Re: Scrapping the original WW&F >>Re-enactment Photos<<

guymonmd Wrote:
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> Thank you for sharing your photos and story.
> I find it interesting that the track would have
> been take up in that way back in 1933. It was at
> the height of the great depression so cheap labor
> was available.
> I think the 1933 crew may have been younger on
> average than the crew in the re-enactment.
>
> I don't know that many on this board including me
> would want to work on the re-enactment crew for
> more than a couple of hours.
> That looks like hard work involving soar backs.

As noted in the captions, the crew doing the re-enactment was actually a fair bit larger than the crew that did the work back in the 30s. Museum crew members indicated that the original railroad was built with 30 lb. rail, vs. the 50 lb. stuff you see in the photos. In addition, I'm told that on the original operation many of the ties were in pretty sad shape, making the removal much easier. The museum ties were in good shape and the rails were indeed heavy, but many hands make light work. The volunteers you see in the photos not only made the effort to come out and participate in the re-enactment, but most also wore period clothing as well. Some work had been done in advance, such as a fair amount of spike removal, just to make things go faster. But removing those joint bars and lifting the rails was still hard work.

Perhaps Stewart, Ed or James can post the photo of the original removal crew from 1936. I'd be reluctant to post it, because I don't know the ownership. That would give you a good idea just how much smaller the original crew was.

/Kevin Madore