Mini RPI Work Session at Kingsland

I went up to Kingsland today to get in some cleanup at the Campa Pajama Lane crossing behind Spyke's BBQ (our normal lunch stop) before the heavy rains arrive this evening.  This was unusual since normally we have insurance to cover us only one day, however, we now have "windows" of up to four days so I was covered by insurance and therefore able to work on the track.  The window also came in handy for Leland, since he decided to postpone the Saturday, 9/29, work session to the 30th, again on account of the rain.

Here's before and after photos of the crossing (the after refers to after three hours of pulling out or cutting sunflower stalks, carrying them off, cleaning up garbage and then cutting down the stumps so no one trips on them):

As you can see, I have only nibbled around the edges of the interior of the ROW side that concerns me most, as far as clearing the lines of sight.  However, there is a stump, some branches and a metal framework in there which are going to have to be cut up to be disposed of.  So that was more than I was prepared to chew on today.  At least I made more progress than in many work sessions out here.

At the end of the session I carted away a 4x8 plywood sheet (broken in half to fit my 4x6 trailer), two strips of metal and one and a half bags of trash.  The crossing is a lot safer than before.  Plus I found a piece off my two-wheeled BCS 725 mowing tractor that had fallen off the last work session over here.  So now I can put it back on the 725 and have it ready for Sunday's work session.  Frank Glatzl and I will be working a little bit further east along the line, where the sunflower stalks are thick and high.  We will see how much damage we can do to them with the 725, which has a four-foot-wide cutting bar with teeth.  I hope we will leave that crossing and the area around looking a whole lot better as well.

RPI Work Sessions in July and August

I wasn't able to attend the RPI work session at Llano on Saturday, July 28, because I was up in Colorado.  My mother fell and gashed her head so I rushed up to be with her in the hospital.  She seemed to be doing better and then died suddenly several days later.  I organized the memorial service and headed home after the session.

From what I heard, the work session was pretty normal, with brush-cutting and weed-whacking at crossings, etc.  Frank Glatzl operated the rail-mower, which was towed by the A-car.  However, the rail-mower broke down after a few miles.  Frank later diagnosed the problem as a worn groove in the governor shaft, allowing an E-ring to slip off, resulting in major damage inside the engine.  He ordered parts, fabbed a new shaft with the right size groove, and got the rail-mower engine running again.  Of course, all this involved removing and disassembling the engine and then re-installing it, this time up at Frank's place.  As so many times before, the rail-mower would have died a permanent death without Frank's attentions.  When the August 25 work session came around, he brought the rail-mower to Llano, hooked it up again to the A-car and this time it worked perfectly all the way to Scobey Spur and back.  That's not to say the group mowed all that way, just that during the periods when they did mow, the rail-mower did not break down, which what I consider a major step forward.

I had a project of my own on Aug. 25:  installing 35 feet of 25-lb rail that I donated to RPI to store the A-car and rail-mower on inside the storage container.  New members Jay and Cecil Walston helped me drive in two inch wood screws with a portable drill and portable impact driver.  They hold down mending plates, which in turn hold down the rail by pressing against the web of the rail.  We spaced them about three feet apart.  Here are some photos of the results:

In the foreground of the second photo is the connecting piece between the railroad and the rail inside the container, fabricated by Jerry Light.  It is removable so as to be able to close the doors and lock them.  The new rails provide a way to securely store the A-car.  And not putting any lumber between them enables us to move items to and from the back of the container (for example, there's a refrigerator back there now used to store herbicide that keeps the herbicide cooler than it would otherwise be inside the container).

I didn't go down the line with the motorcar operators since I wanted to finish up this project.  So I stayed behind, finished up and just then saw John Pattison, our RPI VP, arrive.  It was a major shock to see John since he can hardly ever get off from his job with Amtrak to come out for work sessions, and I was real tired what with the heat, so at first I just stared at him like he was a ghost.  Then I showed off the work and we drove down separately to Spyke's to have lunch with the group.  Before they arrived I mowed the track at the Spyke's stop with a wheeled weed-whacker to give them a clear area to dismount and, if necessary, work on their motorcars:

After lunch, the group headed off to Scobey Spur.  While they were gone, I took my BCS two-wheeled tractor off my trailer and started mowing the really tall and thick sunflower stalks.  After only a short while, I felt tired and hot, so I sat down, drank some cold water and rested in the shade for a while.  I got back up and went back to work and almost immediately felt the energy just draining out of me.  I think the body just decided the heat and humidity and exertion were too much, so it sent me a signal to call it quits for the day.  I did but I hung around another 20 minutes or so and the group returned by then, so I got some shots:

The top shot shows Lou Houck with his Northern Pacific M-9, and Marty Reimer riding with him, bottom shot shows the A-car with a whole bunch of workers.  Preceding both of them was Jerry Light in his hy-rail Gator.

That about sums it up for the Aug. 25 work session.  Next session is Saturday, Sept. 29, again at Llano.  I hope to attend but can't be sure right now since I do tax preparation for a living and the extension season is upon me.  Have to give priority to getting my customers' returns done by Oct. 17.  But if I can make it, will be there.