Our ongoing mission to improve safety and spruce up the place is a labor of love, and this past week was a wonderfully productive one, full of heavy repairs, unexpected wildlife, and a surprising new pastime.
Farewell to a Rotten Crossing
Our first order of business was tackling a nagging hazard at the end of 518: a set of old railroad ties that formed a makeshift crossing. Time and weather had taken their toll, rotting the wood from the inside out. Several ties had given way completely, creating deep, holes perfectly sized for catching a boot and turning an ankle. It was time for them to go.
This week, we finally started pulling them out. The old wood came up in splintered, rotten pieces, revealing the damp earth underneath. In their place, we’ll be putting in a much more welcoming path of stepping stones and gravel. It’s a less industrial, more natural look that we think will really dress up the area and make for a safer, more pleasant walk.
The project, however, came with a slithering surprise. Disturbing the ties evidently evicted a four-foot-long rat snake from its home. It paused for a moment, seemingly as startled by the sudden changes to its landscape as we were by its sleek, glossy presence. It was a good reminder that we share this space!
A Heavy-Duty Repair for a Long-Standing Problem
If the safety of our crossing was a nagging concern, the Signal Cabinet was its stubborn, broken counterpart. It sat right alongside the crossing, its heavy metal door hanging precariously from a single broken hinge. The cabinet itself, a product of the Union Switch & Signal company in Pittsburgh (Swissvale), Pennsylvania, once housed the relays and electrical connections that controlled line-side equipment like crossing gates or signals, not unlike our old B&O CPL. Unfortunately, the specific history of our cabinet, and how its hinge broke, remains a mystery.
Bringing this antique back to life wasn’t a easy fix; it was an all-day battle that demanded every ounce of strength and patience from Christian and his grandfather. They muscled the incredibly heavy door off its mount, fought with seized and corroded hinges, and carefully coaxed the balky latch back into service for the first time in years. Then, after drilling out the broken and seized hinge pin, they reinstalled the door with a new one.
While it might seem like a small project in the grand scheme of things, the visual improvement to Caboose Falls really is dramatic. The project isn’t 100% done; we still need to strip and paint the box and install a proper weatherproofing gasket. But the hardest part of this project is over.
Railfanning and a New Hobby Takes Root
Amid all the work, we still made time to enjoy the main attraction: the trains. No pictures or video, unfortunately, but it was a fantastic day for railfanning. The boys spotted a real gem on a westbound train, an old CSX “Big Blue” box car with surprisingly little graffiti. They also caught one of Kosgro’s massive heavy-haul cars, a beast of a machine that always impresses with its sheer size.
But the biggest surprise of the day had nothing to do with the rails or the snake. A new hobby has officially rolled into Caboose Falls: RC (remote control) crawlers. After lunch, we brought them out on the platform for a few hilarious rounds of “crawler freeze tag.”
The boys have really caught the RC bug. Their work designing and building a proper crawler course up at Hobo Camp is already underway. Nothing will ever top model railroading for me, but I must admit, these RC crawlers are a very, very close second. They’re a welcomed new way to enjoy the landscape of Caboose Falls.