Sixteen years ago I excitedly began work on the fifteen inch gauge railroad that will circle our small acreage. Back when we bought the property I laid out a nine foot wide ‘right of way’ around the perimeter and began gathering the necessary materials. Work on the railroad has been sporadic at times as the this task has always taken a back seat to ‘real’ work. From time to time the laying of the track has been put on hold as we dramatically changed the grades of the land or waited for the completion of our new house, Becke’s house and of late the Hazelnut Inn. This past week I spread the last few inches of topsoil over the gravel base between the house and Inn. I used the new backhoe to push the fresh soil to the side and then laid down one hundred feet of new track. The soil was then raked back and packed into place. This weekend I’ll spread some grass seed to finish things off. With about seven hundred feet of track now in place we are well over half way around the property and I hope to do more sometime soon. Henry is waiting patiently as well.
