New cribbing for the Bagley Mt Division of the Maine Central RR

 Paul Smith and his wife have returned to Maine and I bet he could not wait to see his railroad!  It did not take him long to find a worthwhile project.   Here is his story and pictures for all of us to enjoy.  Thank you Paul for sharing it, your workmanship looks terrific!

Hi John,
So it stopped raining long enough today for me to mow my lawn and build a couple of sections of cribwork for my railroad. I had some sections where the stone dust ballast settled a bit over the winter. The rocks along the side of the berm weren’t stacked high enough to prevent some of the top from washing away. So, I dug out the table saw, chop saw, pin nailer and glue and went to work. The wood is from an old stock pile of western red cedar that I had stored overhead in the garage (part of my wife’s dowery 28 years ago actually). I cut the boards into 1/2” X 1/2” strips and treated them with a wood preservative that Jack Verducci had recommended to me last year. It is called Green’s Wood preservative. I bought it in a clear but it is also available in some colors (like green for wharfs). It has a 1% content of copper which is supposed to help with wood placed in the ground. These photos show the process that I used. I hope they stand up! Time will tell.