Mountain Extension - Official Work Thread

[John Kokas]

Mike,  would it be safe to assume that we will be working section 7 in parallel with section 2 in order to prepare for the bridge placement?

[Mike Fox]

Without going into great detail, the only thing that will be done in section 7 is what is needed to be able to work on the bridge site. Location 14 is a spot that will get fixed, mainly because it needs a culvert, so we can easily access the bridge site. Part of the culvert will be temporary, so when we are done the roadbed can be narrowed back up to original width.
Once the heavy work is done, the rest of the pipe work can be completed.

[Mike Fox]

The permit process continues, with a required notification appearing in this weeks edition of The Wiscasset Paper.

[Ed Lecuyer]

Alna's permits approved! From the Wiscasset Newspaper:
http://www.wiscassetnewspaper.com/article/railway-museum-expansion-track/95329

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Hello,

We will be clearing trees from the right of way on the Mountain over the winter, as this work is permitted contingent on the ground being frozen.

Mike plans to begin at the bridge site this Saturday.

We will also be clearing next Tuesday, January 2.  Details on Tuesday's work TBD after this Saturday.

Thanks,
Jason

[Mike Fox]

Unless they added another day to this year, Tuesday will be January 2nd..

Plans were to get the dozer to the bridge site, but the cold weather has made that a chore. We still may get it up there on Saturday, but not to do any work..

Plenty of trees on the extension to be cut. There are a few pine trees to cut, and 2 at Fossel Crossing (not an official name) that I cut for the contractor could be cleaned up, and we could work north from there.

[Mike Fox]

Jason and I have spent several hours this last week working on it, and now have the NRPA Individual Permit ready for submittal.

This permit covers the Pinch point and 2 culvert locations that are all in a shoreland zone.

Permit will be sent from Alna tomorrow, after the required fee in inserted.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

“Unless they added another day to this year, Tuesday will be January 2nd..”

Oops.  Fixed...

[Mike Fox]

Dozer is now on Trout Brook ROW. Next Saturday we should plan a good start for tree removal. We talked this morning and have a good plan, and I think it will go very quickly. I walked to the brook, and it is frozen solid. There is little to no frost in the ground, so we will have to pay attention so we don't disturb the soil.

[Mike Fox]

[Ed Lecuyer]

Will the cutting and clearing occuring on Saturday also include burning? Long-range forecast says next Sat will be still very, very cold (single-digit highs, if it makes it above 0.)

[Mike Fox]

I hope so..

[Mike Fox]

Expected tree cutting this week.

TOM North on Wednesday.

Trout Brook Saturday.

[Paul Uhland]

Your local TV weather shows an intense snow/wind storm traveling north just off the coast should drop about 6 or more inches in the WW&F area Thursday, remaining cold, clearing and getting colder over the weekend.
Pics show a snowy TB work start just in from Rt 218.

Good luck.

[Mike Fox]

This is how it started off. The dozer just would not fire this morning at -4. That was 11am... So the guys decided to take an early lunch while I gathered the generator and torpedo heater...10 minutes of this and the dozer took right off.

Fairly productive day. All the small brush was cut up and stacked out of the zone. There are some pictures that were taken while we did this.

Last thing we did was cut one large yellow birch. This proved to be a bear to get out whole, so the guys cut some of the leaders off of it while I repositioned the dozer. And then it came out.

A great start. I think Saturday will be a slow day because of the expected high of 1..