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May 21, 2017
st . The hard winter took a serious toll on some of our older ties. Today the crew worked on replacing 8 ties (3 completed this afternoon) and possibly as many as another dozen will need to be replaced immediately as well. (Left-to-right: Greg Elems, Leisa Wesch, Rick Gruninger, Steve Habeck, Charlie Spikes. Not pictured David Elems and Loren Ross.)
May 23, 2017
rd - Loren Ross is breaking up ballast with the air tamper, Charlie Spikes was out of view getting water. We got another two ties replaced.
May 29, 2017
th - Tie Gang at work on the Balloon Track, David Elems, Bil Jackson, Ethan Doty and just out of view to the right Greg Elems
June 4, 2017
June 4th - Eddie Powell, with help from Ethan Doty, got one tie out and replaced, pulled another and left a hole which was filled with a tie on June 30th .
June 29, 2017
th - Don Nelson is on the backhoe digging up the ground for tie removal. Ethan Doty is behind the camera, Greg Elems is there, and Loren Ross helped too (off camera somewhere at the time.)
June 30, 2017
th - Loren Ross working on digging out a tie. Greg Elems is out somewhere on the golf cart and Don Nelson is around the corner digging more trenches for ties with the backhoe.
th - Greg Elems and Loren Ross pulling a tie out
th - Don Nelson had stepped down for some lunch when Greg took this picture, it shows the work Don had done, but unfortunately not Don running the back hoe. Don did trenching the full length of the work site in preparation for tie replacement. A job well done and it will speed things up considerably.
August 1, 2017
Track work continued through July and into August. Many hours of volunteer effort has made tremendous progress. It has been hard, hot, dirty work - but the results of the generous team effort will benefit the museum for years to come. Don Nelson and Roger Stabler both have taken time off of their usual life to come a great distance, to stay at the museum to make significant contributions to the project. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped move this project along.
August 2, 2017
August 4, 2017
th . A new helper, Dick Couden (seated), joined Don Nelson, Loren Ross, Roger Stabler, Jason Peterich, Ethan Doty and Greg Elems for the day. They moved the red flag west 100' and used the 1100 for their air supply. Eighteen ties were spiked, gauged and tamped with Ethan and Jason getting more ties ready.
August 7, 2017
August 9, 2017
th being used for air supply for the jack hammer to spike the new ties.
th of August. The end of the project is literally there in the picture.
August 14, 2017
~ ~ The Last Tie ~ ~
For this project 53 ties were replaced and our volunteers completed 400 feet
Second 2017 Major Track Work Project
The following pictures are from the track work we started 270 feet west of Milward switch. We had seven ties of dubious quality, with two at a rail joint. On Monday August 14th , 2017 we replaced the two at the rail joint and then on Wednesday we went back and replaced five more and tamped up the two existing ties for a total of 20 feet of track work. This part of the balloon is where the focus will be on the remaining work days this year.
August 23, 2017
Wednesday the 23rd saw a new helper. David Dodds helped Loren Ross and Greg Elems in some tie tamping. Fourteen ties were barred up and tamped to make the track more stable for the rest of the operating season. The ties will need to be replaced, but were in good enough shape that tamping will reduce the rock and roll between the Sewer Crossing and Milward Switch.
August 30, 2017
th . They tamped 30 feet of track and barred up seven ties for a solid roadbed in the 400 feet of track work that was done to open the balloon track. It included re-spiking several ties.
September 6, 2017
September 13, 2017
