The Slugging Work Continues - It's Not Hot. It's Damn Hot!!

The lads have been steadily working away in the bathroom basement hauling out the excavated clay that's laden with water which adds an extra 50% to the weight of the bucket.  Jam the shovel into the pile of clay.  Pull it out with a shovelful of the sticky stuff.  Dump it in the plastic bucket.  Jam the shovel into the pile of clay.  Pull out another shovelful of the sticky stuff.  Dump it in the plastic bucket.  Bucket full.  Lift it over to the opening in the foundation.  Pass it through to the person in the baggage room basement.  Pick up another empty bucket.  Jam the shovel into the pile of clay........  

The guy in the baggage room basement then hauls two buckets over to the opening in the foundation into the waiting room basement, shoves the buckets through the opening, crawls through himself, lugs the two buckets over to the opening in the foundation into the furnace room basement and passes them through to the guy waiting in the furnace room basement.  Pick up two empty pails, back through the opening into the baggage room basement, shove the two pails through the opening into the bathroom basement where two more full pails are awaiting him. 

The guy in the furnace room basement lugs the two pales up the stairs, out onto the boardwalk, steps down across the tracks, over to the edge of the swamp, dumps the pails, back down the stairs, shoves the two pails back into the opening into the waiting room basement where two more full pails are awaiting him. 

Shovelfuls of clay into the pails, pails lugged through the basements, up the stairs, outside, dumped, back downstairs, empty pails through the basements.

And so on, and so on, and so on.  Not exactly glamourous work but it has to be done.

Monday and Thursday were particularly difficult days as the temperature soared into the mid 30s with a humidex in the mid 40s.  The most the lads could work was about 10-15 minutes at a time but then they had to take a 15 minute break.  It was particularly hot and humid in the basements even with the big fan sucking the air out in the furnace room basement.  By noon hour on Thursday, my T-shirt was soaking wet.

However, we made really good progress.  All of the extra clay in the bathroom basement was hauled out and we managed to get about 6' of trenching dug from both sides of the 45-gallon steel barrel sump pit.  We've all developed a routine on digging the trench, filling the pails, lugging them outside, dumping the spoil......  so much so that the lads do a pretty good job on their own on Mondays when I'm not there.

So, next time you see them, make sure you tell them they're doing a really good job.  I know they'll appreciate it.


Just to remind you, here's the plan for doing the bathroom basement.  The sump pit and sump pump have been installed and are working as they should.  The water table is slowly being lowered in the bathroom basement.  It's also noticeable in the baggage room basement.  What was once soggy clay is now starting to firm up. 

We now have to dig the trenches all around the inside perimeter of the bathroom basement.  And that's going to be another messy job.  The trenching will be about 16"-18" deep and a bit wider than the width of a shovel.

 However, it's like eating an elephant.  "How do you eat an elephant?" you ask.  "One bit at a time."  How do you install drain tile in the basement.  One shovelful of clay at a time.  

Some Interesting Goodies Down At Bedell
As the Supertramp song says, I always take the long way home - this time through Merrickville and down to Bedell.  Bedell used to be the junction with the first railway line built in Eastern Ontario - the Bytown & Prescott built in 1854.  As you can see from the photo, it used to be quite the place (the loco is coming up from Ottawa and is about to cross the double-tracked Winchester sub). 

It still is one of the best places to watch the trains.  Only this time, I discovered some nice 80lb rail with all of the track jewelery neatly piled - about 35 pieces of rail manufactured in 1907 - just the right stuff for the railway museum - if somebody wants to give somebody at CP Rail a call.  Also, some half-decent ties. 

Not bad, eh!?

... but we've still got lots more work to do!