BAGRS Live Steamers Work Day March 22nd in Morgan Hill: There was a strong show of force on Saturday March 22nd at Gary Broeder's in Morgan Hill. The call had gone out to assemble track gangs to work on the two BAGRS Live Steamers portable tracks and the result was that we made great progress on getting the tracks into shape.
A lot of advance work went into planning and preparation before we all arrived on Saturday. Gary Broeder, Jim McDavid, Mike Martin, and others conferenced on how to expand the track and how to configure the sidings and steaming bays. Mike Martin built six beautiful new 8' panels in advance, and when assembled on Saturday they added 24' of straight track to the existing 20' diameter layout. Mike's workmanship was impressive, and the large portable track is pretty impressive too. All work was completed on the track supports, as well as modifying the existing loop so that the new panels (of similar construction) can be mated with the existing system. Gary wasn't able to get the rubber roadbed in time for us to lay track, but now that the base, stands, and connections are all ready to go we should be able to lay the track in short order. It was agreed that the first few hours on Saturday April 5th at Ardenwood will be used to lay the track. (See more about Ardenwood below).
Wayne Foss picked up the small dual gauge track from Sam Muncy and brought that with him to Gary's. It appeared to have been left out in the weather all winter (Sam, what's up with that, huh?) but we removed the single loop of dual gauge track and scrubbed it down with wire brushes and soapy water. After letting it dry for several hours Tom King painted it down with some extra paint that Gary had on hand and it really came up to shine. We had to make a make a few repairs, and Tom supervised the conversion of the base sections to tongue and pin connectors. We didn't have time to lay the track so Tom volunteered to lay the dual gauge 32mm and 45mm track at his house. Go Tom!
If truth be known we did in fact resemble a herd of cats. We got off to a good committee style start early in the morning (all supervisors, lots of arm waving and gesticulation). Right around lunch time about two hours of steaming was had on Gary's railroad while Wayne and Richard ran to the local hardware store for left threaded chimney shafts and counter rotating muffler bearings. But as daylight started to wane in the valley near Llagas Creek, a burst of productivity was realized and we finished off the day in pretty good shape.
At this event Charley Lix proved himself to be the only contestant for the Die Hard Crazy Live Steamer Award. This guy shows up at Gary's after a five hour drive through the Sierras and across the Sacramento River Delta in a Toyota that has all of about 1" (2.54 cm thank you very much) of clearance. It turns out that Charley's idea of a house warming gift is about 200 lbs. of completely cool Sierra Granite and Nevada sifted ballast. Charley said he would have brought more but the only way he could get up the east slope of the Sierra's was to spoon the ballast out the window to increase the lift coefficient on that Toyota. Pretty cool stuff Charley.
So there you have it. The BAGRS Live Steamers owe Gary Broeder and Tom King much thanks for all their work to keep our tracks available and in good condition. These poor guys end up hauling that track all over the place and doing all the track work. Mike Martin went the whole way on building those extra sections and when it comes time to add on to my house I know who I'm calling. Wayne Foss pulled off an MVP award for picking up the dual gauge track on very short notice, and it should be noted that Jim McDavid is the guy who built that track in the first place several years ago. Many thanks to the entire crew: Wayne Foss, Gary Broeder, Tom King, Gerard Picouleau, Jim McDavid, Michael O'Rourke, Charley Lix, Mike Krivohlavek, Richard Finlayson, Dave Perry, Mike Martin.
BAGRS LIVE STEAMERS CALENDAR (subject to change):
