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Volunteers
1. Volunteers
1. Everett L.
2. Mike M.
3. David H. Sr
4. Joseph S.
5. Wimbley V.
6. Michael P.
7. Dylan S.
8. Tabitha D.
9. Tucker B.
10. Dewayne S.
11. Gaven R.
Accomplishments
1. Master disconnect switch installed on all-terrain forklift
2. Mast disconnect switch installed on M-22 locomotive
3. Track behind locomotive 400 joined together and gauged
4. Over 50 ties replaced, tamped, gauged, and spike on hill of Main Loop
track
5. Dirt cleared on top of the rail underneath locomotive 400
Thank you to all the volunteers that came and made tremendous progress
at the museum this weekend. Your time and talent is greatly appreciated.
You make a big difference at the museum.
Friday
After the board meeting, Everett happened to be outside right as the
Fedex truck delivered the metal stock he ordered to make additional
switch stand handles. The timing was just impeccable! Everett handed off
the stock to Mike as he’s working on the switch stand handles.
Everett and Tucker headed up to the engine house to get ready for the
volunteer weekend. They loaded up the herbicide sprayer car with the
track tools needed for the next day’s tie replacement work on the main
loop hill.
Afterwards, Everett and Dewayne looked at the various locomotive air
tanks as candidates for additional air system use. They used chains and
Dewayne’s truck to pull one out from the leaves and brush for
inspection.
In the late afternoon, Tucker grabbed a rake to clear pine straw from
the main loop hill to inspect the ties slated for replacement.
Saturday
The volunteers met for the briefing at the lodge kitchen and then split
into groups to work on a beautiful Louisiana Saturday morning.
Joseph and Everett installed a master battery disconnect switch on the
all-terrain forklift. Everett procured the switch earlier in the week.
The goal is to prevent unneeded draw-down of the battery when the
forklift is not in use. Battery-wise, the forklift worked great over the
weekend and this is a good improvement.
Joseph, Everett, Dewayne, and Gaven then worked on the track behind
locomotive 400. Dewayne cut the bolt holes on the replacement rail
brought in. The crew then joined together the replacement rail to the
track, finally reconnecting the track with complete rail. The crew then
installed gauge bars, gauged the track to allow for movement, and
installed pads to support the rail. The goal is to allow for a few very
slow movements over the track. Once the movements are done, then the
track can be completely and properly rebuilt.
The second crew of David, Tucker, Michael, Wimbley, Tabitha, and Dylan
headed out to replace ties on the main loop track hill, the last area we
needed to tackle as part of the main loop tie replacement campaign.
Tucker and Joseph delivered the generator to the sprayer car and its
function checked and fortunately found good after a momentary delay.
With the generator going and water for the crew delivered by Everett,
Dylan, Tabitha, Michael, and Wimbley brought the consist around to the
hill while David started working with his mini excavator. Tucker used
the all terrain forklift to bring in an additional two bundles of ties
from the Sawmill pad. In all, approximately 50 ties were replaced,
tamped, gauged, and spiked on Saturday and Sunday. Approximately 10 ties
were already at the top of the hill from prior tie work, two bundles of
16 were brought in and inserted, and David had started using another
bundle of ties located at the bottom of the hill.
The crew of Dylan, Michael, Wimbley, and Tabitha deserve high praise and
credit for their fine work on the track. The advance team of Wimbley and
Tabitha cleared pine straw and leaves, tamped and leveled dirt after
ties were replaced, and collected pulled spikes into buckets. With David
at the head of the process inserting ties with the mini excavator,
Wimbley and Tabitha on tamp and clean up, and Dylan and Michael gauging
and spiking ties with drills, gauge, spreader, and electric hammer, the
track was tremendously improved. This process has served us well and all
deserve a big thank you for the quality. The end result was a highly
improved railroad track.
The all terrain forklift gave Tucker fits through the afternoon with
what appears to be a fuel delivery issue, as it died several times
during mid operation. The current hypothesis is that perhaps the modern
diesel fuel is too dry for the fuel pump. So similar to the M22
locomotive, a cup of oil was added to the fuel tank Sunday to hopefully
lubricate the fuel system. If that doesn’t work, the next check will be
the fuel filters. We’ll be working on resolving this issue in the near
future.
Sunday
With only a small amount of track remaining to be worked, the group
worked Sunday to completely finish the tie work on the main loop hill.
Everett made a quick supply run and then joined the group on the hill.
David continued tie inserts with the mini excavator as Joseph, Tucker,
Gaven, Dylan, Wimbley, and Everett tamped, gauged, and spiked ties. With
about 10 ties to go, the final drive transmission went out on David’s
mini excavator. Fortunately, the ties he was working on were bedded in
with shoveled assistance from the crew and David was able to walk the
excavator to Long Leaf Road to load up. He’ll be working on it this
winter. A hearty thank you is extended to David for his equipment
operation, as it has yielded fantastic progress on the track and around
the museum.
With all the inserted ties spiked down, Joseph brought around the museum
tractor for cross-level work. Everett noticed with the track gauge a
cross-level issue and the goal was to lift the track so we could block
and tamp to proper level. The tractor just couldn’t get the right lift,
so this is something we’ll need to tackle with track jacks in the
future.
The crew then headed over for some work at locomotive 400 before the
track tools were put up. Joseph led the team of Wimbley, Dylan, Gaven,
and Tucker removing dirt from the top of the rail underneath 400. Using
shovels, hoes, and dirt rakes, the rail underneath 400 was exposed. Some
dirt was tough to clear away as old oil had made it almost like hard
asphalt. A second round of this clearing will be needed to have the
rails ready for movement.
The crew then put up the track tools, cleaned the deck of the herbicide
sprayer car, cleaned out M2’s cab, cleaned the lodge kitchen, and
emptied garbage cans before hitting the road for home.
-Tucker "Who Dat" Baker
RR&G
Chief Engineer
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