Track Department

Again, today's primary function is to protect the Santa Trains. Again, Today's cast of track department characters, was again, Me, Myself, and I.  Tom Arrived around 1400 but was engaged in conversation for the duration of his visit.

Since mother nature finished with the white stuff yesterday, and the snow wasn't really drifting. So a quick sweep of the snow, and the switches were in service.

Since there wasn't much to keeping the trains running, it was off to the barn where, as always, there is a plethora of work to do. This wasn't such a bad thing as the temps were hovering in the teens for the duration of the day.  To start with, I replaced handles on a couple of spike mauls, and a sledge that all had met an untimely fate.  Next up was to continue working on our hanger queen - the switch tamper.

When last we left our heroes the switch tamper had a motor fail, as well as a power cable to another motor. There was also a hydraulic leak due to a failed crimp on one of the new hoses.  Only on track machines can you do a 100% hose replacement, and still get failed hoses!!!!! So I found the old hose,and re-installed it to take care of the leak.  Next up, was to re-wire the cable. The old cable was held into it's mount with some caulk and some press fittings. Fortunately we had replacement SOOW cable on the shelf, as well as the mounting lugs, so a repair was in order.  All was going well until I went to wire the cable back on the machine.  Apparently when the cable was taken off, one of the screws was lost.  A small search was mounted and a suitable replacement was found.  Next up was to remove the failed motor. Four bolts and a few minutes later, a small push and the motor was on the ground.

About this time, it was time for a thaw break. Off towards the silver cars I went, when I was told of the festivities in barn 4.  So some chit chat, some food and some awesome apple cider.  Of course that about did it for work for the day.  A tour of the KC PCC car by Frank S., one last throw of the switch for the winter trains, and it was time to call it a day.

All that is left on the Switch tamper is to mount a replacement motor on the machine, and we should (again) be ready to work. Another big project for this winter is to "ring out" the wiring on the 6000 tamper and verify we don't have a wiring problem on that machine.

Frank D.

Today's activity was to protect the Winter trains. Today's track department consisted of me, myself, and I.

Continuing the tradition, we have had snow for each and every IRM winter train season. The track department had prepared earlier in the fall for these trains, and in fact prepared a third switch for smudge pots to keep our switches clear of snow during these trains.  Adam prepared the East Wye switch, and I prepared the two switches used previously, South Wye, and 50th ave.

I arrived around 09:30 and it was still snowing. I loaded up a snow broom and shovel, and started work clearing switches. In about an hour and a half, I had the switches cleared of the 2 to 3 inches of snow, and the pots all lit. A quick trip to Karstens crossing to make sure the crossing wasn't iced in, and a quick lunch. Upon returning from lunch, I started to search for the clamps we use on the switch stand by Depot Street. I searched and searched without success. I figured I would do some creative engineering to get it through the day. When I arrived to hook up the battery, I pulled the end of the cable out from under the switch stand and found someone had already attached said clamps to the lamp. I hooked up the battery, then went to run an extension cord for the switch lamp at South Wye. I have no idea why one was wired for 12V and the other for 110VAC. We do need to take them down in spring and remove the wasp nests in both.

The rest of the day was tending to the East wye switch, and keeping the pots lit. We had a couple that just did not seem to want to keep going. I wound up changing out a couple wicks and they were off to the races. The last train ran at 4PM. I made one more round to fuel the smaller pots, and put them out for the night. With no more snow in the forecast, we probably won't need the pots tomorrow.

I will post some photos to the IRM Members page a little later.

Frank D.