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.

Rolling Mill teardown

My late friend Tom Patterson built this steel mill at our club in Dallas, the Southside Railroad Modelers. The mill was so large that it was difficult to operate with. Cars would get stuck inside and there wasn't a good way to get them out. Eventually, another club member built a replacement and this one was stored downstairs.

The club tried selling it at the Fall Plano train show, but no takers, so I gave them some cash and took it home. My hope is to use the Plastruct to make grain elevators and buildings for the sugar factory. The building is so large, that it took up an unreasonable amount of shelf space. I decided to disassemble it to conserve space.

May's big project.

I didn't get much done in the section house in May other than perhaps adding the most important accessory back. When I took out the toilet, I had decided to make a small power room in the closet between the two A/C units. Then it started raining. I didn't really want to go play in the mud under the building, so I hired a guy to move the plumbing. What should have taken a couple days wound up taking several weeks. Luckily we negotiated a flat fee, so I didn't pay him any more. The plumbing all works, but I still need to paint and do some more finish work.

Demolition

When the section house was remodeled in the 1990s, they installed two handicap ready restrooms. The previous owner kept them and ran tracks through along the wall.

While this provided a great place for the dispatcher to sit, it used a significant amount of space that I wanted to reclaim for the new layout. There is space in a closet between the furnaces that can be used for a toilet and sink.

My friend Matt Latham helped me with the demolition.

We tacked the two outside walls in one evening. There was a lot of sheetrock to remove, but it went pretty easy.

The wall separating the two bathrooms was made of OSB, insulated and a little tougher.

Chimneys

The section house has two brick chimneys that are right in the middle of the layout space. Shane built around them, but I wanted to use the space. I called a couple guys about having them removed, and for $500 plus haul off, I was in business.

The chimney in the east room is pretty accessible, even when covered with sheet rock. In the west room there was still a couple walls and backdrops surrounding it.

Nothing a screw gun and pry bar couldn't take care of.

This chimney also had been dressed up with sheet rock.

The next day the demo guy was done.

All that was left was a pile of 120 year old bricks in my trailer. A couple people came and salvaged what they could and the rest went to the dump.