During the past few months, I demolished the old trestle and build a new one. The original trestle was build of local brought cut lumber (pine) in 2005. So I got a good 15 years out of it. However, the new trestle is build with pressure treated and should last a lot longer.

Now that the trestle is complete, I decided to do some much needed maintenance on the main line. The section I began working on was completed in July 2006. And my father’s illness and passing the maintenance has been a few years lacking.

I purchased 22 tons of ballast and went to work this afternoon. In the short time I was able to work, I removed and re-screwed several ties, re-ballasted, and leveled a 50′ span. I still have a few days of vacation remaining, so I hope to get a lot finished.

I used a smaller ballast. After all these years, I’ve discovered that the areas with a smaller ballast have remained in place a lot longer and had a much less need of realignment. The smaller ballast packed in nice and tight, especially after a few good rain storms.

The track that has no ballast is my future expansion. I began a few years ago but put it on hold due to my father’s illness. I think we might go to town on that next spring.