Houston Area Live Steamers

Box of Stuff 2002

Work Day December 14, 2002

We're taking advantage of the winter down-time to give a face-lift to the station with bricks donated by the Leventons.


Photos by David James

The Harvest Feast, September 28, 2002

Excellent Turnout, a lot of visiting, good food, day and night running, etc. Photos: C.Balkum,D.Blodgett

North Loop of Phase III Opens, September 14, 2002

Only moments after the final spike was driven (screwed) into the last tie, David Hannah III, and his BNSF diesel pulling a triple load of passenger cars, broke in the rails for all to see. Engineering duties were also shared by Barry Tobias. Photos: D.Hannah III

Work Day, September 7, 2002

The September business meeting held in the Engine Barn.	New Member David McCarty working on the lathe in the shop.	Heavy Trash Pick-up Day	Gandy Dancin' Rockettes, Mary Rains, Virginia Freitag, Carolyn Balkum
Eric Selber, Jim Cash, David McCarty checking placement of switch.	Hard to catch Gil Freitag sitting still, I finally made it.	Ed Rains reining in the chalk line.	Lisa and Cooper Cash take advantage of the strong winds to fly Cooper's new kite.

Family Fun Run August 31

The day was warm and a good crowd showed up. Some people played, some planned, some did operations, some ran their engines, some soaked up the sun, but a good time was had by all.
Some days you look up and see a beautiful piece of art in the skies and you just have to take the picture. Today was one of those days.
David Leventon at the throttle of 3119.	New Members, Tom Smith and son, Andrew.	Cash Family performing operations.	Jim and Cooper Cash
David James on his RMI diesel, under construction but running good.	Cody Crawford on his Japanese design engine under construction.	Soaking up the sun.	Switching in the yards.

August 3, 2002 Work Day


Work on relaying passing sidings at Caliente
Transporting dirt	Putting cut on roadbed	Framing and pouring bridge abutments at Sumrall	Framing and pouring bridge abutments at Sumrall
Framing and pouring bridge abutments at Sumrall	Framing and pouring bridge abutments at Sumrall	Framing and pouring bridge abutments at Sumrall	Co-op engine under construction
Co-op engine under construction	Caboose under construction	Joining final track panel at Caliente	Finished concrete work at sumrall

June 11, 2002 Tuesday Work Day

Photos and commentary by Doug Blodgett
The county workers with a helper from the prison pouring concrete into one of Gil's forms.	A county worker finishing the concrete the new crossover to the east of Hannah's junction on section 4 of Phase 3.
Virginia doing the final sweeping of the fresh concrete we poured around the unloading ramp and power post. This was left over concrete from the crossover pour.	Why is this man smiling? I guess he just loves to do concrete work. Gil Freitag was the ramrod behind this project that got two new crossings poured and a new pad at the unloading ramp.

Photos from Saturday's (5-11-02) Work Day. Beginning of Phase III at Lakeside Siding.


Photos courtesy of David Hannah III

In Memory of our Friend, Walt Sumner

Walton B. Sumner
Sept. 20, 1936 - May 1, 2002
Charter Member of Houston Area Live Steamers
Memorial contributions may be made to:
Locomotive Restoration Fund of the
Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Inc.
6005 Osuna Road Northeast
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109-2523.
Walt and Dorothy in Photos

April 13, 2002


Some work done on Apr. 13: Greg and Pia Weldy apply water sealer to the new Passenger Bridge. Two new "hockey-puck" switches were installed, new track from Black's Crossing was completed, more dirt-work was done, passenger cars were painted, siding signs were repainted, just to mention a few of the things.

April 6, 2002 Work Day

Jim, Lisa, Cooper Cash and Robert Shong look at Gary Brother's (left) vacation pictures.	Volunteering for assignments are Ed Rains, Dave James, Jim cash (back), Doug Blodgett and Brent Courtney	Bill Howe sorts screws in the M.O.W.	Doug Payne, Robert Shong and Ed Rains laying the new RIP track.
New Member David Kranz (red cap) receives on-the-job-training from Gary Brothers and Ron Pasley.	Ken Smith installing a "hockey puck switch."	New Jim Jackson Tower sign made by Art Magill.	Click on thumbnails for larger pictures.

Pictures from the March 9 workday

Tom Herbert, Jim Cash, Bill Howe

Gene Cover (newest member), Gary Brothers, Bobby Bridges

Gil and Virginia Freitag's newest construction at Cabin Creek

March 15, Bobby Bridges Trailer Stolen

I have posted a page on the HALS website to try to help Bobby recover his trailer.

www.hals.org/bobby/

Please share this url with any and everybody.

If ANYONE has any additional pictures of the trailer or the cars/engine, please forward them to me and I'll post them to the page.

Pictures taken March 27 of the latest dirtwork for Phase 3. Thanks, Doug.

	Phase 3 dirtwork 1 - photo taken from "forest division" looking back at Cedar Bend. Dirtwork by Doug (Blodgett).
	Phase 3 dirtwork 2 - photo taken from crossing looking back toward Cedar Bend and entrance to Phase 3 "forest division". Dirtwork by Doug.
	Phase 3 dirtwork 3 - photo taken from Sumrall looking north. Dirtwork by Ed (Rains).
	Phase 3 dirtwork 4 - photo taken from "dead mans curve" area looking south toward Sumrall. Dirtwork by Ed.

February 16 Chugga Chugga Chili Feast

February 16 Chugga Chugga Chili Feast and Fun Run was a colossal SUCCESS! 60 members showed up and we had beautiful weather. We ate and played (some terminal workaholics played, too) and socialized. We have some great cooks. Thanks to all!
Cody Crawford, Tom Herbert	Mary Rains	Stu Marion, Co-op Cylinder Block	Gary McCoy, Phil Lipoma	Doug Payne, Doug Blodgett, Dennis Grigassy, Virgnia Freitag
Tom Herbert	Ed Rains, Dennis Grigassy, Jim Cash, Kylie Cash	Jeff Webber, Tim Webber, Gil Freitag	Carolyn Jackson, Tom and Sonja Herbert	Marge & George Leventon, Andy Blodgett, Gil Freitag, Barry Tobias, Gary Brothers
Gary Brothers, Stu Marion, Cody Crawford, Phil Lipoma, Jeff Webber	Bill Howe, Ken Smith	Jim Cash explains the diesel operation to new members	Front: Mary Rains' new engine, Back: Keith Bailey's sister engine	New bridge
Doug Payne, Jeff and Tim Webber	Gary Brothers	Virginia and Gil Freitag with new station	George Leventon at the throttle	Doug Blodgett and Ed Rains
Ken Smith and Bill Howe	John Whitney	Keith Bailey	Claude Wiseman and Dan Douglas	Doug Payne

Track Work

Some hard work has been done to get the track ready to run for the Chugga Chugga Chili Feast and Fun Run. Some pictures have been moved to the February HALS in Action Page
David Hannah3 makes the first run.	Robert Shong sprays those pesky weeds.	Lining up the track for the bridge.	The new table Bill Howe has built from scraps.	Mauri Cash keeps Keith Bailey's engine limber.

Last Saturday's Track Laying Party

Contributed by Eric Selber

January 17, 2002

Gary Brothers spray painted his new boxcar. (Making mental note to himself - Do not spray paint when it's windy or your face and hair may become the color of the paint.)
About 100 feet of roadbed was added to Phase 3 today after the County delivered 6 truckloads of dirt on Wednesday.
This stuff has a high clay content and works and packs well. Approximately 100 feet of roadbed, approximately 10 to 12 inches deep was added before the entrance to Phase 3 turned to mushy oatmeal. I managed to spread and pack almost 2 truckloads of that dirt in only 1 1/2 hours. You can see that the dump trucks had trouble with sinking when they delivered the dirt -although that area is in the open, it still hold water when it rains and I am sure that is why the pumping action of the heavy trucks caused them to sink.

January 12th Workday

Eric Selber doing a little plastic water pipe repair

Photos from Jan. 12,2002

Projects Under Construction

Proposed Station Track Plan

The Wizard has requested that this drawing of the proposed station track plan be posted here FYI. Click on the above drawing for an enlarged copy. Direct all observations to "The Wizard".