THE TWO FOOTERS                    

On August 14, 2006 David and two friends laid 80 feet of track on the new ‘scrappy spur’.  If you have not been following the progress of Shady Creek Railroad in Eastern Canada we are building a 4% switchback spur down to the lakeshore to facilitate the arrival of incoming supplies from the lake crossing.  In the early days of our planning we never anticipated the magnitude of track or amount of material we’d come into so a supply link to a new special concrete rail dock became a requirement.  This freshly laid track is a third of the first leg of the switchback downgrade. We are using up our entire light rail and saving the #30 and #40 for mainline purposes where our grade is limited to 1% and passengers are permitted. The first 40 feet of the spur is new #30 since there is a grade crossing to be built and our crossings are all #30 at a minimum and we like to be a good distance from our switches before we change rail weight.  If you are curious, rail weight changes are welded from short odd rail lengths, no compromise joints are used.  We just find it convenient and strongest.

The day started with a good load of well used #16 rail salvaged from a brickyard being moved to the RR site across the lake, 1/2 mile trip.  The far land across the water is the site of the RR in boat picture. Unfortunately before we showed interest in this used rail there were well over 6 dozen carts and hundreds of feet of 2’ gauged #16 track and switches chopped up for scrap after it sat in a heap hoping for an owner for several years.  I was told at the time, scrap was virtually worthless and the company got nothing for it, they just wanted it hauled away as no one showed any interest in it what-so-ever for the several years it sat in limbo.  We got serious about this hobby 10 years after this was removed though were fortunate enough to obtain 400’ or so that somehow escaped the scrappers torch.  What a shame no one cashed in on this RR it was ideal in every aspect and free to haul away.  The 2 electric battery locos were carted off without track or carts to pull though their whereabouts is unknown.  Someone had another plan for them and it was not running on rails so I was told.

Laying 80’ in one day is a record as we usually bring the ballast across during construction, along with the ties and rail and that in itself is a one day project for a few lengths of track.  We have to move the supplies from storage to the boat, float it across, then haul it up the hill to the site, transfer to flatcar, so there is no shortage of work and often by the time you get all the materials on site, the weekend is over and there is no time left to lay track.  A two gallon pail of stone does not go far considering the effort and handling.

We plan to finish the remaining 400’ or so of roadbed before the season is out and give it the winter to settle before we resume construction and lay more track in 2007.  The rail might be light and rusty, #25, #20, #16 and #12 though the old CN hardwood oversized switch ties will hold things together for many years to come.  With the heavy grade we won’t be pulling more than one car at a time anyway so even the #12 rail will more than suffice under no.10 loco.  In reality #12 rail is adequate for our entire operation though we prefer #30 and consider it ideal for 2’ light Railroading.

Having read Richard Herington's account of a day with the Tuesday Gang, I just had to try it.  I left home at 18:15 on Monday 03 July and was at Bryn Gloch camp site by 21:30.  So were several million black midges who proceeded to exact vengeance for the deaths of the hundreds of their cousins whose remains were plastered all over the front of my car.  After a trip to Caernarfon for fuel and other supplies (Morrisons' service station on the Bangor road stays open until 23:00) I returned to Bryn Gloch, hoping that midges do not fly at night.  I managed to crawl into the tent, zip the flap and swiftly kill the few bold insects who had followed me in. I would pay for this later! 

On Tuesday morning I was at Rhyd Ddu by 08:30 and drinking tea in the contractors' cabin by the time the Tuesday Gang started to arrive.  Tony and Bob I had met before at Dinas.  I had never met Dave before and Andrew was a new boy like me.  Normally the gang is bigger but some members were somewhere else doing another job.  Andrew has a nice business which gives him a couple of weeks of intensive work followed by a free week.  The rest of us are retired and not limited to weekend volunteering. 

Our job that day, contrary to expectations, was tracklaying.  We were to lay two panels, which would bring us right to the current end of the ballast and almost to the new small underbridge at the north end of Pont Cae'r Gors cutting.  Tony had not expected to be doing any more tracklaying for about a month as there was a difficult problem in front of us which was delaying the contractors.  The sides of the cutting were wet and unstable.  Plan A was to put tracklaying on hold for a month while the contractors stabilized the cutting.  However, Plan B, now adopted, was to lay temporary track (normal track but on slate waste ballast) through the cutting and to run materials through the cutting so that "proper" tracklaying could resume beyond it.

And so it was that, approaching my 63rd birthday, having done no track work since 2003 and having only recently recovered from some nasty knee problems, I set off to handle sleepers, rails and heavy tools.  Was I being foolish?  Would I disgrace myself?  We scrambled on to the "staff wagon" which was coupled to the tool wagon.  Bob the driver took his seat on "Dolgarrog", the tiny Simplex diesel, and we set off.  The track south of Rhyd Ddu is still unfettled and untamped but what a pleasure to be riding on Phase Four!  I was surprised by the steepness of the climb to the summit from Pitt's Head and delighted by the mountains and fields upon which the morning sun was already beating down. 

Ah yes, the sun.  One of those Louis guys was called "Le Roi Soleil", the Sun King.  That day we met a much greater king - King Sun, "Le Soleil Roi" - who definitely ruled the day!  It was hot at 09:00 and just got hotter.  Over 30 degrees Celsius at 600 feet above sea level! 

Richard has described the tracklaying procedure so I need not go into detail.  The red plastic pads, two of which are fitted to each sleeper,were new to me, as was the method used to hold the rail in place.  I had never pulled a Pandrol clip before and it took me a while to get the knack.  By 13:00 the first panel was in place, gaps set and fishplates bolted.  I thought I was exhausted and even considered missing the afternoon's activities but a trip back for tea at Rhyd Ddu revived me enough to permit me to carry on.  (Apparently a loco crew on the Ffestiniog went home early suffering from heatstroke that afternoon.)

The heat continued to be terrific and it definitely slowed us down. We did not actually finish the second panel.  By 15:45 the sleepers were down, the rails lay in place and one rail was bolted.  However, no Pandrol clips were pulled.  Hot, heavy tools now had to be lifted back on to the tool wagon.  Then at least one hot, heavy volunteer lifted himself back on to the staff wagon. 

That is not a complete account of the day's work but it will suffice.  I could go on about Peter Johnson's visit, about the cows that got on to the line and had to be chased back into their field and about the track distortions at Pitt's Head caused by the heat - but not another word. 

The vengeful midges were waiting for me back at Bryn Gloch.  They assaulted me on the way to the shower, where I hid for half an hour.  My efforts to escape them took me first to Plas-y-Nant, where I read for a while in the shade by the bridge that we painted one cold day in 2003.  (I could hardly remember the meaning of the word "cold".) Then I drove up to the Snowdonia Parc, where I drank a pint of cider before dashing again through another midge ambush and taking refuge in my tent.  I was asleep by 22:00 and up again by 05:00 on 05 July. 

The worst of all the midge attacks took place while I boiled water for breakfast Bovril and packed up the tent.  I fled to Rhyd Ddu, arriving there by 06:00, just as the sun (here comes the King again!) climbed over the summit of Snowdon.  After repacking some of the gear that I had flung hurriedly into the back of the car and accepting a cup of tea from the first worker to arrive at the contractor's cabin, I got to work at 07:00 on Flowerbed Number Three, the one that Dave Waldren did not have time to weed on 24/06/06. 

Dave had promised me buzzards and skylarks and the sound of trains chuffing up to Snowdon summit.  I have to say that if any of these promises were kept I was unaware of the fact.  Well, maybe one of those crows was a buzzard.  As for skylarks and distant trains - not with my hearing, Dave!  I divided the "flowerbed" - i.e. 20 square metres of weeds - into quarters, planning to rest for ten minutes after every five square metres. I knew that I had to get a move on.  I did not want to be still working with the King overhead. 

As I worked, I thought about gardening.  I decided that gardening consists of ripping up ordinary, modest little plants that would be more than happy to grow on your soil and attempting to replace them with exotic prima donnas which have to be cajoled and cosseted.  Why do we do this? - I thought, as I sweated in the eight o' clock heat - why not just let the willing ones grow?  Why label some plants as "weeds" and second-class citizens? And yet as the plot slowly changed from weed bed to dry desert I had to admit that it somehow looked better.  It had been brought under control by the Hand Of Man and such a sight reassures us.  We feel we are at least to some extent in control of our environment.  From "neglected" the bed went to "tidy" and that was somehow a good thing even if the plot was now totally mineral with every trace of vegetable life removed.  (The animal kingdom was not represented at all - I saw neither worm nor beetle.) 

I had finished by 10:30 and had time to sit around, rest, watch 143 bring in and take away the first train, look for buzzards and skylarks (no luck) and have lunch at "Ty Mawr" (excellent, as usual).

Actually, I did not remove quite all the vegetable life from the flowerbed.  I could not bring myself to destroy the two poppies that I found on the plot.  Peter Hugman asked me about them when he arrived on the second train of the day.  My answer was:  "Look, it's a flowerbed and they are flowers!"  This seemed to satisfy him. 

Having watched the train leave at 13:50 I went to the beach at Criccieth and just stood in the sea for 45 minutes.  All the heat and tiredness was washed out of me and I drove home refreshed.  King Neptune comforted me after the attentions of King Sol.  The midge bites still itch, though.

I came across your news letter while surfing the other day and was quite impressed. It's always nice to find fellow 2 footers!
 

I got a kick out of the photo/comments about the Welsh Highland R.W. volunteers in issue 26.   

We have made many trips to the UK & have made many friends on the other side of the pond that are as nuts about trains as we are. 

My wife Ann & I own the Wales West Light Railway In Silverhill, Alabama (see www.waleswest.com for more info.). We have been building what we believe is the only authentic Welsh Victorian railway in the Americas for the last 5 years.

Most everything we have from our locos to our switch throws has been imported from Wales. We have actually made some history in both the UK and here in the states by building the 1st. Port Class Hunslet in 85 years in the UK & shipping it here to Al. were it became the 1st. steam loco imported into the states in the 21st. century. Currently we are 1 of the 2 railroads in the state using steam.

We are currently running on a 1 mile section of track with plans to add a 1/2 mile section to that by the end of 2008. We also hope to complete our 1st. 1/2 mile section of 7.5 inch track and a modest steaming bay before years end.  We also have several "G" scale tracks in gardens & in our main station.

At this time we are hauling about 12,000 passengers a year.  They are mostly school children on field trips and weekend visitors. We also work with nursing homes & special ed. organizations to give their charges fun outings and we host birthday parties, etc.

We are always looking for volunteers and offer work/camp arrangements to volunteers with RVs. Our railway surrounds one of Alabama's top RV resorts which we are developing along side the railway. We always need workers that love trains & children. We would also like to make our facilities open to other train owner that have 2ft. or 7.5 inch locos & rolling stock. If any of your readers are looking for a fun adventure I'm sure we can supply them with one to remember.

Which track should we ride on!

Friday

Conway Scenic
            Clarks Trading Post

 Saturday

Maine Narrow Gauge (Possibly Friday)
            Boothbay
            WW&F

 Sunday

            Steamtown

Starting Point of the trip will be in St. Marys, PA.  Next stop will be Williamsport, PA.  Other stops are possible, if necessary.   More information will be provided in future issues of the newsletter.

The Two Footers
534 Armory Road
St. Marys, PA  15857

tpbauer@alltel.net
or
tom@thetwofooters.com

Return to home page.