JULY 3-10, 2009
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TRACK EXPANSION JULY 3-10, 2009 |
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| Last weekend the Critter developed a problem with the electronic controller. I sent out the part for warranty replacement, but meanwhile I started work on a 115-foot expansion of the main line. It will include two straightaways, a bridge, and a run through a grove of trees. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 8 DOWN, 4 TO GO - By Monday I had finished construction on 8 track panels out of a total of 12. I have construction time down to 35 minutes including tie cutting. | THE SOURCE OF THE FILL DIRT - Out in the main pasture there's a hill that I can smooth out, and the work is a lot easier with the tractor's front end loader! | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| PREPARING THE FILL - Using the tractor, I moved the fill dirt, flattened it out with the bucket, and compressed it by running the tractor over it. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| BRIDGE SITE - between the two forked trees there is a low area. This will be the site of an 8-foot girder bridge. The track will run directly at the camera in this view. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| BUILDING INSPECTOR - Piney is checking my work, making sure I used the right kind of fill, whether I spread it properly, and how well I tamped it down. | ASSISTANT BUILDING INSPECTOR - Smokey is checking the dimensions of the concrete blocks that will be used for bridge abutments. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| CHIEF BUILDING INSPECTOR - Charlotte is pointing to the revisions I have to make to pass inspection, namely a pair of turnouts and access to the original route. | BUILDING SITE - Paul is riding over the site of the new turnout that Charlotte wants me to build. He's riding in the last car so he can see the train's rocking motion. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| SURVEY CONTINUED - From the culvert the line goes between the trees and back to the original line. I guess we can call it the "Calvert Culvert." Or, as Dick suggested, get a lot more culverts and call it the Culvert Central! | |||||||||||||||||||||
| SURVEYOR'S MARKERS - The new line through the trees is all staked out, this angle from the bridge site. In the distance is a pipe that Paul brought for a culvert. | |||||||||||||||||||||