Good afternoon fellow rail workers and spike drivers,
Hi Francine, Flo's not around? Oh, she has the day off. I'll just have some coffee and an apple fritter if you have any? You do, great! Oh, Garry was good enough to bring a bunch earlier, I'll have to remember to thank him.
Checking WW> It's [Partly Cloudy], No completely Overcast;
It's 84.6 °F - Feels Like 82 °F;
Wind is from SE at 4.2 mph;
Pressure 29.92 in;
Visibility 10.0 miles;
Clouds Clear?;
Heat Index 82 °F;
Dew Point 48 °F;
Humidity 28%;
Rainfall 0.00 in.
Just in case some of you are wondering about my often used intro heading, I get that from hand laying my rail on the ties, making sure they are in gauge and then drilling a tinny hole on either side of the rail base and driving spikes down on either side of the rail base, very similar to the actual railroad. It's a lot more time consuming indeed than laying a 3 ft. length of flex track, with it's molded in spike heads, for sure but offers some interesting challenges too.
As an example, last night I decided I'd work on the last section of track I spiked in place a week using the Central Valley Branch Line tie strips but didn't like the angle it veered off at so I was able to lift up the plastic tie strips and the rail generally stayed in place so it wasn't too hard a job to reposition about the last 1.5 ft of it. That meant going along the rail with the track gauges placed on either side of the spike locations, about every 8 ties, and again pushing the spikes down into the sound board in the new position. A bit of a challenge but not too bad as the rail wanted to move around a bit. Then as usual I like to check to ensure that none of the spikes were sticking up too high and put a truck with metal wheels in it on the rail and give it a push back and forth. I had also installed a Caboose Hobbies High Level switch stand base to hold the points of the last turnout in position.
Now all the while during all of this I'm standing on my step stool/lader to be able to half way conveniently reach this upper back line and the track extented a couple of feet to my Right. So I have this truck placed on the rail and I'm giving it a push and watching it roll down the repositioned track and travel through the two turnout to my Left. A couple of times the truck derailed and I had to put it back on in the area where I just spiked it down again. Everything seemed fine but all of a sudden when I went to place the truck on the rail I could get it to set properly and roll back and forth as it had been?? I though my sense of knowing how to place the truck on the rail was messed up, I was fairly tired at that point. So I repositioned my step stool and found that the back rail was missing a spike on the outside where I couldn't see very easily as I was working more feel of the needle nose pliers and the rail was spreading out enough to allow the truck with narrow code 88 metal wheels in it to fall between the rails. I was beginning to think my coordination was going. LoL I put in the missing spike and end of problem.
I'm going back a day or two here trying to catch up on what I missed.
About Barry: It's unfortunate to loose a fellow modeler and a good guy as Phil said.
Justin: Could your unsteady hands be caused by a lack of Vitamin B-12?
Willie I'm in the same boat too even though I do get Soc Sec, there's not much left by the time I pay my bills and I conserve an awful lot too. Times are tough!
In another post; Your mailbox is over a mile away and in another county too. You beat me alright.
Beady That was a smart choice you made.
Joe: Great photo by Mr. Pick, thanks for posting.
Garry Your info the Cadiz RR is quite interesting.
More about trains of military hardware to and from Fort Campbell. ..... The Illinois Central did haul it until they discounted service on the line that extended from Princeton, KY to Hopkinsville, and then to Clarksville, TN and beyond to Nashville, TN.
The Cadiz Railroad connected with the IC on that line in a small town called Gracey which was between Princeton and Hopkinsville. The Cadiz RR acquired the line to Hopkinsville from Princeton. The Army acquire the line from Hopkinsville through Ft Campbell to Clarksville.
I met the retired General Manager of Cadiz RR who is now at least 90 years old, and he told me about how the Cadiz Railroad was operated. Originally, the Cadiz RR only ran from Cadiz to Gracey (10 miles). After they acquired the IC line, they ran to Princeton to connect with IC. He told me the Army had a train of military vehicles for the Cadiz RR to haul from Princeton to Hopkinsville. The little railroad only had three old Alco S1's. They coupled all three units together, and each needed a man at the throttle (No MU connections). He operated the lead unit and two other guys handled the other two S1's. .. That is how they pulled a long train loaded with military equipment a distance of about 25 miles. .
Also thanks for the measurements of your stock pens, 'It is approximately 24" by 10", so I guess each pen is about 12" x 10"
so that gives me an idea to work with. I'll have to see as the time gets closer.
Chet Nice looking old Willies truck.