One of the problems our club has had is that some people aren't running their engines because it can become quite a task to load up their engine at home, drive to the track, unload, run, cleanup the locomotive, load up for the trip home and unload at home after a long (usually hot!) day at the track.  As members get older this becomes more and more of a problem.

We also haven't been able to consider a "club" engine because we haven't had a place to keep one that was both secure and accessible to all club members.

To solve this problem we have just acquired a 40 foot long shipping container to serve as our engine house and car barn.

Since the container is made entirely of steel it is secure and fireproof.  When contemplating an enginhouse we had considered some form of frame building but these are inherently insecure and combustible.  Without a secure storage facility members are reluctant to store engines or cars at the track.

It is anticipated that we will rent track space by the foot to pay for the container.

Here's the story of it's arrival at the track:

The First Arrival

At 7:30 one morning I went to the track to get out the Farmall tractor, some planks and chain.  I loaded it all into the bucket of the tractor and headed for the tractor unloading ramp.  We had planned to meet the semi with Dennis Johnson's 20,000 pound capacity fork lift but, as luck would have it, the forklift was down for repairs.  The plan was to pull the container off the flatbed onto the unloading ramp and we would get it moved to the railroad when the forklift became available.

Right on time at 8 AM the semi arrived.  The driver took one look at me, the tractor and the unloading ramp and said "you're not planning on dragging it off are you?".  I explained that this was all we had but he was afraid of damaging his aluminum deck flatbed.  We got on the phone and finally got a hold of ABC Electric near the corner of 27th and "Y" streets.  They had a crane that could come out and lift it off for us but I thought that would take too long.  I knew the semi driver had to make a pickup in Missouri at 1:00.  After some discussion of options ABC said that they would allow us to let it sit in their yard for a week or so while we arranged to get it to the track (about 15 miles away).  We went to ABC and unloaded the container without incident.

A week turned into well over a month due to Dennis's schedule, equipment outages, etc.  I called around in an attempt to make other transportation arrangements but do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone that can move a 40 foot container?  Not easy!

The Second Arrival

With the help of Dennis Johnson and his Low Boy trailer we picked up the container at ABC Electric and transferred it to the track.  This was no easy task since the container hung over the end of the trailer by 10 or 12 feet.  With that much overhang it was exciting going around corners and having the rear of the container swing far into the next lane!

Upon arriving at the track the first problem was how to get the container off the Low Boy.  There was a pine tree near the desired location so we just chained the container to the tree and drove the Low Boy out from under it.

At this point Dennis left saying something about having to work on a grader (I think he just wanted to depart the area while the getting was good!).  The container had to be rotated approximately 90 degrees to the south to bring the doors of the container next to the transfer table.  Luckily I had ABC load it with the doors towards the cab end of the trailer which made this easier.

So how do you push around an 8,100 pound steel box?  You go get the Farmall tractor out of the storage building!

The first step was to chain the tractor to the corner of the container (oops, I mean "engine house") and pull it around to the south to bring the doors close to the transfer table.  This was accomplished after we had placed some planks under the container to act as skids.

Next the rear of the container had to be pushed to the west to get it close to the lead track and leave us as much room as possible in the unloading/parking area.  We couldn't pull the rear into position because there wasn't enough room for the tractor between the container and the lead track on the west side of the container.  We placed a piece of railroad tie between the tractor and the container and pushed.  The Farmall's traction was barely up to the task.  We managed to create several "divits" that had to be filled later.

Next we had to pull the front of the container a little to the East to get it square with the transfer table rails and voila!, the new engine house was in position.

On future work days we will need to jack up the corners of the container, level it, and place it up on RR ties or concrete pillars.

We will also be constructing a rack three tracks high (floor level and two above) along one wall to store engines (floor level) and rolling stock (upper levels).  This first rack will give us 120 feet of storage.  We can easily add another rack along the opposite wall for 240 feet and possibly a third for a total of 360 feet of storage.

I'd like to thank Ron Beckman and Charlie Cook for staying around to help me.  Ron and Charlie were at the track for a quiet day of running Ron's new engine when Dennis and I showed up with the container.

All of us at Camp Creek Railroaders would also like to extend a special thanks to Camp Creek Threshers member Dennis Johnson for helping us out with heavy moving equipment and ABC Electric for allowing us to store the container in their equipment yard for way too long.