Entries by Adam Robillard

Our task this past weekend was to construct the new 11-4 track inside of the Barn in yard 11.  We had a really good group out Saturday to work taking time from their normal tasks to help us out.  The crew was the regular track gang, Frank D, Tom H, Steve L and Adam R and we were joined by Jamie K, Pete P, Warren L from the diesel dept and Erik M, a long distance volunteer from Nebraska. 

Friday Frank D, Andy C and Erik M came out to prep for the day.  They spiked up the remaining ties from last weekend and got tools, machines and material ready for Saturday.  When we arrived Saturday we split into three groups.  The first group used the Model 50 Burro crane and shuttled panels into the Barn and set them into place.  That group consisted of Tom H at the controls of the Burro and Jamie K and Warren L hooking, walking and setting each panel into place.  The second group consisted of Frank D, Pete P and Erik M hooking each panel up and inserting ties under joints.  The last gang was myself, Adam R, on the X-17 Model 30 Burro topping off the ballast cars from our ballast pile out the Barn door.

By lunch we had all but three panels set, and both ballast cars loaded (kinda overloaded...) ready to be dumped.  It was very hot out so we kept cool with a cooler of ice and water.  Dave Diamond also came over to help realign the track at the Barn door sill with the backhoe.

After lunch we regained our strength and finished up building the entire track to the west end of the Barn!  Bob Olson and myself ran into the material yard for a quick trip to locate more joint bars while the Erik ran our hydraulic rail saw cropping the ends of the rails and getting the last short panel set.  The next step before ballast was to finish up the Quality Control work and spiked up all of the joint ties with the air compressor suspended from the Burro crane and spiking gun.  Steve L did a great job nipping the ties while Frank D and Jamie K preset the spikes.  Adam R ran the spiking gun and Tom H kept the air compressor moving along in the Burro Crane. Once we cleaned up our mess from the construction it was time to do a rough alignment of the track to make surfacing easier later on.  We hooked a chain to the Burro and at an angle and tugged on the track to drag it into place, 15’ from 11-3 track.

With a motivated crew, we figured the next reasonable step would be to dump ballast on our new track.  Jamie K and Pete P grabbed the USA 8537 to dump the ballast.  An attempt to move the cars with the Model 50 burro proved to be too much on the tough grade into the barn.  Adam R, Pete P, Tom H and Steve L ran the four ballast doors while Frank D and Jamie K ran the move.  We dumped the entire track with a car and a half of stone in a matter of minutes.  Our last task, due to the dwindling light, was to plow out the ballast with our new Amtrak Ballast regulator to prep for the tamper.  This was the first time we’ve used this machine and I think we can all say it was an amazing success.  A few minor tweaks and lack of use issues came up, but we did manage to run the machine down the entire track without any real problems.  It will be a good machine once we get it through ‘our shop.’ 

With this said, 11-4 track is completely built! This Saturday we will begin the process of getting the Amtrak Jackson 6000 tamper adjusted, lubed and running and hopefully continue to reload our ballast cars.  Until the electrical portions of the building are complete, we will work on raising 11-4 track inside the barn and tamping the approaches to the doors outside of the barn.  This will be a process of raising, dumping stone, regulating, raising…and so on.  We need to raise the track up nearly a foot in some places and that will take time. 

Congrats to everyone so far who’s helped on this project.  The help from within the museum really makes things easier for everyone working and shows the commitment they have toward the museum.  To find more pics on the Yard 11 project Frank D regularly updates his page here: http://www.irm.org/gallery/album182 Check ‘em out. Thanks,

 

Adam Robillard

IRM Roadmaster

Today we took a large step toward the completion of Barn 11. The gang today was Frank, Trackbolt, Steve and myself. The goal today was to build off the newly constructed switch and extend the track into the Barn and begin setting track panels inside the building on the new 11-4 track.

Frank and Trackbolt (Frank's daughter) were the first ones out and had the yard sorted and tools prepped for the days work. When I showed up Frank and I hooked up the first short track panel. We made a few cuts, drilled a few holes and installed a few ties. By lunch the first panel was in place!

After lunch Steve joined us and we started by installing the first long track panel which extends through the door sills. The Model 50 Burro crane made quick work of the actual install process and the rest of the sweat was getting everything in line and bolted together. Once the panel through the door was in place we brought in the next two panels, laid them in place and bolted them up as well. Nick joined us with the bobcat and backhoe and helped place some stone on the new track to make it safe to travel across. Dave D. helped us engineer the tracks through the door sill and find our eventual rail height. There is a lot of QC work to be done on this new stretch of track but nothing our own track dept isn't capable of handling. We will need to finish spiking up a couple of ties, tamp the barn approaches and insert ties under the joints between panels.

From here on out the rest of the track will be built 'relatively easily' with the remaining track panels and Model 50 Burro crane. We have the air compressor and hydraulic power tools to assist us in the construction. The entire process works best with 3-4 people. Anyone is free to join in during this process. We always appreciate the help!

Next Saturday we will again spend the day working on Barn 11 out of the Thomas spotlight. We will attempt to complete the work on the new portion and place more track panels. Our two ballast cars have been loaded by our Model 30 Burro crane and bucket and are ready to be dumped on the track soon. Frank was the "official" photographer for the day and he'll be posting pics in his Member's Photo page on the IRM site soon.

Thanks,

Adam Robillard, Roadmaster

The heat this weekend reminded me just how much I like early spring and late fall... anything over 65 degrees is just too hot.  But the high humidity Saturday didn't stop us from working.  The gang this weekend was Tom H, Steph J, Steve L, myself and special guests JD Marzec, Greg Frech both from the steam shop and John from the carshop who was attending for regular membership.  As advertised, most of us arrived on time and prepped for a trip to Four Mile Siding to replace the switchpoint on the turnout side of the new power switch.  We split into two groups to start out. Steve, Steph and John got the J580 A8 Motorcar, Welding cart and hydraulic cart switched out of Barn 2 while Tom, JD and Greg got the Model 50 Burro, CNW flat and EJ&E 529 caboose together in Yard 11.  I ran around gathering fuel, water and ice and got the forklift out to load the new switch point onto the flatcar. 

We made it out to Four Mile and were joined by Julie J and Bob O from the signal dept to replace the point.  We made quick work out of the job and had the new rods on, including the 'new' #2 rod within an hour.  It seems this point is indeed correct and will work fine.  We made the slow trek back to the property a bit after 1PM and had everything put away around 2PM.  I'm glad to report that all of our machines worked very well and the only thing that required a jump start was the forklift...sigh

The rest of the day we spent mostly in Yard 11 cleaning off the C&NW flatcar and continuing to load our scrap gondola.  The old switchpoint was set up near B&G for Volkmann.  JD was able to cut frog bolts with our oxy/ acetelyne torch making quick work out of that.  Everyone did a very good job and I appreciate all of the help.  I think everyone had an enjoyable day but I've been known to be wrong..

Sunday was only slightly lower key.  Tom, Steph and I made up the Track Dept while Steve L spent the day helping the Electric car shop in Barn 4. The goal was to cut brush near Karsten's crossing with the Amtrak brushcutter before operations got underway.  Tom and Steph arrived on time and got the machine out and on the rail early.  After the Electric car shop finished testing of the overhead on the main it was our turn to get on the line.  I showed up just as they were finishing up the first section of cutting and just as the machine developed an air leak... An old air line under the machine came loose from its fitting which put us out of service on the main until we could come up with a fix.  An hour or so later, after numerous trips to the property and failed attempts at a repair we ended up changing the entire hose.  We got ourselves back in service and cleared the mainline for revenue service shortly after.  There is still a little bit of cutting left to do near Karsten's but the worst area has been taken care of. It was a warm weekend and proved how important it is to carry water with us on the line.  We have a cooler in Barn 2, lets remember to keep it full. 

In the next few weeks we will need to take care of some housekeeping chores.  The fire inspector will be coming soon and we have a list of things to clean up ASAP.  All of the plastic hanging from the ceiling in Tk24 will need to come down and the aisles need to be clear.

Until next time...

Adam Robillard
Roadmaster
lzeje657@msn.com