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Monday, October 17. 2011
There was a lot going on this weekend so I will post a few pics and short report on the project to rebuild 31 Track and some work on the turnouts leading there, to start out the posts this week. There was a large track crew on hand, here seen spiking in new switch ties at the first switch in Yard 3. The old ties were pulled out and new ones slid in under the rails. On Sunday a mechanized tamper ventured inside the dark confines of Barn 3 to make the first tamp on the new track and gravel. Adam Robillard was at the controls.
Sunday, May 22. 2011
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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. …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
Saturday, April 30. 2011
Trying to beat karma to the punch....
The weather was beautiful today... and that was the problem... Today's plan was to get some minor repairs done on the tie crane. We are once again getting ready to go pick up about 720 ties that were changed out by Volkmann a couple weeks ago. So to avoid problems we did a little preventative maintenance.
I arrived at the museum about 9AM and found Bill there already. Bill and I started to de-fuel the tie crane. Even though the fuel was out of the sight glass there was still about 10 to 15 gallons of fuel left in the tank. We drained the fuel then took the hose off the tank. We also removed the fuel sight tube to replace that as well. Jeron showed up and we ran to town to grab parts. While I replaced the fuel hose, and sight tube, Jeron replaced the damaged mirror and Bill replaced the windshield wiper. We drained the fuel out of the transfer tank, but that was a drop in the tank so to speak. Unfortunately I left my keys in my winter coat..... at home.... SO no truck key, no fuel key.... Guess I'll fuel the crane in the morning.
After that it was time to take in some of the sights of the Illinois Terminal to do. I took a ride (my first I'll add) on the IT B motor, to see how the ride is after our tie change out. It's not perfect, but the 25MPH speed restriction seems to be adequate until we can get the line tamped.
While out and about today I did find three more sticks of rail along the ROW, that we need to get picked up and in the gon. One is out near the Big tree, the other two are along the main line just east of the depot. We also need to re-set the whistle post along the main. I think we can just pick it up and add some ballast to hold it up.
While all this was going on, Dave and Evan continued work on the 580 Motor car. They have most of the wood off now, and have started to clean old paint and rust off the frame. They bought a couple of wire wheels for my grinder and were using that to clean it up real nice. They were getting ready to spray on some primer when I was leaving for the day. It's looking really nice. I also found one of the brake leaks on a caliper thanks to all the wood being off. Nice work guys! I'll post some pictures to the Members photo section in a few minutes.
Frank D.
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Comments
Fri, 03-29-2024 21:26
We're slackers and spend more time working on the equipment in the shop than keeping all you readers updated. We'll work on it, but I'm sure updates [...]
Thu, 03-14-2024 08:02
What happened to the Department Blog? It's been over 2 years and I still regularly check for updates, but nothing comes...
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]
Fri, 04-09-2021 19:56
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be [...]
Wed, 03-31-2021 11:37
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's [...]