Railways and Forest Fires

In the days of steam , railways were the path of human contact through tinder dry forests . The sparks of dragging wheels , hot cinders blown from the stack and hotboxes on fire caused many forest fires .

vasmokeybear.blogspot

1908 LongLake West fire
www.nysforestranger.com

Looking for Railfires
USDA Forest Service

If the intense heat of severe drought can cause this...

Severe Drought and intense heat waves hit Russia
taco.assoc-web.com

... then what will the current fire near Kirkland Lake , Ontario leave behind for this high rail crew.

Kirkland Lake Fire ,May 2012
photo from Willy Renaud

Now why would a maintenance-of-way crew be out on the tracks with a fire raging toward them by the look of the flames?

The most they could do would be to return when its all come and gone, to assess damage.

However , one suggestion was that perhaps they dropped a fire fighting crew in the area and are waiting to evacuate them when needed. That sounds sensible since everyone who can is helping out on this fire . And the railway is the only way in to some areas where roads are few.

What do you think?

  

Railroad Spike Knife

This is recycling at it's best. When the first railways were built 'smithies' designed and churned out spikes . The Industrial Revolution was in full swing and foundries could mass produce spikes for the CPR push west.

Tension Builds

This song during the 60's as a teenager living in the CPR section house had a big impact on me. It captured the fear and panic of chaos at home and away.

I lived a lot of my life in fear , as I was a timid child in the a small world . Like most teenagers , I played the all-knowing role more for survival than in actual knowledge and experience. As long as others thought you knew something of life , there was no real challenge to your personal security. That behaviour got me through some personally scary times .

OOPS !

Did you see that I misplaced these last three posts. Sorry! They were for the Mattawa Fish blog . Well thank you for taking the time to look them over.

Ice Fishing accident!!

DON'T FISH ALONE .