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THE TRACK WEEKEND - WHAT WE DID & WHO DID IT
As you probably all know, the objective was to re-lay a section of track some 200 feet long, with new ties and ballast, just beyond Fish Point on our main line, where flooding and weed growth had contributed to its very poor condition.
On the Thursday of last week, Roger Merrow (with his backhoe) and I dug a ditch alongside this section (there was no ditch before) and this much reduced the waterlogging.
In the event, we completed about 155 feet, plus grading the new track into the old at each end over some distance, and laying 6 new ties at another bad spot out by Trails West. We used steam engine #4 and diesel #11 to power the work trains: #4 shuttled ballast trains from the ballast pile to the site, and #11 worked from the site to 7 from Trails West.
The system of work was this: we pulled spikes & removed old ties 6 at a time, cleaned the old ballast of weeds & raked level, added new ballast, put down new ties, lowered the rails, gauged and spiked; then proceeded to the next section, working "eastbound". Finally we adjusted the level with jacks and tamping, and added more ballast. The end result is a track raised up to 12" higher than the old was, on a bed of new free-draining ballast, which ensures (hopefully) that the ties are now above flood level. We laid 83 new ties altogether: 77 on the main site and 6 "out west". All the spikes (I make that 332!) were hand-driven: the jack-hammer proved not powerful enough to do it.
It was the first time we had staged such an event, and many lessons were learnt - chiefly around pre-organization and on-site organization, but also concerning equipment: we will not waste people's energy to that extent again driving spikes when a machine can do it. But it was still a huge success, with 22 or more volunteers out each day, and next time (Next Spring is planned) it will be even better.
On Saturday, the volunteers were: Gerry Bagley, Hans Brandes, Will Clarke, Sheldon Combs, Rich Currie, Sue Davis, Brian Durham, Brian Espe, John Heggeman, Eric Hinkley, Doug Irish, Rick Knight, Steve Kohut, Roger Merrow, Adam Mirando, Joe Monty, Mike Moulison, Richard Moulison, Dick Norton, Larry Perkins, Bill Piche, John Roppel, Don Sanger & Chris Small; plus Dot & Charle Googins who made and served the excellent home-made lunch.
On Sunday we had: Tom Andrews, Gerry Bagley, Gil Brundage, Sue Davis, Brian Durham, Will Clarke, Rich Currie, Lincoln Good, Steve Gross, Trevor Hartford, John Heggeman, Roger Merrow, Colby Miles, Dick Norton, Mike Moulison, Larry Perkins, Bill Piche, John Roppel, Chris Small, Brian Snyder, Matt Stebbins & Mike Wojcik.
Thank you - all of you - your names have gone down in history!
(Please excuse me if I have missed out or misspelt anyone's name)
Everbody contributed to the untmost of their ability: the drive and commitment to the work was outstanding. From purely personal angle, I would just like to give my special thanks and appreciation to Mike Moulison and Roger Merrow, who both put in a lot of time and energy in preparation for the event, and then worked non-stop throughout; to Dick Norton for coming out both days and giving of his wisdom and help; to John Roppel for "taking on" the tie-relaying team on Sunday and working himself to literal exhaustion; and to John Heggeman who, on his first ever MNGRR volunteer project, worked non-stop shoveling ballast and driving spikes until he could do no more. I found it a truly humbling experience, working with such a team.
Please do send me your comments, suggestions, and ideas. I have read the comments sent so far to Brian Durham.
From your humble Trackmaster,
Chris Small!
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