Time to renew your membership for 2021.

This year has been an interesting year in so many ways. For our club and railroad, it has been an extra busy year which has produced more than 30 weekend workdays. This past July marked 10 years since the first sections of track where laid along with some of that very track being modified almost 10 years to the day later.

On December 17th Norm and Susan W. donated and delivered two 40’ containers to the site. The final resting place of the containers will be in the east loop area of the railroad and will eventually represent a 16 x 40 shop facility for the club.

Our December meeting will be this Saturday, December 5th at 1 p.m. The meeting agenda will include nominations for the 2021 board and a few 2021 calendar items. Speaking of calendar don’t forget the 2021 calendars are in and can be picked up at the meeting. The cost of the calendars is $13 for those that pre-ordered.

North Georgia Live Steamers want to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. As a not-for-profit educational organization, we rely on our members and volunteers like you. This year we are extra thankful for the more than 1,200 hours our members and volunteers have provided.

Today the last 20 feet of the eastside new passenger line up to the new grade crossing is now complete. Norm, Robby, John, and Gator went to the site at the last minute to attach and ballast the last section of track for the passenger line siding along with a few other things.

This year has been an interesting year in so many ways. For our club and railroad, it has been an extra busy year which has produced more than 30 workdays so far. This past July marked 10 years since the first sections of track where laid along with some of that very track being modified almost 10 years to the day later. By the end of October nearly 1,500 volunteer hours had also been logged.

A workday scheduled for Saturday, November 14th has been CANCELED. If you had plans on being at the site this weekend and are still interested in going out to do some work we could use some track panels built using new rail. We currently have enough ties already cut for about 25 panels.

Like many live steam clubs we find many of our core members are Veteran’s. They are often times one of the hardest working groups in our club and some of the more knowledgeable about so many things. We take this take along with our country and say Thank You Veterans for all that you have done and continue to do for our country.

This year has been an interesting year in so many ways. For our club and railroad, it has been an extra busy year which has produced more than 30 workdays so far. This past July marked 10 years since the first sections of track where laid along with some of that very track being modified almost 10 years to the day later. By the end of October nearly 1,500 volunteer hours had also been logged.

One of our last club fun days of the year was this past Saturday and boy what a great turnout. We had trains running all over the place with lots of smiles and great conversations going on all around the railroad. The railroad operated real good and only had a couple of minor items come up during the day. Here are a few pictures from the day with more to be added in the coming days.

North Georgia Live Steamers has an opportunity to receive donations from Amazon based on your everyday purchases. AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support North Georgia Live Steamers every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com or on the Amazon app, you'll find the exact same low prices and products with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase to NGLS.

The track crew, which included Tyler, Norm, John, Ben, “Bob”, Robby, Calvin and guest, laid more than 100 feet of track on Saturday and built a few track panels. The passenger line is complete up to the switch which is about 40 feet short of the grade crossing. The passenger line siding only has about 20 feet and it will be complete.

Our next official workday is scheduled for this Saturday, October 24th at 8:30 a.m. The focus of the day is to build track panels, switches, and possibly install a few more panels. Remember to bring water, lunch, bug spray, and good sense of humor.

Busy week and weekend around the club. A new powered slug was picked up along with more member owned riding cars, and the installation of another 120 feet of track for the passenger line.

Even though the workday was cancelled because of the storm that blew through overnight a few members still took some time to take care of a few things around the railroad.

Are you an Amazon Prime Member? Have you been waiting all year for prime day? Well on Tuesday, October 13th and Wednesday, October 14th Amazon will be holding its annual Prime Day event. Why am I telling you this? If you shop on Amazon and if you are planning on taking advantage of prime day your purchase could qualify for a donation to North Georgia Live Steamers (501(c)(3)- Non-Profit Organization).

A look back at October 1994 when NGLS operated the Duluth & Mount Tabor Railroad

This past Saturday, September 26, 2020, marked the 27th workday for the club this year. As we mark this incredible milestone it is a reminder that our club is made of a great group of individuals who volunteer in so many ways around the railroad and the club. This weekend our members did electrical work, steam engine repairs, cut grass, laid track, spread gravel, operated a Bobcat, taught new members about the hobby, and so much more.

The weather is going to be great for our workday on Saturday. The plan is to continue work on the new passenger line project, track panel construction, grey container items, grass cutting, and more. The fun starts at 8:30 a.m. Don’t forget this is the last Saturday before our Club Fun Day, which is scheduled for Saturday, October 3rd which is also the same day of the annual boiler inspection and October club meeting. So, come out and get things ready so we can enjoy the Club Fun Day.

We have a workday scheduled on Saturday, September 26th at 8:30 a.m. We will be putting the finishing touches on the new diamond and laying more track for the new passenger line. The grass also is in desperate need of cutting but before that can be done the club lawnmower needs to be repaired. If you are able to go over to the site and work on the lawnmower that would be great. The front left tire is loosing air and needs to be repair and an issue has come up with starting the lawnmower as well.

The summer heat continues as we do more work around the railroad. We had a small but productive crew on hard. The focus on the day was split between two areas with the first “Bob” and Ben took care of spreading the loads of dirt we recently received which some of it being used for our next shipping container project.

Our annual boiler inspection day is scheduled for Saturday, October 3rd at 8:30 a.m. We have been in contact with the inspector and if we need to do anything different than we normally do we will get that information out everyone.

Also note that Saturday, October 3rd is also our regularly scheduled club meeting at 1 p.m.

On Saturday, August 15, 2020 the next big project got underway which includes an additional 900’ of mainline to the railroad. This addition will bring passengers from the east loop towards the fence line cross a 60’ grade crossing down to the station. A view of the addition can be seen on our map which shoes the addition in red.

Our next regularly scheduled workday will be Saturday, September 12th. The plans are to work on the mainline project, track panel construction, cut grass, and other general maintenance.

If my math is correct it has about 22 years since the “Doe Bridge” has looked this good. Over the past year Peter C. has taken this old bridge and made it new again. Every board, bracket, nuts, bolts, and more was inspected repaired or replaced. On Saturday, September 5, 2020 it made the journey back to the Conyers & Hightower Trail Railroad to be installed and put back in service sometime soon.

The North Georgia Live Steamers Board of Directors has decided to cancel our October 10th public run day. While we have been busy working around the railroad to get it ready to reopen our attention to safety of our club members and visitors is our priority. As a nonprofit organization we rely on our visitors support to help keep the railroad operational and continue to work towards reopen once the current health concerns have diminished. We look forward to sharing our hobby with you soon. In the meantime visit our Facebook page and website for information about future Public Ride dates. In the meantime, we continue to make improvements to the railroad including nearly 1,000 feet of new track being laid. We and look forward to seeing you around the railroad soon.

The annual August Club Fun Day brought the railroad to life for the first time this year. With all that is going on around us and the world it was great to see members and guests come out and enjoy the railroad and one another. Be on the look at for more activities around the Conyers & Hightower Trail Railroad in the coming weeks and months. Visit our Calendar page for the latest on what is going on around the club and railroad.

Today marked an incredible 24th workday at the railroad this year. The container project took another big step towards completion with the installation of the final pieces of flat bar for the track. The container now has about 160 feet of track on the ground giving us the ability to store all the riding cars, gondola, steam engine, and soon the club diesel all in one place. A couple of concrete blocks were also placed at the end of the container for the bridge to rest on. Next on the list of things to do in the container includes extending electrical into the new 20’ extension and install a couple of lights.