Unseasonably mild weather this summer has made working on the railroad a real pleasure. On Saturday August 14th, members of the Redwood Empire Live Steamers met at your community park to lay more track. With the aid of volunteers and some heavy equipment, we were able to lay down one hundred and sixty feet of track. We are also have made great strides in preparing the ground for the train storage shed as well as it’s associated track work. At the end of the day we determined that we only need to install another twenty track panels to complete our first loop. At this rate, our railroad will be ready to go by early October!
The heat was nearly
unbearable, but members of the Redwood Empire Live Steamers were able to lay over one hundred feet of track last Sunday. We also have
installed the first turnout that will greatly improve our ability to load and unload locomotives and cars. Our next run day over the
July Fourth weekend will see us sitting comfortably in the cool shade of the oak trees. Hope to see you then.
The Redwood Empire Live
Steamers have been working feverously to prepare track for the spring and summer running season. Last weekend, we laid over two hundred
feet of track. As a result, we will no longer need to set up our old temporary track for public run days. This will save us a lot
of set up and take down time and hopefully allow us to extend the running times for the public. This weekend May 1st and 2nd will
be our first public run days and in addition to hauling passengers, we will continue to add more track. Each ride will get a little
longer as the summer progresses!
Report from the field: Are you ready for this, we laid 100’ of track. There was quite a group, Dave, Ron, Graham, Gene, Alan, Ann, Bill and myself. We worked from 9:30 until about 4:00. Talk about pooped!!!!!! But we were thrilled.
It was decided that if we worked both Saturday, April 24th and Sunday, April 25th we could possibly get 200’ more of tracked laid and if so then we wouldn’t have to put down the temporary track. The goal is not to have to put down the temporary track on the 1st of May. We need all members with their bodies and nearest and dearest friends. They can bring a portable drill, wheelbarrow, shovel, rake, gloves, water and a snack when we take a tail gate break. If we really do this, we will be so delighted on the 1st since we won’t have to lay the temporary track.
There is now over one hundred and fifty feet of track in place at the park. Due to the threat of rain on Sunday, members of the Redwood Empire Live Steamers met at Youth Community Park for a work party. Dark clouds formed and light rain fell as the track crew carefully adjusted the sub road bed and then began laying track.
Meanwhile far ahead of the track crew, Ann and Gene were hard at work brush clearing. Thanks to the generous donation
of 2 large dumpsters by Hailie Barnes of Redwood Empire Disposal, the bush whacking crew was able to remove a lot of cuttings.
The
weather for our ground breaking is similar what was happening 147 years ago when Leland Stanford turned the first shovel of soil for
the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad.
We can only hope that our railroad will be as successful!
Track is on the ground!
It’s official, after months of preparation both at the park and in Jim’s shop, we have begun to lay track at the park. Jim and Dave worked to rebuild a vibratory compactor in preparation for track laying. Ron and Dave then spent part of Saturday prepping the roadbed. Finally on Sunday morning the club met and put down 44 feet of rail. Not everything went smoothly as this is a learning experience for all of us but at the end of the day, the steel was on the ground. There is still much work to be done. The ballast must be tamped and the rails double checked to ensure a nice level run. This will be done at the next work party on April 11th. Allen feels that we should
have no trouble laying an additional one hundred feet of track at the next work party.
Whoo Whoo!!!
On Sunday (3/7/10) members of the Redwood Empire Live Steamers met at Youth Community Park to continue work on the railroads right of way. We cleaned up a few areas under the oaks and put down an additional 3 yards of crushed rock. In addition to this, Dave has completed a terrain survey and we are now just waiting for the ground to dry out so grading on the second half of the loop can begin.
It’s slow going when you are surveying in a swamp! Members of the Redwood Empire live Steamers took advantage of a break in the weather and continued to survey the main line of the youth community park railroad. We have moved out of the civilized grassy area of the park and into the rugged back country. Our survey crews battled there way past bogs, poison oak, blackberry bushes, and a reported “spider!” to complete this portion of the survey. We are lucky to be in the company of hearty brave souls such as these.
Our sod busting days are over!
As of 2:00pm on Sunday December 13, 2009, members of the Redwood Empire Live Steamers removed the last piece of sod from the lawn area of Youth Community Park. Only an unforeseen change in busses hours at the local quarry prevented us from putting in the remaining rock base. This is a major accomplishment, a real impact on the ground and a demonstration of what motivated volunteers can accomplish. We now will be focusing our efforts on building the track panels that will go in this newly cleared right of way. It will not be long before we have a point to point railroad in operation.
On rainy days when we cannot work at Youth Community Park, many club members are working hard at home on projects to improve the railroad. Above: Anti theft anchors are being fabricated in the RELS Cloverdale shop.
Graceful “S” curves now wind thru the lawn area of Youth Community Park. While no track is in place yet, the cleared right of way passing under the interior live oaks is more than enough to spark your imagination. We continue to move ahead with the assistance of cub members and volunteers on the weekends. This past Sunday, we had nine volunteers including some park visitors who helped clear the way for the railroad. With dedication like this, and the behind the scenes work that is going on a club members houses with track construction, we will be running trains soon
We are making steady progress on roadbed construction at Youth Community Park. On Sunday October 25, 2009, several club members got together with wheel barrows, shovels and a small rototiller to excavate a section of sub-road bed. We then filled in the dug out area with gravel, leveled it, and packed it down with a tamper. This is the layer of rock that our track will rest on. In about two weeks we will hold another track building party with the intention of making the track that will go over this newly built section. If all goes well, we may have a nice long section of track in place at the park before Thanksgiving. Now that’s something to give thanks about!
On Saturday October 17, 2009 members of the Redwood Empire Live Steamers met at Youth Community Park to begin removal of the sod along the railroads right of way. Jim rented a sod cutter the previous day and was able to make three passes over the work area in a very brief amount of time. Paul brought his garden tractor and we were able to easily roll the sod, pack it into the bucket of the tractor and take it to the waiting dump truck. We were able to finish clearing the area in a little less than two hours! Join us on Sunday to finish the excavation. We will be using a roto tiller to dig a two foot wide trench and clear the trench with shovels.
On Saturday September 26, 2009 the Redwood Empire Live Steamers were assisted by
Alexander, Samantha, and Nicholas Holland at Youth Community Park in conducting a right of way survey for our permeate railroad track.
We used templates bent at several different radii to determine how many of each type of track panel would be needed. As the templates
were laid out, we marked the ground with wooden stakes, paint and finally a shot of herbicide to keep the area clear of grass. By the end of a very hot day, we had completed 80% of the survey. The last section to be surveyed will require a fair amount
of brush clearing, but we have a good starting point for our upcoming track laying. Check the “help wanted” section of the web page
for more details on upcoming building parties!
Just a quick update on our event at the Fall Home & Train Show not that I can remember the exact counts but I can give you at least a heads up on it. On Friday we gave about 132 rides, on Saturday about 304 rides and on Sunday about 330!!! Not bad, huh. It was a good thing Jim had 600 more tickets made. We only have about 137 for our final run in October, so he’ll run a few more.All in all it was a great time and thanks to Terry for seeing that we were invited.
Ross Perrin, General Manager at Train Mountain arranged for us to have a meeting with their Track Shop Staff, Paul Aragon, Chris Curtis and DJ Galer. Jerry Crane, TM Staffer, met us and lead us over to the Track Shop on Friday, June 26th at 4:00. The three staffers, Paul, Chris & DJ gave their expertise on track building and answered questions from our members. Paul's famous words, "Stay away from kicking track panels into place!" The Train Mountain Track & Switch Shop guys were great to take time during the 2009Triennial to meet with the following club members: Don, Ann, Kyle & Ellie Bruner-Welch; Steve Waterfall (and his brother,Tom); Jim Martorella; Jim Jones; Dave Fontes (and son, Joseph) & Bill & Pam Shilling
On Wednesday June 10,
The Redwood Empire Live Steamers braved the infamous Lake Sonoma Rattle snakes to collect a trailer full of fence building material.
This puts us another step closer to track construction, however, we still will need to purchase 2400 feet of split rail to finish
this project. Any additional donations of material or funds will speed this project along.
At last, a ground breaking of sorts has begun at Youth Community Park. The Redwood Empire Live Steamers have laid their first twenty feet of track complete with ballast and decorative redwood bark chips.
The city of Santa Rosa is asking that we install a split rail fence around our planed track in the areas where it bounds the turf. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to donate surplus split rail fencing from Lake Sonoma but we will also need to purchase or find alternate donations to help us overcome this challenge.
Dave, Jim & Steve picked up borrowed flat bed truck to get the track panels from TurtlePost in Tracy and brought them to Jim’s. The truck was loaned by the Cooper Crane & Rigging, Inc. Dave's employer) and Pam will send a Thank-You letter to them for their generous donation of truck, gas, and fast track pass.
Jim and Steve finished designing the jig for our track and have already assembled a few track panels. Every thing is going smoothly. We expect the panels to be ready in time to start laying them in Youth Community Park this spring during the good weather.
