In March 2019 we completed a new North Yard and Car Barn. The Ron Schmidt Car Barn contains 150’ of track for car storage and augments our existing car barn and two engine houses. The North Yard can handle a single consist over 200’ long—significantly longer that what the main yard can hold without blocking other trains.
The 50’ long car barn sits on a wood and steel structure and is partially constructed from an 30’ car barn, donated by club member Ron Schmidt, which was cut in half and added to a newly constructed 20’ center section. The bookend sections were placed on a seven degree angle to the center section and the barn seems to float above the ground.
Engine House Deck
In 2018 we rebuilt the deck leading from the two engine houses to our turntable and steaming bays. The goal was to make the track slope safer and more gradual, and to raise the deck / track height to the same height as the steaming bays.
Redwood Trestle Bridge
In 2018 we completed a 3 year project building a Redwood Trestle as part of a 50’ radius Caboose Loop as part of the longer term expansion of our route. The redwood was milled on site in our workshop using redwoods from the property and from donations. In the middle of the Redwood Trestle is a beautiful 20’ Redwood Howe Truss bridge which crosses a river gap where we were unable to place bents for the trestle.
Rabbit Flat Radius Correction and Retaining Wall
In 2017 we widened the track at rabbit flat to our club standard minimum 50’ radius. This also required in 2018 building a retaining wall on the uphill side of the track to prevent mud slides from covering the track—which we discovered the hard way. The heavy 2019 rains have shown that we may still need to raise a portion of the wall a little higher and enhance our water drainage.
