Entries by Adam Robillard

Saturday Report by Frank DeVries:

Tom, Adam, and myself made up the crew. I arrived early and resolved an air leak problem in the mower, I found one of the air lines had gotten out of place and rubbed against the drive shaft. I replaced two hoses with a quick trip to Napa, and pulled them up into the cab and had the machine running again. While at NAPA, I also retrieved the hydraulic filter for the same machine. Tom and Adam were out next. Tom took the mower to get fueled, and was back on the main to finish mowing. Adam went to barn 2 to finish draining the fuel out of the 585.

I continued to work on bolts to remove the two failed motors off the Jackson 6000 tamper, but decided north winds and 33 degrees, this was a job better left for another day. Off to the barn. After Adam drained the fuel and re-filled the tank with fresh gas, Adam and I tackled the leaking brake calipers on the 585. We jacked and cribbed the front of the car to allow access to the underside. Since the bolts didn't want to budge, we employed the blue wrench and quickly had the old calipers off the car. In short order we had the new calipers on, and bled, and tested. This car should stop on a dime, and give nine cents change. About this time, Tom was coming back to the property, having finished mowing the main. After a minor derailment, we had the mower put away. That machine will need to be greased again after it's winter workout.

After lunch, Adam got the fork lift out to sort material back by yard 10/11. Tom and I switched out 24 track to get the tamper and tie crane first out. Monday Wes and Warren Lloyd are going to again do the track department a huge favor and go retrieve the engine for the tamper. If they have time, and the snow isn't too high against the door, they will once again put this engine back on the frame of the tamper. Hopefully Fischbach has it right this time. Next weekend we will have to get this baby out and break her in.

After the switch move, it was back to the 585 to get the engine running again. I left our heroes improvising a new rubber fuel line to the fuel pump. I'll run to Napa next time and get some replacement 1/2" ID fuel hose to complete that job.

Frank D.

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Sunday's Report by myself:

Today started out kinda dreary; snow on the ground, drizzle and lots of clouds. 

Today's gang was myself, Tom H, and Frank D.  Frank got out first and replaced a fuel line on the EJ&E 585 taking care of a small fuel leak.  I joined shortly afterward and we headed to the Model 50 burro crane in Yard 10.  Our goal was to test the recently repaired transmission and decided to dig two cars out of Yard 13.  We needed the C&NW flatcar for Four Mile Siding and the gondola for scrap loading.  With Frank as the operator we found out just how much the crane can haul.  We were able to move 1 load and 5 empties at once...  Not bad for a smaller crane.  Playing it safe we cleaned out Yard 13 and moved everything to Yard 14 in three car cuts.  We got our two cars and brought them over to Yard 11.  We expected to take the entire day digging out the cars in Yard 13 but in fact we were done a lot sooner than planned. By the time Tom arrived we were finished and decided to head back out to Yard 13 to start shuffling track panels around to build Track 134.  We used the Burro crane to dig out all of the 100-25lb panels and set them roughly in place.  We got six set in place and there are four more 100lb panels to set. One at the bottom of a stack in Yd13, two are on the Rock Island flatcar and one is on the connector track under the switch timbers.  Those four should put us within a few rails of the end of track.  Yard 13 is clear so we can come in with the rail saw and drill and crop the panels together.  Complete, this will add about 600' of storage space to the yard.  Frank did a great job on the crane today and the machine didn't have any failures to report.

As soon as Barn 11 is ready for us to work in, we will.  Within the next few weeks we'll try and get the three 112lb track panels to Four Mile Siding and set in place, just as we did in Yard 13.  By the time we left the sun was out in full force without a cloud in sight with temps in the mid 40's.  The property was almost entire void of other life, but it was well worth the trip out.

Check out the rest of my photos from the day in my Member's Album: http://www.irm.org/gallery/album144

Adam Robillard
Roadmaster
lzeje657@msn.com

March 13-14, 2009

Last Saturday's gang was Tom, Frank, Steve and myself.  The original goal for the weekend was to get the mainline walked and inspected for defects and Tom continue to brush cut on the main.  Frank and I ended up getting out early and spent the entire day walking from MP0 to MP 4.8 marking defects along the way.  We came up with 3 full pages of issues to correct, mostly loose bolts and missing washers, but a few other important defects like sink holes near 4 culverts...  A day of repairs will be necessary very soon, but for now the line is open to 40MPH without any speed restrictions. Tom spent all day on the mower cutting brush from Seeman Rd to Four Mile Siding.  He made huge progress cutting areas with very heavy brush.  The improvement is very noticeable. 

Our third gang, Steve, worked on property all day.  He worked all day getting the EJ&E 580 motorcar cleaned up and running, which he ended up getting started later in the evening.  It hasn't run in years.  Before we got the EJ&E 585 motorcar this was Frank's project.  The 585 sidelined this project and has sat dormant since.  We now have two A-8C Motorcars operable for the first time.  Way to go Steve!

Sunday was Frank, Steve and myself.  We hit the main early with the EJ&E 585 motorcar, hydraulic power cart and tie crane and headed to Four Mile Siding.  Frank ran the crane prepping the siding extension for three track panels... This involved picking up about 50 ties laid out and clearing the area for weeds.  In the meantime, Steve and I drilled two bolt holes at the end of a rail that had never been drilled on the siding.  We now have bolts in both rails and the joint put back together.  There is no reason Four Mile can't hold revenue trains now.  We greased the new power switch at Four Mile, and continued greasing all of the spring switches as we headed back to the property for lunch. After a trip to pizza, I headed back out on the main with a bucket of switch grease and hit all of the spring and power switches on the mainline and station areas.  Frank and Steve headed toward the 580 and worked on the brakes.  Saturday the 580 ran, and Sunday the 580 stopped!  The brakes hadn't worked correctly for years, and now it runs and stops.  The only issue holding up a test run is that it's buried behind about a million freight cars and engines in yard 10 - 100 track.  Until the diesel guys get a large loco running to move everything it'll hang in limbo.  Again kudos to Steve and Frank for the work!
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March 21-22, 2009

This weekend we had a different focus.  Saturday we picked up the transmission filter for the Model 50 Burro crane from NAPA we had previously ordered.  Getting that and a complete set of filters for the 6000 filters set up the day's tasks.  Frank was out with Trackbolt (Frank's daughter Emily) and Tom was out with Tyler.  Frank and Emily did wonders getting oil changed and filters replaced on the 6000 while Tom and Tyler did a great job cutting the mainline.  By dark Tom had the entire line cut from one end to the other! Only a few chainsaw jobs left and we are 100% done with brushcutting.  As promised, the line is tree free by regular ops next month.  Tyler and Emily helped me top off the transmission fluid in the Model 50 burro and we tested it out with much success. A few hickups, but it seems with the proper amount of ATF and a clean filter the crane hauls very well.  We tested it by moving cars around Yd 11.

    The diesel guys had a bunch of trucks that needed to be rolled into storage at Yard 13... Long story short, 3 axle trucks don't roll well through streetcar curves.... We assisted by re railing those trucks about 10 times in a span of 3 hours... We had one set of trucks tucked away and another set half way to it's storage spot when the main radiator coolant line on the 50 Burro blew apart leaving the crane paralyzed with a passenger truck hanging from the hook.. This was around 9PM and we called it a day until we got parts due to lack of options to lower the trucks...

Sunday Tom and I made it out mid-afternoon armed with 5 gallons of antifreeze and a new hose.  By the time I showed up Tom had the new hose installed and antifreeze topped off and we fired up the crane.  We finished re railing the passenger truck with the crane and Tom hooked it up to the Jeep with a chain to drag it into it's storage spot a few rail lengths down.  It was a sight to see and got the job done without any more derailments or broken windshields...thank goodness.  The rest of the day was moving equipment around for the next project and getting the Burro Crane put away. 

Thank you everyone for all the hard work so far this year.  Soon we'll wind down the machine maintenance and focus more on projects.  Coming up soon we are going to try to get Four Mile Siding extended another 150', repair defects on the main and prep machines for tamping and tie work.  Machines that still need a fair amount of work is the Jackson 6000 tamper and the Model 30 Burro crane (X-17). We are out nearly every Saturday and help will be appreciated more and more as we get into the operating season.  Let me know if you can join in the fun!

Adam Robillard

Roadmaster

lzeje657@msn.com

Despite the cold and snow the last few months the Track Dept has continued to press on.  Since the museum has been closed after the Santa Trains in December we've been spending time on the mainline cutting brush along the Right-of-Way.  The primary focus of this is to clean up the railroad to increase visibility for train crews and prevent brush from coming in contact with the sides of equipment...  We have a majority of the railroad cut west of Johnson Siding and as weather and time allow we will continue eastward.  This is a very slow process due to the number of line poles along our railroad but we've made significant progress.  We are pushing to have the railroad fully cut before revenue operations begin as not to tie up the line during the spring. 

Other cold weather projects have been happening in our shop area inside Barn 2 on Track 24.  We've spend time giving a number of our track machines oil and filter changes and repairing them as needed.  A short list of those projects include reattaching any missing hoses on the broom of the ballast regulator, cleaning and maintaining our work area in the shop and prepping the engine in the switch tamper for removal and repair.

This past weekend the warm temperatures brought us outside to begin work on the line.  Saturday Frank Devries and Adam Robillard were out and the first order of bussiness was to help the Signal/ DC Line dept replace a bad impedance bond on the far west end of the railroad.  We brought out the tie crane, loaded up the new bond on a track cart and Frank ran the crane to West Schmidt.  I met him out there and we had the new one installed fairly quickly.  Returning from the field we switched track 24 getting the switch tamper in order to allow the engine to be removed during the week.  The clean work space in Tk 24 made this task a lot easier.  After finishing up we headed over to the Model 50 Burro Crane in Yd 11 to troubleshoot the travel.  We began having problems with the transmission nearly two months ago and were now unable to get the crane into reverse....  It turns out a 3/8" X 1-1/2" bolt had been replaced in the past with a smaller bolt underneath the machine.  This smaller bolt allowed too much play and prevented the piston from engaging into reverse on the transmission...  A quick exchange with the correct size bolt solved that problem and the travel works, dare I say, reliably.  We still need to change the hydraulic filter and troubleshoot the outriggers, but the crane is back in service. 

Sunday Frank and I were joined by Steve Lewkowycz and we decided to tackle the first of many switch timbers that need replacement along our streetcar line.  We got materials and tools out from their winter hiding spots and began by replacing a 16' timber in the switch leading to Yard 10 on the south end of the carline.  We used the tie crane for the hard work and air compressor to spike it all up.  The job ran quicker than any of us expected it too and next we tackled two head block ties in the switch leading to Yard 4 West near Depot Street.  The existing ties were in horrible condition and were unable to hold the switchstand in place.  The ties broke into 30 pieces when we attempted to pull them proving their ineffectiveness.  A few hours and a few slices of pizza from Rosatti's later we got the two new 15' ties installed and spiked up.  We needed to regage about 15ft of track off of the points to bring the switch back into gage.  The switch stand was reinstalled and we called it quits after that.  Kudos to Steve for venturing out for the day and helping with the work.  We have many carline switch timbers to replace this season so any help would be much appreciated. 

The next few weeks will include more brush cutting on the mainline and machine maintenance.  If we can get a good crew together and a few nice days we can continue replacing ties.  There is more than enough work to keep us busy before operations make our jobs much more difficult.  We will begin inspections in early March.  This includes a complete walking inspection of all revenue tracks (mainline, carline, sidings) and building a list of defects we need to fix before operations begin in April.  Typically we will find enough work to keep us busy for two weekends repairing the defects.  Help is always needed during this time to ensure the line is open without speed restrictions or Out-of-Services for the operations dept.  If you'd like to help us out in the Track Dept. feel free to send me a line at lzeje657@msn.com.  Did I mention the good exercise you gain from working with us?  Check out updated photos of our work at my photos folder here.  http://www.irm.org/gallery/lzeje657 

As I learn more about this blog i'll incorporate pics in the future..

Adam Robillard - Roadmaster