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A Fond Memory of Bill Purdie - Sunday, July 25, 2010
 
(click to enlarge) More photos here. A few years ago Donald brought Mr. Bill up to Canton to visit our 7.5" gauge live steam railroad. Due to his advanced age and declining health, the plan was for them to only stay 20 minutes or so. There were 5 or 6 steamers just sitting in the roundhouse cold. Mr. Bill took a look around and said, "Which one are we going to fire up?" Donald gave me the nod so my answer was, "Mr. Bill which one do you want to fire up?" He pointed to a little 0-4-2 woodburner and said, "That one because it's got Southern Valve Gear." Well we fired her up, took Mr. Bill for a ride and were treated to some mighty fine railroad stories. - Bill Bryan, III Trains Magazine has a nice writeup on Mr. Purdie, as does Steam Specials. Narrow Gauge Meet - Saturday, July 3, 2010  
(click to enlarge) Big fun at the railroad this weekend as visitors from the left coast came to visit. With the exception of a single inch and a half scale locomotive, the CSPPRY saw some serious 2 1/2" scale narrow gauge motive power and rolling stock. Great weather, good friends, fantastic food, and big steam meant everyone had a good time! More photos can be seen here. If you have any photos you wish to contribute, please send them my way. FYI - Friday, July 2, 2010  
(click to enlarge) Now that the upper loop signals are in place and working, a bit of info on how to read and use them. When approaching from St. Paul, there are two capture buttons rather than a single lever switch. They are labeled "W" and "E" for "west" and "east." If you're running east bound across the crossing (to the right, our normal running direction) press the "E" button. Vice versa for west. The signals, captures, and releases at Elizabeth are identical to the rest of the railroad with the exception of a dawrf red on the west end near the crossing at D&MT Junction. This dwarf will only light if the west bound block between St. Paul and Elizabeth has been claimed -- it is to protect mainline traffic from a train going over the diamond towards the gazebo. There are two releases next to each other inside the wye. Be sure to only activate the one on your right hand side (the same as any other release on the railroad) as you pass by. Signal Completion - Saturday, June 26, 2010  
(click to enlarge) This morning saw the completion of the signals for the upper loop, from the grade crossing to Elizabeth. Finishing touches are still needed on the signal bridge and a remote switch throw for the wye switch are on tap; however, the signal system is up and running. Signal Work - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 
(click to enlarge) Last Saturday, the 19th, the signal bridge at Bryan's Crossing finally started taking shape with conduit and junction boxes installed, nearly ready for signal heads. Some reworking of the conduit in the ground was done in preparation for installing the release switches (pictured above) which were installed yesterday. Big thanks to everyone who is helping push to get the last of the planned signal system up and running! Track repair and expansion - Sunday, June 6, 2010 (updated with photos)    
(click to enlarge) Today saw a burst of activity at the railroad. Storey Lumber at Alloy had their stub track replaced, leveled, and tamped after being damaged by trees many months ago. The ballast car storage stub track was straightened out and tamped back in place after a long cold winter had caused some serious rail warpage (or, as we might suspect, a rogue squirrel -- spotted today -- might have been sabotaging the track). And finally, a new switch was installed along with the first bit of track into the new three-track yard just east of the curved trestle. There's still plenty of work to be done and, as always, we can use as much help as we can get! The calendar has been updated with many new dates. Spring Update - Sunday, May 23, 2010 Now that it's getting warmer we've got lots of projects queued up around the railroad. Re-alignment of the yard and car barn lead tracks to make room for a 2nd car barn to be built in the near future. A small three track yard to be put in near the curved trestle. Repair and rebuilding the track at Alloy that was damaged by falling trees. Electrical and air line work in the steaming bays. Retrofitting the original steaming bays with the walk-through gates on the turntable end. On and on the list goes; this summer should bring quite a lot of changes and improvements to the railroad. The Joes - Monday, April 19, 2010  
(click to enlarge, more photos here) With absolutely perfect weather and plenty of steam, the CSPPRY hosted our good friends from up north (and slightly east). As always, everyone had a fantastic time -- on and off the rails. As a special note, happy birthday wishes to Joe Scales' #4825 which just turned 21 years old! She still runs as nicely as she looks. Ed. Note: My apologies to Billy, I didn't get a photo of you this year! A little bit of work goes a long way - Wednesday, April 7, 2010  
(click to enlarge) Our good friend Bill Hays is visiting us which means we're sure to have some fantastic bit of track work done. As you can see above, the track from our loading/unloading facility has been reworked with a brand new diamond. This will allow equipment to be unloaded and switched directly into the Canton yard (and vice versa) without tying up the mainline and with fewer moves. A great many thanks to Bill and everyone else who helped get this done -- it's a huge improvement! Upper Loop Signal Work - Sunday, March 27, 2010  
(click to enlarge) We had a great day at the railroad yesterday. We were able to get all conduit laid and all the wire pulled for the last two blocks around the upper loop. We also ran water from behind Bills house to Elizabeth as well. Around 700’ of trenching, conduit, wire, and pipe. Ralph provided a much appreciated lunch of hot dogs and Brauts with all the trimmings and potato salad from Darlene. It was a long day with good fellowship. Big thanks to John, Dallas, Ralph, Richard R, Dan, Bill, Charlton, and the Shovel Brothers. In the next month or two the signals should be operational. - Mike A. Annual Boiler Inspections - Saturday, February 27, 2010 Our yearly boiler inspections will be done on Friday, March 19. Come on out and get your's done and stick around for the spring run on Saturday and Sunday! Groundhog Day Run & Signal Work - Saturday, February 20, 2010      (click to enlarge) While I was away in sunny Florida, quite a few folks braved the chilly temps at the railroad on February 6 for the annual Groundhog Day run. Big thanks to Guy "Coonass" Gordon for passing along these photos! Today Dallas Giddens, club president Mike Aldridge, Charlton & Ambo Jones, and myself surveyed for the next section of track signals. The plan is to have the final block from Bryan Wye to Elizabeth depot installed and functional in the next couple months. What's this white stuff? - Friday, January 8, 2010       (click to enlarge) Bill Bryan braved the snow and sub-freezing temperatures today to make a trip or two around the railroad with Central of Georgia 2-8-0 #103. Thanks to him we've got some really nice photos of our railroad during the winter. Let's hope he didn't freeze his johnson bar off out there! Happy New Year! - Thursday, December 31, 2009 'tis New Year's Eve, and your webmaster wishes everyone a safe, happy, and prosperous new year! Also, please head over to the Discover Live Steam Photo contest and cast your votes. Two photos of note, one of Kevin Doe's #340 in the "steam" category and one of Mike Aldridge's #408 in the "people enjoying the hobby" category (photo by me.. yeah, this is a shameless plug!). |
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