Bonus Photos

Overview showing tracks 41-44 & 46.

Parts area ready for concrete.

Setting the gauge rail on track 46.

South Wall forms ready for concrete.

Hired Backhoe & operator cribbing ballast from the yard switches.

Construction Uodate #60

Work on fine grading and packing the ballast & crusher run across the building continued. The area is now ready for forms & concrete.

Funds for track material are still required - Please contribute if you can - This project is now at the 95% complete stage - Lets get it finished!

Construction Update #59

Sunday was another great day. Tracks 44 and 46 were completed, once again with the assistance of our professional crew. They will return in a month to complete track 45 and the balance of the yard once the concrete work is done. The north parts pad was completed, and track 46 was ballasted, and the south parts pad was graded, packed, and topped uo with crusher run. Ballast and crushed limestone were also placed on the concrete apron area at the east end of track 46, and between tracks 43 and 44.
Work on lifting, lining and tamping the switches continued, and the connecting rod and stand were installed on the #7 switch and the #46 switch.

All in all it was a great weekend, and we accomplished everything we set out to. Thanks to everyone for their hard work. The next step is to pour the concrete walkway and parts slab, as well as the concrete apron on the east end of the building. The light at the end of the tunnel for this project has officially been turned on!

Construction Update #58

WOW! What a day! Working with our four man professional track crew, we completed tracks 42 and 43. Track 44's ties and plates were laid out, in preparation for spiking on Sunday. Concurrent with the track work, the granular for hte north parts pad was placed, trimmed and compacted. Track 41 was also ballasted, and the ballast pad was placed on Tracks 42 and 43 for the concrete apron. We are indebted to the Ottawa 696 group for all the assistance raking & packing the stone.

At the same time, installation of the switch stands continued, and the 44 switch was jacked and tamped. The pile of ties and rail is shrinking fast!

Construction Update #57

Work on the track commenced as planned. Our four man professional crew was split up for the first half of the day. Half of the crew worked on the mainline with the hired backhoe, and they changed 57 ties in 4 hours. Impressive considering our previous record was 24 ties in an entire day with a considerably larger crew.

The other half of the crew worked to lay out the ties and rail for Track 41 and track 46. By the end of the day, Track 41 was complete, and the ties, plates and line rail were laid out for track 42. Concurrently, the hired backhoe "Cribbed" all the surplus ballast off the swicthes leading into the yard to enable them to be lifted and lined. All in all it was a great day, and we are on target to complete the planned work with time to spare on Sunday.

Construction Update #56

A lot of groundwork was laid this week for "Track Weekend #1" which is coming up this weekend. The goal is to have 5 of the tracks completed inside the building. At the same time, we will change 60 ties on the mainline. Beyond the trackwork, the forms for the south floor slab are complete, and concrete can be poured as soon as track 46 is built. The pace of the project will soon reach a feverish pace.

Funds for track materials are still needed. Please contribute if you can. We're in the home stretch here, and every $20 helps.

Construction Update #55

Today was another productive day. A rented PNR 10-ton was on site to sort & move our tie stockpile. There are over 750 ties on site, of which 550 had plates still installed. PNR's stellar operator, Dan, laid the ties in neat rows and they were methodically stripped. It is worth noting that over 500 of the ties had 8 spikes in them - Needless to say, a clawbar would have taken abour 3 months. To that end, I borrowed a hydraulic spike puller, and PNR generously loaned us a hydraulic power pack to run it - The result was that a spike could be pulled in about 3 seconds with minimal effort beyond the brute force required to carry the spike puller. The ties were all neatly stockpiled after stripping. All the spikes will be reused, and the plates were all sent back to PNR for a credit towards the days operation. Sincere thanks to Ian Smith and Chris Fox for their assistance, and to PNR for loaning us the hydraulic power pack.

Construction Update #54

Wednesday saw a lot of progress and a couple of milestones. The ballast inside the barn(Which was placed last fall) was fine graded by a contracted dozer and operator. It is now perfectly level, and ready for track. The entire area north of the building was graded, trimmed, and 225 tons of grusher run was placed and graded. The ballast apron east of the building was also fine graded in preparation for track work. Installation of the forms on the south side of the building continued and they should be complete by the end of the week. An inordinate amount of work was accomplished in a single day by a few people, and the project is moving ahead on plan and on schedule.

Construction Update #53

Momentum is building. Over the weekend, the stockpiled ballast was moved out of the way of track construction, and the subdrainage system was installed. The form material is all on site, and installation of the south floor form will start tomorrow. The ties have been moved into a central stockpile, and they will be sorted and stripped later this week. The contract dozer will be on site Wednesday to fine grade the preballast and the building envelope, and by the end of this week the area will be unrecognizable.

Funds for track materials are still needed - please contribute if you can.

Construction Update #52

Cleanup of the site is nearly complete. A subdrainage system is being installed, and the stockpiled ballast is being relocated to make room for track construction. The material for the floor forms is on site and installation will commence next week. A contractor has been hired to fine grade the pre-ballast inside the barn as well as the building envelope next week. Track construction will commence on September 25, and will be complete by the end of October. Funds for track materials are still needed - please contribute if you can.