Downsizing a Railroad

Now that some of the rolling stock has been delivered to their new homes, I am slowly beginning the process of taking up some railroad track.  As of today, I have disassembled 180 feet of railroad track (including a 55' long trestle) and two switches.  This first stage of downsizing will result in the removal of 752' of track in total, so I have a pretty good start on the project.  Disassembling track goes a lot quicker than laying it.

 

The old enginehouse was located where I am standing to take the picture.  The lead went from a switch that was in the track on the right up the ballast to the lower right of the picture.

 

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The depot siding started at the bottom of the picture and continued toward the top of the picture to the right of the mainline.  The pile of old ties are sitting on the ballast of the former siding.

 

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This is a flatcar load of rotten ties being hauled off for disposal.

 

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By reducing the total amount of track, the railroad should require less maintenance, leaving more time to work on steam locomotives.  I will keep enough track to exercise the trains, but I am trying to reduce the size of the railroad quite a bit.

Caboose #56 at the Railroad Historical Museum

Today Caboose #56 was delivered to its new home at the Railroad Historical Museum in Springfield, Missouri.  The shed was unloaded, track laid, and the caboose rolled into position.  The track will be ballasted soon and the everything will be ready for display.

The museum is located at Grant Beach park, and is home to Frisco 4-8-4 steam locomotive #4524 as well as many other railroad artifacts.  It is open on Saturday afternoons from 2 - 4 PM from May through October.  The museum is ran and maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers... stop in, see the little caboose and the big steam locomotive and say "Hi"!

A Visit to the C&H RR

A couple of weeks back, Rick and I headed west to visit our friends at the C&H Railroad.  We had great weather, got to see a couple of Ottaways run, took some rides, and I even had some time at the throttle.  As always, we had a great time visiting the railroad and all the great folks that keep it running!  Here is a picture of a passenger train running with Rick along for the ride: