - but remember all the naysayers 5-6 years ago that said it would collapse in less than a year? You were the only one that suggested I do nothing and see what happens. That's what I did, and besides removing a half-dozen shovel fulls of mud each spring, it has held up incredibly well. At this point I need to use caution when walking or mowing near it. It is nearly 8 inches wider at track level than it is at the top. Originally the sides were straight.
"Deep Cut" will always need help. Its like the mud slide on the Unitah, they had to permanently station a shovel there. It was just easier.
Some day I’ll cut back the top edges, make a slope and some rip-rap looking rock. I’ve also thought of casting retaining wall pieces in concrete that look like cut stone, but haven’t had the ambition to start that.
Nice weather today. After two days of pulling weeds and grass, I run a MOW train today.
No derailments, but a couple dead spots using track power I need to fix.
Ralph
It was a nice day here, too. Didn’t run a train, but I did clean out the turntable pit of it’s accumulation of debris and moved the Scotch Broom bush off the layout It was getting a tad to big…
Jon,
Your roadbed looks great!
Jon,
I remember when you were agonizing over “Walk.” I’m glad to see that it all worked out.
“Spring Maintenance” is being performed by a new track gang testing out the Christmas present that runs on Grandpa’s track.
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/rgolding/090322%20024.jpg)
Of course, all new rolling stock on the KVRwy gets a photo shot on the bridge at “Seaweed Junction”.
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/rgolding/090322%20033.jpg)
I can almost get a guilty feeling having the grandkids clean up the track of sticks and stuff. Nah, they just think they are having fun.
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/rgolding/090322%20031.jpg)
Some day, God willing, these guys will be bringing their kids to visit me in the nursing home.
Thanks guys. Yes Steve, Walk finally turned out OK after several repairs to correct problems. The only issue it has today is that USA engines with sliders tend to grind on the concrete as the rail head is not raised above the concrete.
I went out yesterday intending to finish the east leg, but got sidetracked. I have been meaning to create some kind of sitting place by the garden inside Coal Dump Curve. Originally I wanted a brick patio, but the slope and large tree roots make that impossible. I have a small round plastic dining table that got moved off the porch last year, so I used some of my old bricks to build 4 pads for the table legs. I’ll fill in the rest with landscape gravel and call it done.
Moving on the the east leg, I got my foot caught in the loose track and tore up some of the embankment near Deep Cut. Since I had been meaning to replace the dirt edge with a large rock, that became my project for the balance of the day.
Today winter temps are back so I doubt I’ll get anything done tonight.
Ric - Looking good. Fine crew of maintenance techs you have there
Jon, Your railroad looks nicely maintained, even in the ““working on it”” pictures…
We have just got done, transplanting about 20 trees… When we get back from York, it will be time to spread bark on them, and weed & feed the yard, then start work again on the railroad… Tree transplanting had to come first…
Can’t wait to get more done on the railroad…
Somewhere in the middle of the roadbed work I got sidetracked. Ever since the railroad was built I’ve had a bare dirt area inside Coal Dump Curve that kept getting pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. 3 Years ago I finished a Belgium Block border and put in some flower beds, leaving a small area that I wanted to build a patio on. I gathered up a supply of antique used brick for use as the pavers. 2 springs ago I laid out the lines and found that tree roots and a significant slope made it impossible to create a paved patio without raising the ground by almost a foot on the low side. The idea died at that point. I few weeks ago I got the idea that I could use a few of the bricks to make a level table pad, then fill in the sloping ground with decoritive landscape stone. Over the last week or so I got down weed barrier, installed and leveled the table pads, then poured in 17 bags of various color stone. This is the result… [url=lsc.cvsry.com/CD_Patio-001-1024.JPG]
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/CD_Patio-001-720.JPG)
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] [url=lsc.cvsry.com/CD_Patio-002-1024.JPG]
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/CD_Patio-002-720.JPG)
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] [url=lsc.cvsry.com/CD_Patio-003-1024.JPG]
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/CD_Patio-003-720.JPG)
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] [url=lsc.cvsry.com/CD_Patio-004-1024.JPG]
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/CD_Patio-004-720.JPG)
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] Now I need to finish the white trim on the back porch and clean up the junk stored next to the walkway :o In between building the pads and pouring the stone I rebuilt part of the mouth of Deep Cut at Pine Summit Junction. Originally I had used some small stones to represent rip-rap, but over the years it filled in with pine needles and such spoiling the look. I dug all that out and replaced it with a huge rock I picked up from the shore of our lake a few summers ago. Here’s a before picture when it was fresh… [url=photo.cvsry.com/Deep1024.jpg]
(http://photo.cvsry.com/Deep640.jpg)
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] What it looked like 1 year ago after some large rocks added. Photo taken during a proof-of-concept test… [url=lsc.cvsry.com/Expand14-1024.jpg]
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/Expand14-640.JPG)
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] And finally what it looks like today… [url=lsc.cvsry.com/PineSummitRocks-001-1024.JPG]
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/PineSummitRocks-001-720.JPG)
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] Now, to get that mess of reclaimed small stones picked up, the switch rehabilitated and the east leg re-laid
That surely is a deep cut.
My cut started out about 12 inches deep.
I’ve raised the roadbed so many times it is less than 6 inches deep now.
Even with that I had frost heave problems with the banks caving off at the top.
Ralph
A side note for those that are interested in the bricks…
The two pairs pictured came from my next door neighbor before he moved away. “Stiles” is the 1800’s name of the Stiles & Hart brick works in Bridgewater, MA. “HUTTON” is from the Hutton Brick Company made in the 1890’s in Kingston, NY. Also in the pads are a pair of “NASSAU” bricks made in the 1930’s by the Nassau Brick Co. at Farmingdale, (Long Island) New York. These probably came here with the previous owner who’s main house was in Green Point, NY. Finally, my largest collection by far is a pile of “TUTTLE” marked bricks made by the Tuttle Brick Company in Middletown, CT in the mid 1800’s. I personally chipped a trailer load of these bricks from the ruins of an old factory building in Danbury, CT about 4 years ago.
I guess this makes me a brick collector too
Now I understand what you were describing to me at York.
Looks good!
