Apr. 7, Wednesday:   I put down more moss killer from where I left off to Clear Lake and some of the CB&E branch.
Adam Wright came over to work on the air compressor and I helped a little. He made up a bunch of adapters that would hook 1/8 pipe to the pump
as that was what we used before (first two pics).  Worked on setting up my dip tank for the ties.  Found a clean 55 gallon barrel I could use.

Apr. 8, Thursday:   My first task was to get a coat of paint on the (new) roundhouse doors that were bare wood (next 3 pics).  Third picture is on 4/11 though.
My next task was to cut up wood to make new ties (2nd row, 1st & 2nd pic) and did my first load in the dip tank.  I found I needed more Diesel fuel so made a run to fill up cans again.  I found with the barrel full of ties, I can only get about 35 gallons in.  The mix of 1 gal of treatment to diesel is 8 to one so I am a little strong.

Apr. 9, Friday:   I got out the leaf blower and cleaned the ROW from Phelps to Clear Lake and then up some of the Bauerton and CB&E branches.  Those oak leaves in the spring are a pain!  After this, I went up to Highpoint and aligned the bumping post with the TT so the bus won’t go off the end (2nd row, center 2 pics).  After this, I got out the tractor and hauled some sand to add to the field road crossings (3rd row, last pic).  When 24 hrs were up, I took my first load of ties out and put in a second.  I think I got 25 ties the first time.

Apr. 10, Saturday:   I started to set up for Brayden to come over and we would work on ties but he never showed.  Adam came back to work on the air compressor some more.  I cleaned the flues in #7 in case it would work on air, we could try steam.  No luck there as it needed one more adjustment that was hard to do with the tools we had,  Adam took it home to work on it in his shop.  I painted the roundhouse doors again (3rd row, last pic). and the lid for the coal dock even got a coat.  The day before, I heard a thunk out in the woods and when running #3,  came to a tree top blocking the tracks. I bent it enough to get by but it needs to be cut.  While Adam was there, I got the saw out and I cut the tree and took out a couple of small ones that were damaged near the East yard limit for Phelps.  Next up after the rain shower came, was to empty and reload the barrel.  I got 23 this time.

Apr. 11, Sunday:   Brayden and Doug Fox came and we replaced the bad head block tie for the Alina spur than went up to the ramp track switch and worked on replacing ties from there down to the Mill 3 lead (2nd row last, 3rd row 1st pic).  After lunch, we replaced a bunch on the Mill 3 lead.  I saw a couple that were in need and it ended up a major rebuild as when we looked closer there were a bunch rotted ones and some missing ones (3rd row, 2nd pic).  It even got some new treated ones to see how they would last.  Doug Fox cleaned the ditches on the main and some of the spur till the gon was loaded.  Brayden and I took it to West of Sumac and dumped it (3rd row, middle pics).  The last task for the day was to empty the barrel and reload.  They will get a real soak this time!.  From what I was told by the provider of the treatment was that not much more would go in after 24 hrs so it would be a waste to keep them in longer but I chose to go longer on one load so I could have another load of 20+ ready when I get back over.  -  Tom

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