Entries by Adam Robillard

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

Riding on the success of yesterday's progress today our two goals for the day were to clean a few machines with the pressure washer, and unload the ties loaded onto the flatcar yesterday along the mainline.  The short version of the story is that both jobs were completed but not without a little excitement in between.

The crew today was myself, Tom Hunter, Jeron Glander, and a new volunteer, Patrick Shea. We started right away with the rented 3000psi heated pressure washer and cleaned up the tie crane, regulator and Model 50 Burro crane.  After cleaning the radiators on the burro it ran significantly better now that it has proper air flow drastically minimizing the possibility of overheating the engine.  We picked up our loaded flat car of ties and the EJ&E 529 caboose and headed out onto the carline.

The rest of the day was spent unloading around 400 ties along the mainline.  Tom expertly ran the crane while Jeron, Patrick and myself hooked and unhooked the bundles along the line, mostly between Seeman Rd and Four Mile Siding. We'll come back out with the tie crane sometime soon and distribute the ties where they'll be installed.  It was an incredibly productive day and called it quits after tying up shortly before sunset in Yard 11.  This week the rest of the ties (~250) should get loaded onto the flatcar which should allow us to repeat the job again next weekend.  Thanks again to Patrick for joining us for a second day in a row. Hope we didn't scare him away.

Adam Robillard
IRM Track Dept

Today unofficially marked the beginning of 'the busy season' by inspecting the first portions of the mainline for its return to revenue service in the coming weeks.

Food started off the morning in Marengo with Frank Devries and myself. After arriving to the property we were joined by Bob Olson and began walking track from Seeman Rd working East. The priority was to walk and mark ties to be replaced this year as well as inspect for the usual defects; joint bars, bolts, breaks, culverts and anything else that isn't quite right. We walked a few hours before calling it lunch at Subway. Tom Hunter met us there and we were off for a few more hours of inspection.

We officially walked from Signal 201/202 all the way to the east end of the line. A few hard miles in full winter gear.

Totals from the day include 387 ties marked for renewal between West Switch Johnson to Four Mile Siding (+ a few more not yet marked), one center broken joint bar and two pull aparts. At least another 100 ties will be marked once we clear ballast off the track between Poles 39-46ish. The goal is 700 ties on the mainline this year which we will begin to distribute next weekend. Slow orders and O.O.S. bulletins ARE posted and will stay in place until repaired. We called it a day with dinner at Joe's and wrapped up a lot of loose ends.

Frank will be out tomorrow and next weekend we'll begin loading flat cars with ties for distribution and probably working on repairs as well as continued inspection. Come out and join the fun!

***If you're interested in helping out give me a shout at lzeje657@msn.com or find any one of us on most weekend and we'll get you hooked up!

Adam Robillard
IRM Roadmaster
lzeje657@msn.com