Finish grading! With another nice day, the finish grading needed to ready the restoration building yard switch installation was undertaken and completed. Joe Scanlon has the Huber-Warco grader underway as he takes another pass with the museum’s Bay City Model 65 dragline in the background.
Getting to the bottom… Having made several passes, grade has been achieved to the right of the grade stakes. Further work will now be done west of the stakes to get the area ready for sub-ballast and track.
A steady hand… Joe Scanlon has the controls of the grader as he makes a finishing pass. It is quite an art to work the many levers needed to control the grader’s blade while guiding the grader with the steering wheel, and Joe really makes it look easy!
Cleaning up… To keep the area clean for grading, the R&GV Railroad Museum’s Trojan loader scoops up the extra dirt the grader left behind.
Hauling it away… After scooping it up, the spoiled is hauled away in one of the museum’s dump trucks to the fill area south of the building.
And down below… In Industry yard, the R&GV Railroad Museum’s track gang was hard at work on the other switch project, the reconstruction of one of the switches in Industry yard. With all of the old ties and ballast/mud removed, the area was ready to accept new sub-ballast.
Loading up… To help make the ballasting process a little easier, Jeremy Tuke has a Bobcat bucketful of ballast ready to be taken into Industry yard for the switch project.
Dumping it in… Another bucket load of stone is placed into the switch area where it was worked level by hand by the museum’s Bobcat 610.