Saturday, December 12, 2015

Salvaging a helix

Unfortunately, the Southside Railroad Modelers club, that I have been a part of since 2001, found out recently that they were going to loose their space in the Southside on Lamar building in Dallas. For more information on the club, take a look at the website. I haven't been active in the club since moving to Argyle, but I still keep in touch and offered to help them move in exchange for the helix. The helix was in the base of the dispatcher's tower.


My wife and I went down Saturday to see if we could get it out without destroying it.

A big part of the club layout has already been disassembled and moved into storage.


Here are some photos of Janet separating the helix from the base.

The hope was to keep the tower intact, so our plan was to tip it vertical and roll it out the door.




The more benchwork we removed, the closer the helix was to being vertical.

At last we were able to get it resting on the floor.

However, we soon discovered that the helix was built with a 6'10" diameter. Most doors are of course, 6'8". Damn it!

Yes, I am forcing a smile after realizing the damn thing is too big to get out.

No problem, that's what power tools are for. a couple well placed cuts and some persuasion with a pry bar and it was out.



All in all, it took us about 90 minutes to get it out. We didn't bring anything to haul it home in, though. That would have to wait a day. The trick is going to be getting it into the section house. I'm thinking that I can take 1 1/2 inches off of opposite sides with a saw and belt sander in order to make it less than 6'8" across... at least in one spot.

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