ARM’s New Home – Tumbleweed Park

June 6, 2009 – Freight Truck Installation

In preparation for the delivery of Santa Fe boxcar, the work crew placed spare set of freight trucks onto tracks.

George Barker checks the chains.

Russ Lassuy operates the boom.

Selecting the right equipment.

Slowly...

Slowly....

Done.

Project Updates

Click on a year to view project progress.

• 2009
  • March 10: The city weed spray guy has been out to spray round up and promises to get us monthly. Next for us is to start moving from the bullpen at Armstrong to the bullpen at Tumbleweed. The city has approved the plans for the building and is waiting for the county. The deal with the county is a revision to the flood plain requirements. This will be important to us in that the height of the pad will be greatly reduced and also should allow us an easier installation of the shop building down the road. The city plans on us being in the building and completely out of Armstrong by the time we open in the fall. Jeff Crosby has installed the 240 volt and the 480 volt receptacles on panels A and B. All of the hard wiring is complete. He still needs to install the 120 duplex outlets and the single phase outlet. The city inspector was down and did not like the method of attachment to the service entrance that had been proposed. He did suggest an alternate method which Jeff checked out but it does not work. Next step is to go back to the design guys and get them to put in writing their suggestion and then we believe the city will accept it.
  • March 5: The city sent 2 guys over to do grading work around the crossings and bring in the remaining rock. The remaining work to be done includes rock between tracks 1 & 2 on the north side of the crossing; Dirt and rock between tracks 2 & 3 north of the crossing. Russ Lassuy was able to get the locks on the south side of the building re-keyed so the doors can be locked. The city provided plans for the sewer and water installation for review. We found a couple items missing, the main one being the telephone line. Jerry McGonigle and George Barker have built the gates for the interior side of the bullpen fence. Next step is to begin moving the pallet racks from Armstrong to Tumbleweed. Craig and Bob sprayed the weeds with round-up and the city weed guy sprayed the entire facility with pre-emergent in hopes of controlling growth of green stuff this year.
• 2008
  • October 16: Landscaping and rock work need to be continued. We are going to contact some local landscaping companies to see if we can trade grading work for railroad ties. The bullpen area at the north end has been filled and graded. We are now watering the area to compact the soil. Following this we will install the chain link fence. The entire museum grounds have been cleared of weeds. The forms for the crossing on tracks 1, 2 and 3 were built by Ken Dickinson and we had a day labor crew put in a base of gravel and the wire mesh. The concrete was poured and finished on October 10. Work on this will continue with tracks 4, 5, 6 and 7. We expect to pour concrete again in 3 or 4 weeks. On Wednesday October 1, Don Tolle of the city met with the engineering firm that is designing the pad for the display building. The city plans to bring in water, sewer and power to the display building. We will be responsible to provide utilities to the tin building. The display building will have to be on a raised pad to comply with the flood control district rules. It will also require an A.D.A. ramp.
  • September 17: Landscaping and rock work need to be continued. The city supplied contractor was on site September 13 to complete the pad for the bullpen area on the north end. The entire yard was weed sprayed and a weed control party was held on September 3. The city is pushing out all capital projects 3 to 5 years. This will affect our building, parking lot and the Ryan Road improvement. The city has stated they think they have the funding in place to install the fire department buildings to our location. The buildings were delivered to the site on September 9. The dormitory building will be utilized for the artifact displays, gift shop, archival storage and administration. The apparatus building will house the wood shop and air brake shops along with some raw stock storage. The SP 4740 caboose that is currently the gift shop will be furnished as a configurable car for kids birthday parties or general meeting space. Ken Dickinson is designing / building the forms for the concrete crossings. We expect to pour concrete in the next few weeks.
• 2007
  • December: The conduits for the signal display area have been put in place. A trench from panel “A” south connects to an east / west trench parallel to the fence line. Ten conduit stubs are provided. December 15th a work party was held to pull the wire for panels A and B. Russ Lassuy scheduled the use of the city boom truck and the parks tractor. Jeff Crosby led the project and with only minor issues the main wiring from the service entrance to both panels was put in place. January 12th is the scheduled day to wire panels “A” and “B”. On December 27th a small work party led by Russ Lassuy moved signal equipment from the bullpen at Armstrong to Tumbleweed. Additional rock has been ordered by the city to continue the landscaping. Russ acquired a pipe to be used in the trench so the crossing can be continued to the east. Once the crossing is in we can lay out the base and electrical for the crossing arm signal.
  • November: More rock work has been completed on the crossings and motor car set off tracks. The third motor car track has been built. The Union Pacific signal guys delivered a case for the relays to operate the crossing gate. Will Oliver has volunteered his time to wire all the signals to the level of function we desire. The contract for the design of the Pioneer Parkway extension to Ryan Road and our parking lot was on the city council agenda Thursday night 11-8-07. The wire for the feeds to panels A and B has been delivered and placed in the green boxcar.
  • September: Rock work has started on the crossings and motor car set off tracks. After measuring our current equipment it was decided we need to add a third set out track. The electrical permit is complete. Jeff Crosby has installed the transformer for the air compressor contactor which completes this job. Jeff also wired in the air dryer auto dump motor. Our friends in the Union Pacific signal department delivered a complete crossing gate assembly. The south end of the property has been cleaned. A location has been established for the flagpole on the east side of the property between the entrance gate and the tie retaining wall. The south end of the yard, east of the water stand has been designated for the signal display area. The city has selected a design firm to do the engineering and drawings for the extension of Pioneer Parkway and the upgrade of Ryan road from the railroad tracks east to McQueen Road.
  • July: Ed Hercel has covered the surface of the retaining wall with rock as the first part of the landscaping. Bart and Russ met with the city to discuss getting a permit to complete the electrical on panels “A” & “B”. The permit has been granted. The air piping on both sides of the mid-yard crossing is complete. Sheets of galvanized steel have been hung on the south end fence west of the crossing. Phase 1 landscaping will require approximately 250 tons of crushed rock and 80 tons of decomposed granite, delivery started on July 18. The motor car set out tracks have been built. The Union Pacific signal maintainers are donating old style crossing signal heads as they upgrade to L.E.D. type. A complete gate assembly from 16th street and University has been donated to the museum.
  • May: Ed Hercel has completed the retaining wall under the transformer / service entrance pad. Ed Johnson and crew have completed the mid yard crosswalks for all tracks. Re-location of artifacts from the Armstrong site has begun. The water line between tracks 4 and 5 is complete and the air line serving the south end of all tracks is complete. Russell Lassuy is scheduling and implementing the utilities projects. Ties have been placed for motor car set out tracks and rail has been marked for cutting. Wheel stops are in place on all tracks thanks to an Eagle Scout project under the direction of member Richard Poyer’s son. The current bond election has the funding for our shop canopy and the display building.
  • February: Track work at Tumbleweed is complete. Our next steps will be the installation of the remaining air and water lines; the retaining wall under the transformer; motor car tracks and moving the remainder of Armstrong stuff. When most of this is complete work will start on the landscaping portion.
  • January: Under the direction of Russ Lassuy the air line between tracks 2 and 3 has been installed. The air compressor has been wired and is functional. All of the water stands for tracks 2 and 3 are installed and functioning. All useable ballast rock has been moved from the Armstrong site to Tumbleweed. The major amount of track installation is complete. All switches installed and all but 50 feet of display track. Ballasting has started with track 2 and the switches. We have received donations from the Springer Foundation and Mr. Mike Carr to the facilities fund.
• 2006
  • September 4: The Arizona Railway Museum has MOVED! Our new site at Tumbleweed Park is now open. Ryan road is a little hard to find as it is not a signaled intersection. Also, Ryan Road is dirt, but we expect this will change shortly. This year we will be trying something new. For a nominal fee of $2 per adult ($5 for families/groups) visitors will be able to tour INSIDE six of our passenger cars. They represent examples of Business Car, Sleeper, Diner, Coach, Lounge type cars. As always, entrance to the grounds remains free.
  • May 18: SRP has set their transformer and run wire. Power to park was to be turned on May 5 but that did not happen. Rosenden Electric has run wire from power box “C” to the main switch. This includes the light poles and stub poles. Bart met with the city and 3DI on May 9 to discuss the next phase. City still says they are out of money. Once site is accepted we will be allowed to move cars from Armstrong to track 1. First track construction will be track 3. This will not start until July when Mountain States has a window to work. Following track 3 construction we will move the remaining cars from Armstrong to Tumbleweed.
  • April 2: 1-20-06 Trenching for the electric has started. 1-23-06 Met with 3DI and Aaron Woodward to revise electrical plan moving boxes in line with power poles and installing Plymouth plug on east side of track 1. 1-23-06 Installation of U.P. switch started today. Cuts made in mainline rail and old ballast cleared. 1-28-06 Switch is installed and operational, the Union Pacific has been storing M.O.W. equipment on the lead. Mountain States has completed phase one track installation. 2-16-06 Installation of the fence started. 2-24-06 Light poles installed. 2-28-06 Wire pulled in light poles to junction boxes. 3-1-06 Met with Rich Rankin (3DI) and Aaron Woodward to discuss fence gate placement and future phases. 3-3-06 Fence construction completed and gates installed. 3-6-06 Phase 2 approved by city council. 3-15-06 480 volts switch panel installed and 75 KVA transformer in place. 3-20-06 Met with city staff to review phasing plan.
  • February 27: View from the east side looking west at the fence line and light poles.
• 2005
  • November 5: Construction has begun and this former alfalfa field will soon be home to the Arizona Railway Museum. This view from Ryan Road looking north will soon house 6 railroad tracks, a restoration shop and display building.

Construction Photo Gallery

Click on an image to enlarge.

Construction begins – November 2005

Fence line and light poles – February 2006

Track 5 and the run around under construction – January 2007

Ballast arrives – January 2007

All track in, ready for tamping – January 2007

Ballast delivered, tamping started on track 4 – January 2007

The tamper is working – January 2007

The yard from the north end – February 2007

Work on the retaining wall – February 2007

Rebuilt and painted wheel stops – May 2007

Water stand pipes between tracks 4 and 5 – May 2007

Ties laid out for motor car set out tracks – May 2007

Retaining wall – May 2007