Rails to Trails on a small Scale...

The downsizing continues.  The entire switchback from the mainline to the lead mine is now history.

 

The view from the Lead Mine trestle up toward the sawmill:

 

As you can see, the rail and all the ties have been removed and the ballast raked smooth.

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The mainline at Tombstone:

 

The switch on the mainline for the switchback was removed intact... you can see the underside of its ties to the right of the picture (it's leaned up against a couple of trees).  The steel rail from the siding (actually part of the original mainline!) is to the left of the track.  The portion of track with the new ballast replaced the switch.  The new track has a slightly different alignment to provide a smoother transition through the old switch site.  It has also been lifted a few inches to help minimize a dip that was necessary with the old switch.  Trains will be able to stop at Tombstone for passengers to take a walk down to the Lead Mine on the old Right-of-Way.

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Finally, hauling a long, heavy switch to another location:

 

The switch was suspended between two cars, and pulled upgrade to Northview.

It will be reused on the mainline by the enginehouse and will lead to a new turntable that will replace the existing wye.