Everett is the new Red River and Gulf's Section Boss, Secretary, VP and President. I'll share, with his approval, some of the updates and and pass-a-longs he has sent me. Unless specified by the appearance of {Me}, everything below came from Everett. Notice the "!" marks from time to time. Add to the list of offices held by Everett, Chief Cheerleader. OK, here we go. The following is to his volunteeer work crew and worthless hanger on groupies, like me.
OK, Here it is!
Effective Monday, July 13, contracts will be signed covering the rehabilitation of the RR&G Main line as far as the Sandersville road crossing, and for the track laying on the loop. An additional contract will cover the grading for the loop line. Work on the Main line to Sanderville will begin July 20.
There are still a number of things to be done before the loop line can be built. One of the two most necessary items will be the removal of rail behind the sawmill, to clear the right of way for grading, and to use the switch parts. The second is the removal and stacking of the 60# rail that is on the drying racks so that it can be used for loop construction. The rail on the rail pile across the road is only 45# and we would like to use all the 60# that we have available. The other source of 60# rail is the planer mill siding and we can pick that up also. Rail also needs to be removed from the old passenger car storage track behind the depot location so that can be graded as part of the loop.
We need to locate at least 1100 more ties and about 200 rail joint bars for 60# rail along with the track bolts.
Do you all think that it would be possible for us to schedule a couple of work weekends to recover the rail from the drying racks and drag it to be stacked? That would be a huge start on the loop.
Exciting times!
Everett
{Me} Below are collages of the work progress on the new R&G RR. I would assume they were taken by EL in a two steps and shoot tour of the work. I've done pictorials of railroad right of ways using the same formula. I had to chuckle, but I understand the need for documentation, especially at such a proud moment. Click these pictures and they will expand.
{Me} I can only imagine the excitement of seeing the
railroad take shape.
.jpg)
{Me} Next, he sent pictures taken from a work car riding
around the completed parts. Again, click to expand the collage.
{Me} A visit to the museum offered rides pulled by RG1.
There's something new there now. That's down the page.
.jpg)
{Here's another note from Everett, notice "despite the snow"
and the trials and tribulations associated with funding and the
actual work.}
For all of you that are interested, we had a relatively profitable weekend despite the snow and the wet conditions. John and David got the big gears up into the McGiffert with the help of Ray on the backhoe, and Ray also showed us his versatility with the backhoe by moving track, rail and ties for a couple of projects on the loop. Tracy and I, with the help of Larry from the museum got lots of experience in removing spikes, driving spikes, replacing track bolts etc. Ray also demonstrated his artistry with a cutting torch in helping the track work.
We took a few kinks out of the rail in the curve leading south from the commissary, where the M-4 went off two weekends ago, and we replaced a bald rail in the loop behind the planer mill (which kicked off the orange motor car) as well as fixing and relining the two switches connecting the loop and the main line.
We have been assured "once again" that there is more state grant money on the way to complete the rehab of the switchback track and the surfacing and alignment of the loop and main lines, but until the money is in hand and we can see how many of the GC Group guys want to come back to work, this sort of work needs to be done by our group.
We also need to take advantage of the cooler weather and begin working on the interior of the M-4. Tracy, Ray and I also discussed the idea of some "day projects" or "half day projects" and putting a list of those up in the office, so that people can come and do a half day thing and enjoy the other half day at the museum, or what ever. If you would like to contribute to that list, please email me your thoughts, as I will be trying to compile the list this week, both of big and little projects.
As far as the railroad goes, we have three pressing needs, and they all are on the loop line.
The first is drainage and ballast. Earl and the Parish Sheriff's office will be working on the ballast and drainage issues in January, by ditching along the RR and piling up the dirt between the ties.
The second is surfacing and alignment. There are 3 remaining areas that urgently need attention, and each will probably consume a good work weekend. The curve south of the commissary needs some regrading to eliminate a bad vertical curve, and to smooth out the entire curve.
The curve through the old finished lumber shed area needs to have two rails flipped end for end to take advantage of their natural curvature and one more rail replaced to eliminate a rail with a bad vertical dip that we cannot have in the outside rail of the curve. The switch that connects the loop to the switchback line in this area also is in need of the same treatment given the ones by the engine house.
On the southeast end of the loop, we have one bad rail with much of the head missing on the inside that either needs to be replaced or at least flipped. This entire area is desperately in need of surfacing, joint bar repair and super elevation as well.
The Third is to move or add a culvert east of the road crossing as the present culvert is not located in the center of the drainage in that area. In this same area, there are two 60# rails with worn heads, that also need to be flipped so as to wear on the good side of the rail.
Other areas of the railroad are also in need of 6" PVC culverts installed between the ties to facilitate drainage (this can be an "day job")
Having said all of this, I would like to finalize the work weekend schedule through the end of March, with the idea of finishing as much of this as we can before Heritage Day which is April 20. On Heritage day, we may run as many as 3 trains so it would be nice if the track work would not give us too much trouble.
I am throwing out these possible dates: Please let me know your preferences as soon as possible.
Everett
{That's a little idea of what is involved in building and maintaining a railroad and a reflection of what work Section Boss is.}
The M4 Project
Steve,
July 16, 2008, If you are going in the Longleaf direction this weekend, here is an advance copy of an article that I am writing for the museum about the locomotives there. {CLICK HERE} Not just the 3 steam engines that every one can see, but what is left of the other 9 engines that were there in 1950.
{He goes on}
I am still hoping to get up there on Friday as they are sandblasting an painting the motor car train that we brought down from Arkansas in may, but it is looking more and more like it won't happen, (me getting away that is).
{So, Al and I went and sent him these shots, 7-19-08}
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
This is how it began as told in an article by Everett and Charles Williams, NRHS News Editor.
The headline:
'Sidetracked’ Motorcar Goes from Woods to Rails with Help from NRHS Grant.
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6
Before I reproduce the article, here's Everett's preface:
From: Everett Lueck
Sent: Dec 17, 2009 8:17 AM
Subject: M-4 article
To all of you,
On Thursday, the museum received a query from the National Railway Historical Society wanting a progress report of the restoration of the M-4.
This was surprising to me since I had been sending one every 3 months since we started the restoration. Well, it appears that they had just been getting filed somewhere and not going to the right people. When I sent a report back to the chairman of the grants committee, Stephen Wasby, not only did I receive an enthusiastic response, "NEAT-O is not exactly a professional sounding response, but this is just great", but I also received a request for an article for the February national NRHS newsletter which goes to print this week. Charles Williams and I have been working to make the deadline, and we proofed the final article last night.
The last draft of the issue is enclosed. There will be a few more corrections in the final version and the photos are in color, but I thought that you all would like an advance copy.
I just thought the you all would like to know that the M-4 is going to give the museum some national exposure!
Everett
This is the article, "photos" refer to the ones above. They are in order.
PHOTOS 1-3 BY EVERETT LUECK; PHOTOS 4-6 BY BOB CARROLL;
FROM THE FOREST TO THE FOREST HERITAGE MUSEUM -- Volunteers at the Forest Heritage Museum & Research Center in Louisiana painstakingly restored a vintage motorcar. Car M-4 was retrieved from its “dead outdoor storage” (photo 1). It was transported to the museum on May 10, 2008 (photo 2) and stored temporarily next to the engine house (photo 3). The car was sand-blasted (photo 4) and painted (photo 5). The car was “prettied up” and ready to roll in time for the “Longleaf Legends and Lore” Halloween event on Oct. 24, 2009 (photo 6).
By CHARLES S. WILLIAMS
NRHS News Editor
Using funds from the NRHS Railway Heritage Grant program, a Louisiana museum has rescued a scrapped vintage railroad passenger car from the woods and restored it to pristine, operating condition. Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf (FC&G) Railroad passenger motor car number M-4 was restored by the members and volunteers of the Southern Forest Heritage Museum & Research Center in Long Leaf, La., and returned to passenger operations on Oct. 24, 2009, carrying museum visitors on 2.5 miles of track around the museum’s 60-acre home.
The museum was awarded $3,000 from the NRHS grant fund programin 2008.
History of Motor Car M-4
Motor Car number M-4 was built in the Fernwood, Miss., shops of the FC&G Railroad in 1937 as a copy of No. M-3, which was built in 1936 by the Kalamazoo Railway Supply Company for the FC&G. The car was used by the railroad as a passenger train between Fernwood and Columbia Mississippi.
According to museum officials, the design of the cars may have been influenced by the fact that the Columbia end of the railroad was connected with the Gulf Mobile and Northern Railroad, which operated The Rebel, the first streamlined train in the south.
“I think that the fact that the cars were sort of streamlined in contrast to other cars built by Kalamazoo was that the FC&G may have been trying to reflect the 1936 modern image of The Rebel,” explained Everett Lueck, the director in charge of railroad restoration and operations for the heritage museum. “The cars ran until 1957, making two round trips per day between Fernwood and Columbia.” The cars remained in maintenance of way service until the merger that made the FC&G a part of the newly formed Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. At that time, the M-3 was scrapped, and the M-4, along with some parts of the M-3, was sold to Louis Hennick of Shreveport, La., and stored on the Louisiana Midland in Jena, La.
In 1979, Hennick decided to sell the car, and it was purchased by long-time NRHS member Louis Saillard of Baton Rouge, La. Saillard moved the car to Reader, Ark., for use on the Reader Railroad. During the 1980s, the car was dismantled for a complete rebuild, but only the engine and the floor were rebuilt. The rest of the parts were scattered all over the Reader shop area, and the car was moved onto a disconnected spur for storage.
In 1994, Saillard donated the car to the Southern Forest Heritage Museum, but the donation was never finalized and the car remained at Reader.
In 2007, Lueck contacted Saillard on behalf of the museum, and they went to Arkansas to determine if the car could be restored.
“Feeling that it was basically sound, we moved the car to Longleaf on May 10, 2008 for restoration,” Lueck said.
During the first week of August, 2008, the car was sandblasted and painted. The remainder of the work was done over the course of the next year. The car was first run in late September of 2009, and first used, officially,or the annual Halloween celebration at the museum on October
24. At that time, the car transported about 600 happy passengers and racked up over 100 miles in trips around the museum’s miles of track over the next six weeks. The motor car also had new track on which to operate.
While the restoration was underway, museum volunteers contracted with the Gulf Coast Rail group to rehabilitate 4,000 feet of the original Red River and Gulf Railroad mainline which was laid in 1914 and abandoned in place in 1954. The original rails were used for the project. Gulf Coast also constructed a 4,800-foot loop around the entire 60-acre museum property, which gives the museum 2.5 miles of track on which to operate the car. The museum loop features curves as sharp as 18-20 degrees, and grades up to 4.5 percent, which Lueck said makes for a good ride for the visitors.
The “pieces” of the restoration:
The restoration was extensive and is ongoing, despite the fact that the car is in operation.
The steps in the restoration to date are included below.
· Seat frames cleaned and seats re-upholstered in
green Naugahyde.
· Front doors and back doors, as well as framing
replaced; windows installed; and doors re-hung.
· Engine overhauled and cooling system restored.
· Inside of car cleaned and repainted.
· Windshield glass installed.
· Dashboard and controls installed (not complete
but operational).
· Reverse gear linkage fabricated and installed.
· Hand brake linkage fabricated and installed.
· Baggage door gates fabricated and installed.
· Electrical system, headlights, marker lights and interior lights installed.
· Interior seating reinstalled.
· Car properly lettered in 1937 paint scheme for FC&G.
· Passenger loading platform installed at the Longleaf commissary.
“Currently we are proceeding with three remaining projects which will complete the total restoration of the car,” said Lueck. Those are:
· Installation of the original front roll up windows in front of the baggage door, and replacement of the rear fixed windows with roll up windows as well (“It is hot in Louisiana in summer,” remarked Lueck). This will make the car water-tight, in case it has to be outside in wet weather.
· Repair and rehabilitation of the roller bearing front truck from car M-3 (which came with the car), and installation of braking system on front truck (the were no front brakes on either car originally)
· Fabrication of air brake system, giving air brakes on front truck as well as both rear axles.
When this work is completed along with the remaining dashboard instrumentation the car will be ready to operate anywhere.
The grant money from the NRHS paid for the sand-blasting and painting, the windshield glass, the upholstery material and the upholstering of the seats and the gauges for the dash board.
“Without that heritage grant money — even had we made the car operational in the 18 months that we worked on it — we would have had no new outside restoration, no seats for our passengers, no instrument panel for the engineer and no windshield in the front of the car,” Lueck concluded. “Suffice it to say that on the museum’s limited budget, the car would not be running today without the money from {them}.
{To close out the page, here are some of the color shots of
the car's progress. Visit Long Leaf and take a ride. Their
webite can be accessed by clicking HERE. I'll get the history
stuff done asap. In the meantime, visit there and save
having to get it from the middle man, me.}
To go to the History Page CLICK HERE
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
