Lake Shore Live Steamers.com

Located at

Penitentiary Glen
8668 Kirtland-Chardon Rd
Kirtland, Ohio 44094

Dick Clark looking over the tentative placement of the switch for our new siding. John Koontz and Ken Brooks add their opinion to the location as the switch gets moved back and forth.

On the car lift transfer table the maintenance crew were changing the brushes on our track sweeper as the originals had worn down too far to be effective. The engine maintenance crew were charging the battery on the GP38.

Wally Pausch was checking the output voltage of the alternator as Rick Nagy and Wayne Boron look on. Paul Emch and Wally roll out the newly acquired club engine that we purchased from Tom Pappas.

Tom had painted it and lettered it for the Nickel Plate Road which we will keep. Wayne Boron and Frank Smoley work on changing the brushes as they are bolted on to a center shaft.

After Dick decided where he wanted to have the switch he took to the task of cutting the existing steel rail with an electric portable bandsaw powered by an extension cord from the transfer table. Mark it once, cut it once and it was still too long.

After being recut, Frank Foti pulls the switch panel to align with the slip-on rail joiner. At the opposite end of the switch panel, Ken Brooks and John Koontz drill the holes and tighten up the bolts for the splicing bars between the aluminum rail that we use.

Frank holding the aluminum rail steady as Dick cuts it with the power hacksaw for the fill in pieces between the switch and the existing track panel. Dick checks the fit of the piece that was just cut.

Matthew Bolyard and Tom Reder dig to uncover the culverts ends in a short trench we had there with culverts under the tracks. A view showing the ballast removed and the track panels that had been placed up to the whistle post where Matthew and Tom had been digging.

A view from the other end of the new track work showing the whistle post which is going to be in the way. The crew managed to slip in a smaller piece of plastic pipe into the ends of the existing culvert pipe without having to disturb them.

Matthew and Frank start digging to remove the whistle post which Dick says he thought was 18 to 20 inches into the ground. As this was going on Dick was fitting and connecting the rail from the switch to the track panels for the siding.

Dick and Ken work on fitting in the ties between the end of the switch and the reused track panel and screwing the rail down to them. Well we've dug more than 18 to 20 inches and I think our concrete whistle post must weigh pretty close to two hundred pounds.

Rick trying to use a prybar to leverage the post up out of the hole as Matthew pulls and tries to hold it up to no avail. We used the piece of sandstone, standing it on end, in front of the post as a fulcrum for the prybar that had a chain wrapped around the post and managed to get it up out of the hole.

The guys slid two pry bars, one at each end, under the whistle post in preparation of the lift. With the pry bars in place under it, four guys lifted it and carried it off to the side.