The Stone Hedge shop crew had a very busy construction season over the winter of 2004/2005.
The mainline gets shut down every winter between November and April,
because of the severe local winters..snowdrifts 60 feet tall are not uncommon!
not to mention thousands of 10 foot long pineneedles and oak leaves 15 feet long blocking the tracks..
and severe cold for months on end..
So every winter the crew retreats to the shop buildings and works on equipment for the coming season.

May 2005.
Getting ready for the Summer operating season.
all the rolling stock and structures are rolled out of the shops and onto the railroad.
(yes, you read that right..structures are rolled out of the shops! ;)
 

The new Climax works the mine spur.
The stonehedge shops got two ancient derelict "General" 4-4-0 locomotives.
they were in many pieces and beyond repair.
the shop crew used the servicable pieces from the two locomotives
to construct a Heisler and a Climax locomotive.
 
 

the diesel shunter spots a car at the sand house.
(this is the only diesel on the line.)
 

Overview of the engine service facilities.
enginehouse, coaling tower, watertank, and sand house.
The Black Diamond mine is on the hill above.
(looks like the engine house shifted over the winter! ;)
the crew can easily fix that..)
you can still see some of those giant mutant 15 foot oak leaves.
the crew has quite a time clearing the mainline of those every spring.
 
 

A new mill and house were built over the winter.
the dry stream bed below the mill might be filled with water this season.
 
 
 
 

The Stone Hedge shops did some more modifications to Locomotive #1's
pilot truck this winter.
when the locomotive arrived from the builder 4 years ago, the pilot truck
gave no end of trouble to the railroad. it would derail every 100 feet.
the shops tried a modification to the truck that it read about in the trade publications,
and that helped, but the pilot truck still derailed a lot..
so finally this past winter the shop crew went all-out and fixed the problem once and for all!
the pilot truck will NEVER derail again!
The railroad is VERY happy with this modification..
 
 

The new heisler takes a work train across one of the railroad's many trestles.
The heisler is the 2nd locomotive built from the remains of the two "General" 4-4-0's.
 

the rest of the heisler's work train.
the heisler, the ballast hopper, and crane with its work flatcar, were all
"home built" in the railroad's shops.
Only the caboose was bought from an outside builder.
 

The new snowplow!
the crew just felt like building a snowplow, even if the railroad doesnt run
in the snow! 

the snowplow was constructed from a German boxcar.
It originally looked like this:

The railroad heard rumours that German boxcars of this type are often prized
by railroad collectors who go to great lengths to make sure they stay in absolute
pristine condition.
Often, amazingly, the presidents of other railroads will purchase these German cars
and then *never* run them on the railroad! but instead keep them locked away
deep in the shops and often never even unpack them from their shipping crates.
The stonehedge crew can see no point in that, and has no issues with heavily modifying
any equipment, regardless of its origin.
this snowplow is named the "Bodine plow" in honor of the man who gave the
original German boxcar to the railroad.
 
 

 The new Porter works the coaling tower lead.
 

a new turntable is under construction.
a 3-stall roundhouse will also be built soon.
 
 

 The Stonehedge station also underwent heavy renovations this winter.
It was also moved to the other side of the mainline, and recieved a new fondation.
(still under construction)
(notice the drivers from those two wrecked "General" locomotives!)
a new roof was built between the first and second floors.
Inspired by the nearby Lehigh Valley Sayre station:

 
 
 
 

 Here is the station in its as-built configuration:

 back in 2003.
 

 The station today.
 
 

 Thats it for now!
new updates coming soon..
 
 
 
 

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