The Rubber & Rawhide Railroad

Progress Report for 16th October 2009

This Page Created on October 16th, 2009

South Jupiter Switch Coming Out!

Despite the still extremely damp environment this morning, our roadbed and track laying crews were hard at work! In this photo, they've already disassembled the roadbed portion of the South Jupiter Switch. From all of material around, it appears that it won't be long and the new roadbed will be in place.

Cedar Groin Tunnel View

A better vantage point for watching the work is perched on top of the Cedar Groin Tunnel. Here the old line can still be made out, while the new fence-hugging right of way of the Lot Circumnavigation Route can just be seen.

Roadbed work completed!

It just took an hour, and all traces of the old connection between the Lot Circumnavigation Route and the Great Green have been obliterated!

That's another way of saying that the roadbed work for both routes has been finished. Let's hope the track reconfiguration goes as smoothly. The Track laying folks promised Operations that they'd be able to have at least the new Jupiter Loop routing of the Great Green Route up and running before the day was out!

Great Green Track Gap Narrows

It appears our track crew is hard at work. Can there be less than one section of rail missing from each side?

The Lot Circumnavigation Route appears further along, but that's deceptive. The rail crew added one length of rail to each side just to allow rebending of the track to its new alignment. I guess that is easier than wondering which rail belongs where!

Both Lines completed!

It was about four hours of hard work, and no one around to operate the camera! But, both the Lot Circumnavigation and the Great Green Routes are once again fully operational. And this time, they share no track!

As one can see, there are a few house keeping duties to be performed. All of that activity in a closely grown area did some minor damage to the bamboo and other plantings. The Leather Oaks arborist has been called in and should give us the go-ahead by mid morning.

View Towards the Cedar Groin Tunnel

This photo taken towards the Cedar Groin tunnel should put everything in perspective. The section of the track curving in and out from the left is the new Great Green Mainline. It's just what Jupiter had always dreamed about!

This view also accents the work our arborist has ahead of him. And then, there's that pesky Surveyor's hose. Sure hope the arborist brings the surveyor with him, or we see lots of derailments ahead!