Preparing for the 2023 garden railroading season

It is beginning to feel like spring, at least some days, and the snow cover is almost gone so work can resume in the garden. There are hints of life here and there, but I think it will be a couple more weeks before it really feels like spring is fully here. 

This picture was from just a few weeks ago when there was still a light blanket of snow. The Spokane area normally receives about 45" of snow over the winter but this year has received about 60" so far.

In the train area of the garden my only work so far has been cleaning up all of the leaves and other dead organic matter that accumulated over the winter. While I don't have a lot of leaves from my own trees, the wind does such a great job of redistributing that the leaf piles in my yard reflect the diversity of trees from around the neighborhood.

Last year it was late April before I was doing much work outside as it was unusually cold and wet. The current forecast is for a colder than average April so we may see a similar spring this year, but I'm still hopeful I will have an operating loop of track set up before the end of April.

Another view of the PE&A as the snow is melting away

The raised platform behind the shed for the upper track loop. This settled in well over the winter. A couple of stones fell off the rock wall, but overall it did very well and the winter rains and snow helped pack everything into place so it's ready to build on.

It's been a bit of time since my last post so I feel I have some catch up to do. I've been going through photos and I've come across a number of train related pictures that I know I had taken with a blog post in mind, so I'm going to write a couple of posts just about rail trails. Below are a few other random train related photos from the past few months 

The Don Kardong pedestrian bridge over the Spokane river connects the Gonzaga and WSU campuses. The bridge was built in the 1920s by the Great Northern Railway (replacing an early rail bridge) and was used until its abandonment in 1973. It was converted to a pedestrian bridge in 1988, and after 34 years of use, the bridge deck was failing and had to be replaced. This photo shows construction in progress last fall, and I thought it was interesting that the construction company installed rails on top of the girders to aid in moving precast concrete deck plates into place. So, for a brief period of time, it was a rail bridge again! The bridge reopened in December, about four months ahead of schedule. 

Not too far upstream from the Don Kardong bridge is the current BNSF bridge over the Spokane River. One day this winter I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and caught this picture of a long consist of BNSF locomotives, including a couple of B-units, hauling a mixed freight train southbound. This line doesn't get a lot of use so this was only the second time I saw an active train on this bridge.

The River City Modelers, an NMRA railroad club in Spokane focused mostly on HO, holds a train show twice a year at the county fairgrounds. This winter's show did not include a garden railroad layout, but I was happy to see a Lego layout with lots of BN themed cars.

Another pictures from the train show of a great grain elevator model on an HO layout.

My first buttercup siting of the spring, at the James T. Slavin Conservation Area southwest of Spokane. The sagebrush buttercup, Ranunculus glaberrimus, is one of the first flowers to bloom and their bright yellow flowers are a sure sign that warm weather is on its way.