Historic train in Buncombe County

Working on clearing the right-of-way for the spur

Libby found information about the Craggy Mountain Line recently. Apparently a non-profit is seeking to restore 3.5 miles of a Southern Railroad spur and equip it with historic vehicles. The non-profit has been going since 2001. Last month they set one of the vintage passenger cars back on trucks for the first time in 75 years. The line is based in Woodfin which is a bedroom community north of Asheville.

Some history of this line: the Asheville and Craggy Mountain Railway was intended in 1889 to travel between the city and this mountain north of town; it was never completed.

The new non-profit group has some ambitious plans including a park and museum as well as rides on the restored cars. Late last year the group finished phase one of their plan, which was restoring track. It seems like the spur will run from the center of Woodfin to the French Broad River.

Matt Tate of the Weaverville Tribune has been documenting the group's progress. Rocky Hollifield seems to be the key player within the non-profit's organization. It looks like they have a slew of rolling stock in various stages of restoration. At least one car is from Asheville's old trolley system; another is a C&O caboose. I'll try to take the boys over one day this summer to see if there is anything to see yet.

Car 119, recently completed restoration

Composting

We wound up with a couple of spare 55-gallon barrels recently. We're going to place one under a gutter down-spout. The other Libby wanted to turn into a compost container. I found a nice design for one that would rotate here. I took Briggs and bought the wood and hardware, and then got Eli to help me put it together. It took me about 3 hours to finish it. It works okay, even if there are some flaws in the construction (I would have preferred that crossing on the back side to be centered). Time to fill it up!