TRACK CONSTRUCTION 2003
During the summer of 2003, Stephen installed the roadbed and the rail from behind the Aviary, around the upper field, and then connected it with the completed roadbed that reached the Potting Shed from the west.
The first project to complete was to clean the right-of-way where the new roadbed would be built near the Aviary.
The storage area where the remaining rail had been storage for several years had to be moved, and then underground utilities were installed to the new roadbed.
In this series of four photos you can see the track being extended from the rear of the Aviary heading east to the upper field. Since this was Stephen’s fourth summer of working on the track, the project moved along faster then previous years.
In the above photos the track passes between the treehouse pond and the property line. It was a narrow area that created a separate set of problems for hauling in the supplies for the roadbed.
In the photos above and below the track reaches the NCO water tower where it will pass underneath. Conduit was installed so lights could be installed on the water tower at a later date.
After passing under the NCO water tower, the roadbed approached the large marsh in the upper field.
In this photo you can see that the rail is installed through the Aviary tunnel, under the NCO Water Tower, and into the upper field.
Shelby and Lane, two students from the elementary school where Stephen taught, spent the day visiting and tried their hand at driving spikes. In this section, where the roadbed crossed the marsh, culverts were installed and over two feet of road base was required to level the track.
Finally, by July, the roadbed extended past the marsh and headed into the upper field where the ground was more open and level.
After the roadbed passed the marsh, another crossing was installed to allow equipment to cross the tracks.
It was a great feeling in mid July when the track started making the final long, slow turn around the pond in the upper field.
The above two photos give a good cross section of how the train roadbed was completed: side railing leveled, road base, electrical conduit, road fabric, more road base on top of the fabric that was leveled, railroad ties put in place, rail bent and spiked down, and finally a top layer of road base leveled between the ties and rail.
This photo is where the roadbed reached the eastern end of its run and headed back west to where the Golden Spike ceremony would be held the following summer. A four inch overflow pipe was installed under the tracks that connected to the upper pond that allows pond overflow to drain into the upper field.
In the final turn in the upper end, Stephen had to make sure the elevation of the roadbed would match up with the completed roadbed coming from the area of the barn to the west. Where the rail is stacked (in the upper right of the photo) is where Stephen built the Potting Shed and Nursery the following summer.
By late August, the track approaches the roadbed installed in previous years coming from the west.
