Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Pesky crevices, that could happen, and Murphy's law being what it is..... Tiny little screws and parts have a way of vanishing, even on the smooth clean shop floor. But the pavers are definitely an improvement over gravel or dirt. One of the benefits will be no mud, which is the first thing some operators seem to enjoy making right where they will be standing. No matter what, the plan is to have a lot of fun running tiny engines and pointing and talking.
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
It's been a little cold here lately so not much has been happening with the railway. I'm ready for spring!
Jack

[10 Wheeler Rob]

I hope to make an east to west coast epic trip some day, and your rail road would be icing on the cake. Having being on the Pioneer Valley Live Steamers high line rebuild project a few years back I know just how much effort you have put into this great railroad.

Rob

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here is an update on the Alcalde & Coalfield High Line. It's been a busy winter. The main goal has been to get the steaming bays in place, and all the pavers down. There is just a narrow strip of pavers left as you can see in the top photo. The second retaining wall is basically finished also, and just needs the red brick cap. You can see this wall in the foreground of photo 1, and the back ground of photos two and three. Behind this wall is a spot for some comfy chairs and tables, also two more lamps and two more maple trees. These trees will shade the far steaming bays in the afternoon. There was recently a work, play day here and I must thank my friends for helping out for the weekend. There is now just over two hundred feet of main line in place. Only five hundred feet left. This summers push will be casting concrete uprights and assembling track. There is still some grading to finish up. I hate grading!
So that's what has been happening, no shortage of things to do!
Jack

[NP317]

Typical Jack B. work quality.
Sigh.

Good thing my younger son is named Jack.
He will surely amount to an extraordinary person.
~RN

[Steve Alley]

Jack You have one of most beautiful Layouts ever. Not my scale but I love to be involve. Shovel fits my hands. What ever needed. Keep me in the loop on what next and when. Love to help out a fellow Steamer. May the steam rise and fun forever.
Steve Alley

[Asteamhead]

Hello Jack,
You raised a lovely place to play and rest! A nice summer day, some trains are running under steam or waiting on the ready tracks. Siting in the shadow watching an listening must be a great pleasure !
Congratulations!
Asteamhead

[Cary Stewart]

Hi All,
I just got around to viewing all these photos of the get-together and later. Harlock commented on the brass 0-4-0T that he couldn't ID. It the Juliet that Bruce Ward built using components from LBSCs Virginia (late version) to Americanize the loco. Bruce never painted much of anything except wheels. He thought that why paint is when after a few years the paint looks ratty and you have to do it over. The exception was going to be his Garrett.
Cary

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Thank you very much for the compliments. It's been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun finally getting to build my own railway. I haven't done anything for a while as it's been cold and windy and wet here. Crazy weather lately.
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here is a photo that was taken today. It was late afternoon and I had just finished planting the last four Autumn Blaze Maples around the steaming bays. For two of these the retaining wall on the left had to be done as it holds the dirt for them in place. This wall still needs it's red brick cap. These two trees are very important as they will shade the steaming bays on this side in the afternoon. I wanted to get these trees planted as soon as possible so they will have a full summers growth. It will be a few years before they are big enough to make some useful shade. The pavers are about ninety nine percent done. Four more lamps to install and then I can concentrate on the main line. Time to fire up the cement mixer and start casting uprights. Lets see now, five hundred feet of mainline to build and there's a upright every six feet...heavens to Betsy, no shortage of things to do!
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here are a couple before and after snappies taken from roughly the same spot. The top photo was probably made back in 2012 or so. Pretty bare isn't it. The shed on the right has been moved twice and a good bit of dirt has been moved around. The bottom photo was fairly recent with some pavers still to be set in place. I have had a lot of fun building all this baloney and just can't wait to invite my model building friends over to run tiny locomotives and pointing and talking.
See you in the funny pages.
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here are a couple recent photos of the steaming bay area. It's summertime and everything is growing, the trees, the wildflowers, and the weeds! The raised area around the steaming bays was planted with a "Deer Resistant" wild flower mix. I think there were about a dozen different kind of wild flowers in the mix, but there were only a couple varieties that the natives would't eat. Some sort of purple flowers and California poppies. Last year was really dry and they even ate the poppies. The purple flowers were the only thing that didn't get devoured. They must taste really really bad. The maple trees are doing well too, lots of water and fertilizer. Unfortunately I had to off some squirrels that thought they were food. It breaks my heart to shoot the little buggers, it's more my nature to give them treats and make friends with them, but when they start tearing up my trees, that's where I draw the line. I hope to make this area a comfortable shady oasis, great for hanging out and steaming up. I just welded together two more lamp posts and painted them so they will get put on their concrete footings and wired up later this week. Time to focus on track, casting concrete uprights and assembling the main line. I'm planning on having another work-play weekend probably the first weekend in November. Having fun here.
Jack