The Southern Forest Heritage Museum at Long Leaf LA is very fortunate to have a large group of younger volunteers between 15 and 30 years old who dedicate a large amount of time to working and preserving the history and railroad history of the site. Here are a couple of links to you tube videos showcasing some of their recent activities. The first is when we were doing crew qualifications and moving equipment around the grounds, which all considered a fun day! The second is when a group of three of them came out on a 95 degree Saturday and needle scaled on the tender frame of RR&G #106.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIQgPMF7fIw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpbJaPsSKe0

This is fantastic, Everett !!!! Thanks for posting these links, you guys must really be doing something right, because when I visited 30 years ago, this was the scuzziest, nastiest historic site I've ever encountered. It was worse than anything I saw in Central America, and the heat and the bugs were comparable, too. Keep up the good fight, and please keep us all posted of what I'm sure will be your continuing progress !!!

Take Care & WORK SAFE

Very neat videos, they have the feel of a PBS documentary, or something shot in the 1980s or 1990s.

One of the readers here suggested that I post a link to the Museum's railroad and volunteer website so that all of the remarkable work by the volunteers and especially the younger volunteers can be seen by anyone. The website is: www.redriverandgulf.net and if you want to seen the work that has been done for the last 6 years now, pull up the tab on Work Sessions and scroll through what the group has been doing.

Thank you for posting the link. Have always had an attraction to the "Long Leaf" operation and when I first saw it I thought "oh my" they had a lot of work ahead of them. The work so far is astounding and it appears to be coming along one bite at a time. This is what Mid Continent was like in the 1960s. No time for arguing just grab a shovel or pick and get in there. This is so much like it was with old and young working side by side with one common goal {or many for that matter}. As the years went by and the older guys passed away the 2nd generation stepped up to the plate. The third and fourth generation never got the experience of working like this group does. I do not envy the La. guys working in that humidity it must be brutal. Bravo to this group! Regards, John.

In May of last year, Ev gave Rick Zampa & I the best guided tour that I have ever experienced and it of course, was at Long Leaf.

He really knocked himself out for the two of us and I can echo what has been said before.
This place is a real showpiece of the South and all involved should be quite proud.

Better news yet, they are not finished and I have faith that progress will continue.

Thanks again Ev, for all your work and the time spent with us.

John,

Actually, when it gets over about 95 at Long Leaf, the humidity drops appreciably. We also have the great advantage of having shade in front of the enginehouse until just before noon, and we can work back in the forest if it is too bad. We know why they built the enginehouse like they did as well, open at front and rear, it has a breeze blowing through it all day long, which keeps us out of the sun and allows us to work in blazing sun, scorching heat, and driving rain all in some degree of comfort. Trackwork waits until November through April as a result.
13 years ago, inspired by the Sumpter Valley and its volunteer quarters, the Museum put up a 4 bedroom bunkhouse inside the large finished lumber shed. Today it has 5 bedrooms, with capacity for 14, 3 bathrooms with showers,and a kitchen and living area. On any given weekend we have between 6 and 12 volunteers staying there who come from more than 200 miles away to work. Again, being inside the giant finished lumber shed, weather does not affect you getting in and out during rain or even the occasional snow.
We are working on making exciting things happening in the future, and I would invite any RYPN readers to visit us, (during the fall and winter, preferably) and even better, on one of the work weekends that we post on the website.