Mountain Extension - Official Work Thread

[Mike Fox]

First off, a HUGE thank you to all that showed up today. It was a great day, after a slow start, thanks to mother nature. Ice filled crossings delayed the arrival of the work train, but when they showed up, there was no stopping.

Walking in this morning.



Here is my "Dang, I forgot to get a before photo" photo, we had only taken a few trees down.



Same angle after the train left.



And here is the train leaving to go south..



And a look at different angles of the great progress today.











And a look at where we will be next weekend. Come join us!

[Wayne Laepple]

Lots of progress, but no people. How did that happen? Just curious how many helpers you had today, Mike.

[Jeff Schumaker]

I see Fred's faithful chair, but no Fred.

Jeff S.

[Richard Cavalloro]

looks a lot more open then when I was there in October.  Nice work everyone!!

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Maybe Mike was a lonesome lumberman.

[Mike Fox]

I did not take a head count, but we had about 12. I was lonely at the start, trying to get the fire going. Another volunteer showed up and helped get the fire going good, followed by a third volunteer, then the train. And once the help showed up, they were ready and so was the fire..

[Bill Reidy]

There were 12+ helpers, though I think Mike was the only person running a chain saw.  We on the work train had a nice, long, slow trip from Sheepscot to end of track.  We departed Sheepscot at 8.55 and got to end of track around 10.30.  All the crossings between Sheepscot and Alna Center had heavily iced over due to rain late Friday followed by a hard freeze early Saturday morning.

Will try to post some photos later.  I just got home from Maine.

[Bill Reidy]

Better late than never on my Saturday photos, I hope.  Anyway, here they are.

See photos of work X52's trip north to end of track Saturday here.

The view from X52 on arrival at end of track around 10.30 a.m.  Looks like Mike Fox and helpers had been busy.


Mike works on a tree at end of track.


We (X52's crew) soon had to return to Top of Mountain to meet X9's 10.30 a.m. Steam and Sleighs train from Sheepscot.  Brian Fanslau's caboose #554 (on the mill siding) served as a base of operations at ToM.


After X9 departed south for Sheepscot, 52 ran around her train to place flatcar #118 at the north end of the train.  The flatcar was then pushed north to end of track so it could be used as a platform for lunch and later loaded with cut logs.  Here's the view from X52 returning around 1 p.m. from ToM.


Two thirds of work train X52's crew as seen at ToM:  Capt. J.B. Smith (engineer) on the left, and Dave Buczkowski (brakeman) on the right.


Mike provides a seminar on how to cut down a tree.


Fred always complains when we take photos of him sitting down, so of course I had to.  We have trouble keeping up with him normally!


That's not Fred!


Flatcar #118 loaded with logs.


The view from the fire looking south.

[Paul Uhland]

Now that's another load of wood!
Amazing.

[Paul Uhland]

Maybe Fred should load the wood up in his now-company pickup, park at Cross Road/218 corner, and sell it all. 

[Mike Fox]

We were in a unique spot last weekend, and were able to produce that load of wood. We have stacks of hard wood that Fred can get this summer if he has time, or we can get after the tracks are in.

[James Patten]

Photos from today, afternoon.

From the bridge, looking south:


From the end of the straightaway, looking north back toward the bridge.  All of this was completed earlier this winter.


From south of the end of track (it's buried in snow, so you can't see it), looking north toward the work done last week and this week.

[Mike Fox]

Before, taken from where I thought we would stop (I was wrong)..




After, followed by other after shots..



I turned around to show how much more got done than anticipated. There were 5 that stayed up over lunch while the rest of us ate and were largely responsible for all this added length. A great job..







From the straight line survey stake for the bridge (may be seen in previous photos with an orange ribbon around it) which is located halfway between locations 10 and 11.



Looking at the Bridge from the stake

[Mike the Choochoo Nix]

So about how many feet still need to be cleared off this winter?
Mike Nix

[Mike Fox]

I would guess about 200 feet. Just the sides. As long as the snow gets no deeper, then things will be great. I expect 2 more good Saturdays to finish, with the last one being a short day. Then move the dozer up for a couple days to get the wood out of the way.