Mountain Extension - Official Work Thread

[Paul Uhland]

Absolutely top notch work!!
Slide?
What slide?? 

When will  the retaining wall go up?

[Joe Fox]

That looks awesome. Retaining wall at the pinch point will begin soon.

[Bill Reidy]

Just amazing.  Wow.

[Bill Baskerville]

Congratulations to our staff of planners and our excellent contractor Jeff.  That road bed really looks great!

[Carl G. Soderstrom]

Looks awesome! -
 Is there a culvert nearby? to keep water away from this area.

[Mike Fox]

One just south of it Carl, about 50 feet. Another one will be just north of it, between this and the pinch point.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Another obstacle out of the way.

Jeff S.

[Mike Fox]

Let's look at some more pictures Joe took today.

Standing at the former slide location looking south, we see Steve Lennox heading for Sheepscot. I hope he has wheels waiting for him, this is almost 3 miles from the station..



The next photo is just south of the pinch point, between locations 5 and 6 if you have your map, looking south. The former slide is the bright spot.



Now he has turned and faced north, looking at the pinch point. The wall will be built where that maple is straight ahead.



And lastly, standing about at location 7, looking North at location 8 (green grassy area). Contractor Jeff has stumped this, and hauled off the stumps..

[Bill Reidy]

That Kubota (not to mention Mike) sure gets around.

Beyond the retaining wall, which will be a lot of work, what else remains to be done to the right-of-way in preparation for track-laying Columbus Day weekend?

[Mike Fox]

This was not me Bill. Jeff was in there with 2 of his machines, and decided to remove the stumps, and I mean completely. He hauled 6 loads out of there.
So. This is what I have left to do, in no particular order.

Culvert at location 5.
Wall at location 6.
Culvert at location 7
Culvert at location 8.
Ditch
Lay fabric
Spread a layer of crushed rock (I heard praises about the SWW ballast prep)
Possibly pre-stage ties in piles for FWW.

Recent additions, as of yesterday.
Culvert, location 9. The other big one. Contractor Jeff wants to use the access road and haul material in, rather than crossing the bridge. So we will push through that. We will set it on a Saturday with him, so additional help will be welcomed.

Location 10. Jeff installed one of the culverts on Wednesday, so he could access the south side of the bridge with his machine. That other seciton needs to installed so he can backfill that as well.

Next year, all that will be left is the long ditch repair, and the grade repair just south of the bridge.

What this does is open up the possibility of laying 1400 feet of track this fall. That is huge. That is half way from end of track to the bridge.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Sounds like a lot to get done before FWW.

Jeff S.

[Bill Baskerville]

It also sounds like we may need the Shops new Rube Goldberg rail laying flat car machine.

[Jeff Schumaker]

It also sounds like we may need the Shops new Rube Goldberg rail laying flat car machine.

It has yet to serve its purpose as the temporary bridge over (Moose) Trout Brook.

Jeff S.

[Alex Harvilchuck]

Here's a link to Ed's post from January with his most excellent cartographic skills:
http://forum.wwfry.org/index.php/topic,898.msg35114.html#msg35114

and the map itself:

[Alex Harvilchuck]

Contractor Jeff wants to use the access road and haul material in, rather than crossing the bridge.

I don't disagree with his logic. All Contractor Jeff needs is for his equipment to damage the bridge (and his equipment).
Less technical risk and less time by leveraging the access road and the re-opened ROW to the south side of the bridge.