Gandydancing
I have to get the railroad ready for Thomas' party along with all the other lawn maintenance. Only being able to work on it in the evenings, Saturdays or Sunday afternoon that really does not leave me a whole lot of time to correct some track items.
Before we get into the gory details Somebody is going to ask " What is Gandydancing?".
Gandydancing is a railroad slang term referring to track work. In the early days everything was done by hand and to do the work the track gangs would work to the rhythm of a song so there efforts would be in unison. That's where the "Dancing" comes from. Gandy comes from the fact that all the tools that were used, the tamping bars, wrenches and so forth, were made by the GANDY Tool Company. As far as I know the Gandy Tool Co. is no more and the old timey track gangs have gone by the wayside as well, but the term stuck and is still in use today.
Now for the gory details.
The reason for this is that I have arranged for a Steam Engine to be on the track for this party. No I have a glaring problem that has only been an annoyance till now. I have a Turnout that goes up to the driveway for loading and unloading. That turnout was the first one I had ever built in this scale and it was quite obvious I had no idea as to what I was doing. Yea it works but equipment does not like to go through it. All my stuff has short wheel bases so its been bearable to use. Now I have a Mogul coming. It has a long wheel base approx 4' and it will not go thru a switch that has a sharp 45 degree turn in it. So a rebuild is in order and I have to get it done before the steam engine arrives!
So every day I have made some parts for it to get ready. Well I think I am at the point where I just need to dive in and do it. So barring any other disasters I will be ripping rail up tomorrow night. I hope it goes well!
Before we get into the gory details Somebody is going to ask " What is Gandydancing?".
Gandydancing is a railroad slang term referring to track work. In the early days everything was done by hand and to do the work the track gangs would work to the rhythm of a song so there efforts would be in unison. That's where the "Dancing" comes from. Gandy comes from the fact that all the tools that were used, the tamping bars, wrenches and so forth, were made by the GANDY Tool Company. As far as I know the Gandy Tool Co. is no more and the old timey track gangs have gone by the wayside as well, but the term stuck and is still in use today.
Now for the gory details.
The reason for this is that I have arranged for a Steam Engine to be on the track for this party. No I have a glaring problem that has only been an annoyance till now. I have a Turnout that goes up to the driveway for loading and unloading. That turnout was the first one I had ever built in this scale and it was quite obvious I had no idea as to what I was doing. Yea it works but equipment does not like to go through it. All my stuff has short wheel bases so its been bearable to use. Now I have a Mogul coming. It has a long wheel base approx 4' and it will not go thru a switch that has a sharp 45 degree turn in it. So a rebuild is in order and I have to get it done before the steam engine arrives!
So every day I have made some parts for it to get ready. Well I think I am at the point where I just need to dive in and do it. So barring any other disasters I will be ripping rail up tomorrow night. I hope it goes well!
posted by Gerry at 7:50 PM
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