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Pat and Dosie in flume formerly filled with debris

In our next issue!
A story featuring the Castlegar to Trail link of the Trans-Canada Trail the Columbia River Trail &om Ootischenia to Sunningdale. Read about "The Magnificent Eight" friends who walked to Trail on Rivers Day. Sept. 26/04. Lean the history and location of the Columbia River Trail and consider trying it out in 2005!

DUES ARE DUE

" With the coming of 2005, your membership is expiring. While the AGM indicates the end of the fiscal year, it is often more convenient to pay dues on the calendar year.
IMPORTANT.! while we may be constantly reminding you to pay your dues .. we also want to remind you to VOLUNTEER for some of FRIENDS tasks.

HI-TECH TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT USED IN MAINTENANCE WORK ON COLUMBIA - WESTERN RAIL GRADE

by Jim Crawford

Elaine's interview with Harry Killough on page 2 mentioned that Harry had often worked on the up- keep of the rail grade by himself ... but sometimes with helpers.

Some of the "helpers" are shown in these photographs ... and not just the workers, but some of the sophisticated equipment used on these jobs. The top photo at the left shows Harry surveying the task of installing a culvert on the rail bed. Tools us:ed in this project included pick, shovel, axe, rope, cable, chain saw, a good portion of ingenuity, and an even greater portion of grunting and groaning.

Installing the culverts in themselves is not enough - the flues that feed the water to the culverts have to be cleaned, or else the water will overflow and start to wash out the rail bed itself. The lower photo shows: volunteers Pat West and Dosie Crawford (being watched by Stephen Rigby) standing in a flume that formerly was filled with debris. And, again workers are using modern hi-tech tools of shovel, rake, axe, and hands.

After~work on. the culverts, "fill" had to be brought to the site to repair the trail. At first, this "fill" (rock, gravel, or sand) was transported to the site either by wheelbarrow or else in the back of a pick-up. Later, this hauling task was taken over by some ATV'ers, using their trailers to carry equipment, transporting the fill. and doing other tasks.

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