Wednesday  3/9:  Brayden and Tom Weaver came to help and we found a squirrel problem on the roof of the lunch room.  It started to make an opening and take the insulation out as that is what caught my eye.  I called Bill and he came down and said we could put a board up to cover the flashing and he got us a nice piece of Trex to cover.

After that we put together a work train to go up on the CBE branch and clear the brambles away from the grade on the end of the CBE branch so we can pull up the rail for a ways to Old George.  This part of the RR hasn’t been used for years and doesn’t have any ties under the rails in most parts.  After clearing the brambles, we got the tools to take the track bolts out at joints and remove the lag bolts that weren’t rotted out.  We went from the switch at Old George to the “C” channel used at the ends of the spurs.  We ran into a problem with the switch parts as they were welded to plates and we couldn’t lift those components out.  We made a neat pile to be picked up when the last two pieces of rail could be cut free from the tie plates they were welded to.

Thursday  3/10:  I got the Generator out of the car barn and put some fuel in it and worked on getting it to run.  Once I was satisfied with that, I got the grinder and cutter and went up to Old George to finish removing the rail.  I few minutes on each side of the base and it was free.  Just as I was wrapping it up, Brayden came in and I gave him the recip saw and he cut the long piece of rail off of the switch so it would be more mobile.  I went for the impact driver to take out a few more bolts that were left.  We piled up the rail and went down for the gon and an idler flat so we could pick it up.  We now have a starter pile down the branch below the New Borrow pit.

Friday  3/11:  We got snow!  I measured 3.5 inches on the TT.  With no one to help plow, I went to work to cut up ties for the dip barrel.  I had a very good start by the time Brayden made it over.  Instead of plowing, I decided to keep on with tie cutting.  Last fall, I went around the RR looking at switch ties and made a list of those that needed to be replaced.  With that list in hand, We cut up all that we will need for awhile.  By the end of the day, we got 222 regular ties and 37 switch ties done.  Many thanks to Doug Fox for all the wood to make ties.  Brayden pointed out that one of the number board lights was out on the front of #25 so I had him take the board apart and we found the rubber had fallen apart that held the bulb.  Now a search has started to find a replacement as I have no idea what Mel used.  I am hoping it is a Chevy part as he liked to use common car parts as replacements were everywhere.

Saturday  3/12:  Marty Knox came over to work on #24 and made very good progress.  He has figured out valve timing and now can working on finishing the parts needed to set timing.
- -  Tom C