Tom, Kevin, and Carl wrestle with the new cross-over for departure to the caboose
February 25, 2021 Operations Council Meeting Minutes
Chair Bob started the monthly meeting at 12:32 Pacific time
Attendees; Carl, Ed, Russ, BIll, Kevin H. Bob, Bruce, Carl, Dee, Matt, Tom, Ken and Gil.
Treasurer’s report – Kevin
We have a total of $11,606.17 in our bank accounts, with accounts receivable of $400 for delinquent members for 2021 dues. We have no accounts payable.
We have 66 members, including life members, of which 61 are current YTD.
Board members have contacted the delinquent members to urge them to become current.
Expenses for the year are:
1. Expansion Project $1,689.26
2. Maintenance $1,076.41
Project Status Reports
Our main priority for this year is to connect the Lumber Camp Loop to the Redwood Trestle - through the Tunnel. All other projects are fill-ins, in case we are short of good weather or material. Until we’re sure the weather is good we’ll focus people on repairing our track inventory and building new track panels.
Lumber Camp Route - Bob
Hand railings - no update
Switch Stands - Tom. Rabbit Flat switch stand is on the bench, delayed due to Gritty Gravel wall build.
Caboose Loop Route -
Right of Way - Bruce. Waiting for the rainy season to be over. We will survey and stake the grade for the gutter boards; then put the base rock in. Fairly dry now, may get to the gutter boards next week.
Lights and signals - Lance, Russ and Bill need to decide on the design of the signal system. Awaiting isolation blocks from Mike Mattioda. Not a high priority until ready for track installation; then can be done quickly.
New Crossover - Kevin. Welded and being straightened. Needs final attachment of support steel and minor tuneup and point work. Next will add ties and be ready to go when the weather is better, and we have the grading and gutters complete for the ascending track to the caboose.
Overlook retaining wall - Bill. The faux retaining wall is completely functional, but looks less than stout with just the 2x8 material showing. The plan was to cap the wall, which Matt, Dee, and Bill will do (completed) today, using our own redwood timbers. Next step is to lay out the radius curve and locate the sprinkler system water pipes to make sure any sprinkler boxes are clear of the tracks. Pipes are ok if under the tracks.
Gritty Gravel building. -Bruce, Tom.
The slab is poured, and Tom (and others) have put up the cinder block retaining wall. Filling the blocks will require ~65 sacks of 60# concrete; which can be done at any time, even if we get a lot of rain. This is a winter fill in project, so not urgent.
Design of the building itself is yet to be done. Bruce suggests a clerestory roof to match engine house 1. Tom will build. We will hold off on lumber purchase until the design is complete, and approved, noted Bob.
Track building. - Ed Sarber & Bob
Repairing panels We have 35 already built panels in building 4; All were gauged to see if they were in tolerance. 5 were Tom Miller rail, (so, they were set aside for another day), 18 checked out, and 12 did not meet specs. So, today, we (Ed, Russ and Matt) repaired 4 panels with new assembly fixtures made by Tom and Carl in a couple of hours - so it takes about 30 minutes per panel. The fixtures are made to our new single-gauge standard and are providing panels that consistently meet specifications. We’ll store the finished good panels outside near the “museum”. Then we’ll check all the other prebuilt panels out in the yard, and bring the bad ones inside for rebuild. We feel we have a good process going forward on the repair project.
New Track Panels; We are making good progress on evaluating the various alternatives and hope to confirm decisions on track panel materials and assembly soon. We have completed a detailed technical analysis on track gauging and curve radius dimensions and standardized on a single gauge specification for all PV&A track (curved and straight), going forward. Also, Ed is looking at how we bend rail for curves. We will try bending it horizontally to avoid having gravity kink the long in-feed and out-feed overhanging rail as it now goes through the bending machine vertically. This should make the curves more consistent along each rail piece. The rail bending machine needs to be modified to make this work.
Little Buildings - Dick has the lookout tower at home. He is awaiting the completion of his Covid vaccine shots before returning.
Safety and Operations
Technical Documentation - Have you ever wondered how heavy a train our steel bridges can hold? Ever thought about how we know our tunnel walls will withstand the static weight of the dirt pressing on the sides? Are you curious about the choice of our minimum curve radius or our selection of steel beams? If these or other technical questions about our structures were of interest, Russ has set up an engineering library on our website with documents and calculations originally used to answer many of these design questions Here is the link
Weather Station - With donations from Bruce, Russ, Lance and Bob, Bruce purchased a weather station for the RR; he and Russ installed it, and you can click on this link to get the current weather on the RR at any time. You can bookmark this link in your favorite browser on your favorite device(s).
Covid Safety - San Mateo County has been lowered to Red status, which relaxes the rules a bit. We are evaluating new guidelines in compliance with the standards. Specific details will be distributed before the next run day in March.
Vaccine access. If anybody needs assistance getting their vaccine, Bob will be happy to help. Signing up or transportation.
Car speed Limits. On the ranch, the speed limit is 10 MPH, on the road approaching the dirt ranch road, the limit is 15 MPH. Those violating this rule will purchase ice cream for all.
Calendar Bob again mentioned that some meets are not on the 4th Saturday Check the online calendar.The ranch is closed on all other weekends.
Meets. We’re planning on a joint meet in October with GGLS and SVLS
Bob ended the meeting at 1:12 PM
Mike Ward, Secretary, with great notes by Matt