Sunday, May 22. 2011

Posted by Adam Robillard in Track Department

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2011 Mainline Tie Project

Patrick Loading Tie Bundles onto the Flatcar. March 11

This year, like most years, the museum’s Track Department undertakes a large tie renewal job. This is a necessity to properly maintain our railroad and allow for a high quality ride all of our visitors and volunteers have come to expect. This year, it was decided to undertake one of the largest tie renewal projects to date, nearly 750. Typical years may see 500 ties replaced anywhere on the property where they’re most needed. This places a huge strain on us to complete the bulk of the work before operations ramp up in April and May. Whether it’s the Mainline, Carline or little used yard track the importance of maintaining our track for the safety of the public, our volunteers, and the fragile equipment we operate is always the top priority of the Track Department. Always…

So what does it take to get the job done? This process began last year with the purchase of the 750 brand new ties to be installed. All of which were delivered by truck and unloaded on the property.

Inspecting Track and Marking Bad Ties. March 11

During this year’s detailed track inspection beginning in the cool month of March we walked up and down the railroad not only inspecting the track, but also marked bad ties to be replaced. Once a majority of the ties were marked for replacement we had to figure out the best way to get the new ties on site. This year, because of the huge quantity of ties, we found it best to load all of them onto a flatcar and roll them out to the site. With our Burro crane we unloaded all of the bundles in the general locations that would be needed. This is not an easy process and most of this work happened during the last half of February and into March.

Unloading Tie Bundles on the Mainline with the Burro. March 11

Needless to say there was plenty of ice and snow on the ground to make the job difficult.

With the ties all on the ground, the lengthy process of placing each tie in the exact location where it was to be installed began. Mostly, this involved the tie crane and an operator working eight or nine hour days over the weekends.

New Tie Bundles Set Along the Mainline. March 11

This step took many weekends throughout March and April to complete. While that was happening, we also moved new spikes in locations they could be accessed and continually worked on machine maintenance. Things break, machines wear out, and we spend a lot of time and elbow grease keeping the machines in running condition.

With only our small core group of volunteers, and without the necessary equipment to do the actual replacement ourselves, we hired a railroad contractor to truck in their own equipment and swap the bad ties for the new ones. This took a solid week for the contractor to finish the job and then the cleanup of all the material was left to us.

Tom setting out new ties at Johnson Siding. April 11

As with most tie projects, the work typically disturbs the track severe enough to require a slow order. The problem of support under the ties becomes an issue without being properly tamped. Until that happens, the ties may not have enough ballast underneath which could create an unsafe condition.

At this point the race was on to clean up the railroad before the operating season gets into full swing. During this time all of the old ties were collected with the tie crane and placed in one large pile near Johnson Siding where they will eventually be picked up taken away by another railroad contractor.

Old Tie Pile at Johnson Siding. May 11

Just like when they were all set out, the job meant the tie crane and operator must spend long days peddling ties back and forth. This year it took us five or six full working days and detailed cleanup still isn’t finished. In addition to all of the ties, other material had to be picked up, such as old line poles and tree limbs. This adds considerable time and energy but needs to be done.

With the wood picked up we focused on gathering all of the steel scrap which took the form of 2,800 spikes from the tie job, hundreds of old tie plates and other track material left on the line from years past. This could only have been done quickly and efficiently with our Burro crane and its electromagnet.

Picking up Scrap with the Burro Crane. May 11

We took one of our flatcars and ran up and down the line until the flatcar was full of steel and brought it back to the property to be sorted.

That brings us to today. The next steps will be to get rid of our huge tie pile at Johnson Siding, and surface the railroad. Surfacing the railroad will be done in house using our ex Amtrak production tamper purchased a few years ago. Contracting an operation such as this would cost the museum another $40,000 and that does not include regulating the railroad afterward to finish the project! All of the work done in house by the Track Dept. easily cuts the total cost of the project in half and in this season alone has already saved the museum roughly $50,000. The alternative to any of what we do in house involves renting and trucking in equivalent machinery and paying contract wages. Work will continue throughout the season to tamp and dress the line working between operations and special events. Follow up maintenance on all of our machines and sorting materials from the line will take many more weekends of work.

Tom H. working on the Burro Crane in January 10

Without the equipment we have, most of this wouldn’t have been possible. While most of this work goes unseen to a majority of our volunteers and visitors, it is this work that is required for our museum to function as a world class operation.

None of this could be done without the dedication of our Track Department working odd hours in all sorts of conditions. Thanks to all who have helped on this project including Frank DeVries, Tom Hunter, Bill Lygiros, Patrick Shea, Jeron Glander, Mitch O'Brien, Bob Olson and Adam Robillard. Also we must thank everyone who supported the work including, but not limited to, the Operating Department granting us track time, Dave Diamond in the Buildings & Grounds Department, and anyone I may have missed.

Mainline at Night 08

…and that’s what it takes to get the job done

More Track Dept. photos from Frank Devries and Adam Robillard can be found in the Member's Photo Site here- http://www.irm.org/gallery/Members-Photos

Comments

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Are there any plans on extending the mainline east to Huntley or extend the mainline west thru Union to Marengo and beyond to most likely not Belvidere which has a Wye. Are their any plans for this?

#1 Matthew Gustafson on 2012-09-19 22:20 (Reply)

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