RE-OPENING THE WEST END
Jim Massfeller has been appointed Project Coordinator and with Larry Robb as his
assistant, a project is under weigh during the week to re-open the 6.5 miles of
track west of Rion Quarry. The track was in bad shape when the former Rockton
& Rion Railway ceased operations in the late 1970's. Museum volunteers over
the years have rebuilt the highway grade crossings and replaced ties is some
sections, but about 90% or the track has seen no serious maintenance for over 40
years.
The projects goal is to re-open the
track to speeder (motor car) operations by clearing the brush and small trees,
spraying weed killer, and replacing ties or adding gauge bars where needed to
maintain the track gauge. Jim just bought a used Fairmont MT-14 Speeder to help
with the project and here are two photos of it out on the west end.
Here are some links to videos out on the
west end. Be patient while the host system loads the video before it streams it
to you. Although sometimes it looks like Jim was going 90 mph in these videos,
he was actually going as slow as possible and maintaining only the speed
necessary to make it through the weeds.
http://media.putfile.com/13Aug05-01
http://media.putfile.com/13Aug05-02
http://media.putfile.com/13Aug05-03
http://media.putfile.com/13Aug05-05
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