Opening the Gate
At Caboose Falls, we always have plenty of projects to fill our days. This week, our focus was on opening the main gate. Until now, we’ve been hiking down from a nearby parking lot. While the walk has been a pleasant way to start and end our visits, it was challenging when supplies needed to be brought in or trash taken out.
Vehicular entry to the site is controlled by a large sliding gate. The gate has not been opened for a while which has given nature plenty of time to restake her claim. Vines, branches, and decaying leaves made their way under, through, and around the chain-link fence, completely blocking the gate’s path. We spent the morning with lopers, saws and shovels cutting back the vegetation and clearing the accumulated leaf debris.
The main gate was designed to open with an electric motor, but without electricity or a remote actuator, even a cleared path wasn’t going to help. That lead us to our temporary solution, disconnect the chain drive and open the gate manually. By midday, we had achieved our goal; the gate was finally open.
Everyone was excited to have on-site parking. What a relief it was to have carrying things up and down the drive in our past. Unfortunately, by evening, that excitement came to an abrupt end. The driveway’s grade was seemingly more than our van could handle. Wheels were spinning but we weren’t climbing. It was almost like driving on ice. Would we have to leave the van at the bottom of the driveway and find alternative transportation?
Thankfully, no.
It took a few more attempts and some strategic maneuvering, but the van finally found its grip and slowly climbed out from Caboose Falls. What a relief to have overcome that obstacle. Next time, we bring the all-wheel-drive car.
17
Most of the donations and trash have been removed, but the biggest transformation came from a few passes with the upright vacuum. What was once an old caboose, littered with debris from vandals and the passage of time, is really starting to look like a reasonable place to call home.
518
No work on the inside of 518 this week. All efforts were on the roof clearing the thick layer of wet leaves and forest debris.
Railfanning
A few mixed frights passed through, but the highlight of our train watching was seeing CSX’s 50th anniversary Operation Lifesaver locomotive #4568.