Track Department

Saturday was myself, Tom, Frank and Trackbolt (Frank's daughter). We split ourselves into two separate gangs for the day. Tom and I spent the full day out on the mainline cutting brush with the recently debugged Amtrak brush cutter while Frank and Emily did a bunch of smaller essential tasks. The day started out like most any other day. The cutter wouldn't start. Immediately thought it was a dead battery (now only 2 weeks old) so we attempted a jump but nothing. Turned out the 60A main breaker fuse was busticated so Frank made quick work getting the last two from Napa. With a new fuse she started right up given the 32deg temps. Ready to roll, Tom set the cutter on the rails at Central Ave and we rolled out to Karsten's crossing to continue where we last left off. Things went well for the first five minutes when a hydraulic line failed...Typical day. Thankfully we were not stuck on the mainline without a way back cause Frank was on the grounds and went through our stock of used hoses and ran the motorcar out to us with the correct hose! We were back up and running in 10 min flat. A new record I think! From then on out the cutter ran great and we finished the first "section" from Karsten's crossing to the big tree were the RoW runs next to a field and we don't need to cut the south side. Satisfied we ran the mower back to Karsten's crossing and started the other direction cutting through the curve. Low light came upon us far too quickly and we quit a few poles west of the crossing.

Frank and Emily not only saved the day (twice), but also replaced a heel block bolt on the East Station 1/2 switch and capped off the leaking line on the Model 50 Burro crane. I'm pretty sure the two of them had to travel to every hardware store in the county to find the correct fittings, but they did and until we can repair the cylinder we'll at least be left without a puddle of oil on the machine. Frank mentioned an issue with a wheel locking up on the Santa Fe truck. We'll need to send it to Dave D. in B&G to take a look at it.

Today I was out primarily to prepare for the Santa trains running the next two weekends. I cleaned the pockets on the 50th Ave/ West wye switch as well as the East/ West wye switch near Central Ave. Both locks on the switches on a shot of lub/ de-icer as well. The 50Ave switch got a little TLC and the switch ties are now spaced evenly and no longer crooked. Quick work with a lining bar. The mainline from East Switch to Seeman Rd, including Johnson Siding, was inspected and thankfully nothing major, pull aparts, were found. Julie, there will be a copy of the inspection sheet in your mailbox Saturday. I noted that the flange ways in Karsten's crossing were badly fouled so I cleaned them out. I think I've seen more derailments due to frozen crossings than anything and those CTA cars aren't that heavy. I finished the day with a cleaning out the bed of the Santa Fe truck and cleaning a few smudge pots for service next weekend. We have two pallets of kerosene switch heaters in the material yard so I found enough caps, wicks and pieces to get 6 put together. I was able to get 5 lit and working but I'll need to get another wick for the 6th. I dug them in and tested them out on the East/ West wye switch just after dark. They will be cool to use for the next couple weekends. I'm gonna try to be festive and get the two electric switch lanterns lit on the East Wye/ Yd 4 switch and the East/ West Wye switch lit as well. What's cooler than that...don't answer. Next Sat I plan a quick inspection of the mainline and get the pots and lanterns running and deal with any snow we'll have. Sayin 6-8 inches tonight for Union.

Adam Robillard

Frank and I were out today, naturally Frank was out Way before me though. Good thing because he installed the new radio in the Amtrak brushcutter where the old Amtrak one was mounted. Everything is installed ready to go minus the power to the unit. Nice work for sure.

I arrived after lunch with the intention of getting the wine car parts unloaded from the UP hopper from California... Nick asked nicely. Frank had gone over the Model 50 earlier topping off fluids and repairing a tranny leak he found coming off the main pump. seems a lock nut was loose and was leaking at high RPM's. gonna have to keep an eye on that one. Frank was today's crane operator and his luck doesn't seem to be improving when it comes to travel mode. He was able to get it to move one direction but not the other. He found that pivoting the boom one way or the other made it function which tells us the contacts on the swivel post are dirty or corroded... After a while it worked fine so Frank said he'll clean up the contacts and hope that solves the problem.

We picked up the UP hopper on station 2 and dragged it over to the steam leads where we picked out the 2 complete freight car trucks, coupler, diesel loco foot boards and steam loco firebox from the car. The car by the way, still has half a load of 20 year old coal in it. Thanks to Jim W and Dan M for running the USA8537 for the day. After lifting the trucks from the car, Jim W pulled the car out and Frank lowered the truck to the ground where Nick was ready with the forklift to move the trucks to Yard 10. Everything went smoothly including the unloading of the 1800's steam locomotive firebox that came along.

To wrap up the day Jim, Frank and I dug the EJ&E 529 caboose out from 100 track and put it in Yard 11 for us to use with the Burro crane. The heat does work and I imagine we'll use it this winter.

All in all it was a good day.

Adam Robillard

The big project for the weekend was the extension of 40 track near the electric car shop.

Saturday's crew was myself, Tom H, Steve L and help from Jeron G. After a trip to Farm & Fleet, Tom continued to tackle the brush cutter in yard 11 replacing more fluids and filters as well as replacing the battery. The machine was almost entirely lubed and ready to use when the starter went out near the end of the day... Sunday Tom managed to get the starter removed and is getting a repair done during the week. Steve, Jeron and myself spent the rest of the day getting material ready for 40 track by locating and loading the rails, tie plates and joint bars. Thanks to Stan from the car shop the Amtrak flatcar was dug from yard 13 and placed with the Model 50 burro while two of us dug out the hydraulic power pack from Track 24. The flatcar was loaded up and by that time it was time to hit the road.Sunday's crew was myself, Tom H and Steve from the track dept as well as MANY more folks from the electric car shop. We had a bunch of help from from other depts including freight car, passenger coach and diesel as well as the day progressed. John B from the freight car dept helped us out from start to finish, thanks for the help and good meeting you John! At the start of the day, 40 track was cleared off by the shop folks using the Milwaukee Electric L7. After laying out the ties and getting our machines to the work area, we torch cut the rail to length, drilled holes in the existing rail, bolted it all together, laid out tie plates, spiked and gaged the track, raised leveled lined, dressed the track and to top it off we spotted the caboose in its final resting spot. In total we built 24' of new track and it took us till dark to finish it all up. The Model 50 burro crane got a good workout as the workhorse crane of the day. We used the forklift to set the ties, burro crane to set the rail, hydraulic power pack to drill the holes, air compressor to spike the ties and tie crane to nip the ties. Incredibly nothing needed to be jump started the entire day... Thanks to everyone for braving the cold including those who could only help out for a little while. It was all appreciated and very enjoyable working together with everyone. It was tiring but I think most of us can agree it was all very rewarding when it was all said and done.

The next big project will most likely end up being the yard 11 project. With or without stone there is a lot of work to still get done including the construction of the new 11-4 track and first pass with the tamper on the other 3 tracks. Until that gets underway we will continue to cut brush along the mainline and get more work done of other machines such as the Jackson 6000 tamper, switch tamper and EJ&E 580 & 585 motorcars.

I will eventually get some photos up on my Member's Photo page soon from the weekend. http://www.irm.org/gallery/lzeje657

Adam Robillard

The team today was myself, Tom H, Frank D and our newest track dept volunteer Steve L.

The previously mentioned ex Amtrak brush cutter saw its first day of service today. After a typical jump start, we drove it over to Barn 2 where we had a battery charger running while the rest of us greased the entire machine, cleaned it up and checked fluids. It turns out the alternator which we thought was bad was working fine, but the battery was shot. It wasn't holding a charge so that will be the first thing to be replaced on it soon. Mid morning the car dept brought out the West Towns 141 for a switch move. The car looks great and was the first time i've seen the car outside. Can't wait to ride on it someday soon. Always though blue was a good color for streetcars.

The cutter had its fuel topped off and we headed to Central Ave where we set the machine on the tracks and ran it to Karsten's crossing. There Frank and I got a crash course in its operation, which is a beast to get used to, but we managed to cut a couple hundred feet of brush on both sides of the RoW. We found that the line poles for the overhead is going to cause a headache to cut around, but to do a quality cut of the right of way we'll have to spend the extra time to do it right. Steve met us out on the main line around noon and got his first views of the machine as well. The cutter is a two person machine, one driving/ operating one boom and the other person operates the other boom. I think we all agree that it's a pretty powerful machine, enough to cut 5" trees in half...

After a late lunch at Wendy's, the four of us met up in Yard 11 to do a few test lifts with the model 50 burro crane. The cold weather made starting the crane very difficult even with the block heater plugged in for most of the day. We did get it to fire and test lifted 3 track panels to measure weights for the new track in yard 11. A few new operators got a chance to run the crane for the first time and all did exceptionally well. All of the track panels are within the capabilities of our crane to handle including the stack furthest away. The 6000 tamper and Model 50 Burro are both on 11-0 track with access to power for the block heaters. We couldn't find a heater on the 6000 tamper (if it even has one) so that is not plugged in. Minus the seasonally cold and crappy weather, today turned out to be a great day. Thanks a lot to Steve for coming out and helping in this subprime weather. Even though it'll get cold and the snow will fly, we'll be working outside a lot taking advantage of the offseason not worrying about revenue trains. If anyone wants to help out there is always something to do. Next weekend will probably be brushcutting, prepping barn 11 or continuing machine maintenance. The switch tamper needs an oil change/ filter and the brush cutter does as well. More to come throughout the week...

Adam Robillard

The weather has been far too good lately...we are in for a long winter...

Saturday the track dept was myself, Tom H and Frank D. We had a 30 second reunion to start off the day because both Frank and Tom have been away from IRM for some time and this was a historic momemt...well not really, but ya know. The weather cooperated great. It's certainly fall, but we couldn't ask for better weather.

Our original plan was to build track in yard 11 or raise tracks in yard 11 in preparation for the barn. Unfortunately we were not able to touch yard 11 because the contractor was still occupying the building due to some unforeseen issues with the metal siding... Still determined to get something done we spoke with the electric car shop and they allowed us to use the pit in Barn 4 to get some much needed work done on a number of our machines. First for the day was the Model 50 burro crane which we had gotten running last weekend. As in true IRM fashion, we had to jump start the machine early in the day in yard 11. The engine was just too cold to get going but once we got it running it ran great. Over the pit we greased the entire underframe, topped of the transmission with ATF, inspected/ greased the deck rotation gearing, troubleshot a bad hydraulic leak (more to come on that), checked oil levels in the engine, axle gear cases, coolant level and a number of other small tasks. After we were pleased with that, we took the crane outside to test everything and locate the hydraulic leak. It seems the boom extension cylinder inside of the boom is the problem. When the boom is extend and retracted what we believe is the hydraulic seal on the cylinder itself leaks bad and drips oil out the backside of the boom. A repair to this is pretty substantial due to the fact that the cylinder is probably 30ft long and 6'+ in diameter and rests inside of the all welded boom... A few plans are being cooked up now for a remedy, but for now the boom extension is out of service but otherwise the crane itself is not in harm and still in service. The crane is ready for building yard track 11-4 when the time comes.
Continue reading "Track Department Update"