[speeders] Work weekend report

[Bill Stringfellow <b.stringfellow@mindspring.com>]

Hi folks:

Working at the Board of Elections this past week put me behind in a lot of 
paperwork.  Among the things delayed was a report on our work weekend at 
the South Carolina Railroad Museum the weekend of 11/2-3.

People attending and helping to cut down trees and brush were:

NARCOA High President Tom Falicon
First Lady Mugz
Kenneth Huffines
Jim Hughes
Bill Stringfellow
Howard Shepherd from the SC Railroad Museum
Chris ?? also from the museum

After loading the motorcar and trailer on the tracks we headed east to 
resume out clearing where we left off last March.  During the intervening 
months the museum folks had done some clearing so at least the tracks were 
clear of small trees and brush.  Unsure of the track conditions we 
proceeded at very slow speed lest something happen.  We stopped just short 
of the work location owing to a large hole under the rails along the 
'Chinese Wall'.

Work began which entails removing all trees and brush to 6 feet from track 
center line.  On one side it was real easy as there was a slope for the 
trees to fall down.  The other side was a wall of granite blocks  up to 15 
feet tall.  Trees growing up on that side of the track had to be dropped 
across the tracks and then cut up.  Several trees required a rope to pull 
them (or at least attempt to) in the best direction.  One tree caused Tom a 
particular amount of grief as it did not fall as he hoped it would.

After lunch we began our work westbound and by the end of the day were just 
about back to our starting point.  Loading most of the tools back into the 
trucks we proceeded westward to travel to the end of the line.  Since it 
had been over 6 months since there was any motorcar traffic on the line we 
had to remove a good number of trees that had fallen during that 
time.  There were also some dead branches along the track near an area that 
had been clear cut a few months ago.

After crossing the last paved road the tracks are on a two mile grade 
downhill so caution was required to control track speed.  The last actual 
road crossing is a dirt road put in by a timber company.  While pushing the 
trailer across the road the dirt over the rails diverted the trailer to a 
course other than that desired.  As I was creeping at the time nothing went 
too far off course.  In just a few minutes we had the trailer back in the 
proper place and the flangeways clear.  We stopped to check out several 
small washouts to make sure nothing new had happened over the summer.

We stopped just short (100 feet) of the track end to remove one last 
tree.  A couple people walked to the end of the line and were surprised to 
find a very upset hunter.  It seems he was ready to pull the trigger to 
shoot a deer when this nasty old noisy A4 motorcar spooks the deer.  We 
decided not to stay around very long and headed on back to the truck to 
unload and go get dinner.

On Sunday Kenneth, Jim, and I returned to the loading area and walked the 
300 feet to where we stopped work the day before.  We completed our 
widening project to the paved road and improved sight lines for the grade 
crossing as well.

Everyone had a good time but were tired and sore.

The trip back was uneventful except for the motorhome that burned to the 
ground on our side of the road causing a minor traffic jam.



Our next work weekend is planned for the first weekend of December if the 
weather is not too cold.

It is VERY important to contact me if you are planning to show up to work 
in case something comes up at the last minute and the work weekend must be 
cancelled.  Our next work weekend after this one will most likely be at the 
end of January or early February, 2003.

It sounds like a lot of work but in reality it can be but it is a lot of 
fun.  No experience is needed and you do not need to have a chainsaw.  We 
actually need more people to throw stuff out of the way than to cut down 
trees.  We are currently at MP 7.6 and only have 4 more miles to go.  Hope 
to see you there.

Bill Stringfellow
Atlanta,. Georgia