I'd say it's time for an update from the track dept. eh? Things have
been quite in the dept for some time but this past weekend we managed
to whip out the spike mauls and tools for a little spiking practice.
More on that to follow....
Saturday's
project was primarily aimed at repairing a few machines that have seen
very little attention in the last few weeks...months...Adam made a trip
to Crystal Lake where he picked up a brand new alternator for the Model
50 burro crane and found the correct hydraulic adapter for the front
plow on the ballast regulator at Leaches. The first task after arriving
was to repair the hydraulics on the ballast regulator which was done
fairly quickly. It is now fixed and back in service. In the process
Adam was joined by Andy C. and Jean who was walking the Carline marking
switch ties to be replaced in the coming year...the plan hear is that
our track contractor, Volkmann, will be brought in to do the tie
work..pending budget money of course. Shortly afterward, Tom H. showed
up along with R. Scott Davis from the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and
with Warren and Nathaniel's help we installed the alternator in the
Burro crane. Everything fit but the batteries were dead so we couldn't
test it out. That wrapped up the day for most of us as we had to leave
early with other obligations.
Sunday's plan was to regage a
portion of the turnout side of the power switch in Carline Jct. The
gage was found to be 58"+ which by the FRA is not allowed to be run
over by any trains let alone passengers... So myself, Tom H and R.Scott
set out to replace 2 10' ties to hold gage in the track because most of
the ties throughout the switch are pretty much shot which was the cause
of the problem. We woke up the tie crane, found the ties and replaced
them under traffic. We were joined by Warren L from the diesel dept and
had both ties pulled and new ones reinstalled without any "abnormal"
disruption to revenue traffic.
Tom and Adam hand spiked the
ties, which were the hardwood equivalent to concrete, cleaned
everything up and we all hit the dog stand for lunch around 2PM. The
tie crane was left first out on Tk 24 for Julie to use in the signal
dept. After lunch we worked on a couple of guard rails in carline jct
replacing broken bolts and adjusting the guard rails so they are tight
and do what they are supposed to do. The last excitement for the day
was on the model 50 burro crane. We charged the battery's and fired her
up in the barn. After troubleshooting some air intake issues she fired
right up only to find that the new alternator is not charging...
another project for another day. While we had it running, we attempted
to troubleshoot the outriggers which previously Wes L. could get to
move up. We found that the wiring is the problem and will need to be
looked at next time. For now the riggers are still stuck down in the
barn. After that issue and the other electrical issues are resolved, we
hope to get the crane outside and tested so we can use it to set the
track panals in the new barn 11 once it's complete.
If we cannot
use this crane, then we will have to get the steam shop to supply their
Brownhoist and an operator to build the new track 11-4. The hope is to
get the barn completed as soon as possible so after the construction is
complete. There will be a lot of work to be done on the track before
anything can go inside, so look forward to a call to arms within the
next few months. Tom H. brought out two vibrator motors for the Jackson
6000 tamper which need to get installed in the tamper before we can use
it on Barn 11. Hopefully we can do that in the next few weeks. It was a
fun weekend working on track projects and with operations winding down
for the season we will have a chance to do more track work on the
weekends. As always feel free to email me or join us one of these
weekends. The more help we get, the more stuff we can get done. Thanks
to all of our "special" guests for the motivation and the help. Until
next time...
Adam Robillard
