Track work is complete here on NS..

[Modelcar]

...For the past week or so have noticed a work train set consisting of an engine and perhaps a half dozen medium high sided, gondolas, one with a crane mounted on top and capabile of running forward and backwards on the special rails of the Gon's sides....and hauling new ties....and of all things a caboose. Finally, a train that looks like a train again. They are distributing new ties along the ROW for installation in the near future. I expect they will move in equipment to run through and remove old and install the available new ties. A section of track is already made up for what looks like renewing the crossing at one of our city streets. Lots of traffic at these locations...both rail and vehicle traffic on the streets so it should be interesting. It looks like they mean business in keeping the ROW in good shape...This is the line that brings lots of covered grain car traffic through town [Muncie], and on beyond..etc...[8D]

[mudchicken]

Hopefully the town fathers are wise enough to let the crossing be closed for 48-72 hours so that the crossing can be installed properly. Let us know if that one track panel suddenly becomes two....

Sounds like you'll have a crossing gang, a tie gang and a surfacing gang in your future. Have fun watching all the speciallized yellow equipment do their thing.

Can't tell if you have a Jimbo crane, a Herzog Cartopper or an old tie-kicker up on top of the gons.....

Mind candy for mudchickens!

[Modelcar]

...They generally close down intersections [crossings], for time needed in this area...and for the crane, I didn't note any markings on it yet...I will keep an eye on this stuff and maybe get some photos of this activity when it happens. I can see very well as it is right next to a McDonalds parking lot as for the crossing. The crane is not very large but it of course is big enough to manhandle ties, etc...I wondered how it gets from car to car...Perhaps "bridge rails" are installed to move to another car. It will be interesting. In the last decade the continuous rail was replaced through here on that line and all that equipment was interesting and they moved through pretty fast.

[mudchicken]

A jimbo crane or a cartopper (heavilly modified John Deere or CAT backhoe) can get between the cars on their own. A cartopper can get from the ground to up on the car on its own.....A cartopper has rubber tires like a conventional backhoe, a jimbo crane has no tires, just movable frames that are hydraulicly controlled.

http://herzogcompanies.com toggle to "cartopper"

Trying to renew a crossing under traffic is dangerous as hell and often times results in troubles that can be avoided by simply closing the crossing. The work goes faster and the quality is better if the crossing is closed for renewal. This fact escapes many municipal street engineers that are clueless about railroad construction. (Gramps and granny who have "gone this way for years" and complain about street closings can just find another route and see what they've missed for a couple of days[;)].)

[Dough]

MoW is the stuff that I really love. The NS line around here just had the ties replaced in the same way that you mentioned. I managed to photograph just about the entire operation on that line and also another CSX line. The CSX was interesting because they also replaced the curved rails as well as had two tie cranes going.

It usually lasts for quite a while, and in my case NS brought in some crew cars, which were basiclly trailors mounted on flatbeds. Nice to see that they added a caboose for your operation. I'd bet that they use it for backing that tie train down the tracks.

[JoeKoh]

they have been working on the old nyc main through nw ohio.they had cranes and gons full of panel track.Looks like a big order from atlas!!!!!2 cranes one yellow one black. they decided to park them in our siding at work.got pics
stay safe
Joe

[Modelcar]

...M C: Tried to bring up the herzogcompanies.com and it just brought up the page indicating for me to try again, etc...checking my address, etc.....and Dough, surprisingly that caboose looks in pretty good shape too. Unusual. I am an amateur photographer so If I catch the work being done we'll sure try to gain some photos of it....Then, if I ever figure out how to put them on here I could do so.....

[Anonymous]

Does it ever run on the BN In CHICAGO?

[Dough]

No problem MC. I have tons of pictures of NS tie cars, crane on flat, gondolas, ballast cars, ballast spreaders, tool cars, tie laying, railgrinders etc. I also have CSX tie cars, gondolas, ballast cars, spreaders, tie gangs, rail laying etc. So while I have a bunch of pics, I never have the time to scan and upload them.[;)]

[rrnut282]

Model Car
Is the track in question the New Castle or Frankfort District? I'm guessing the Frankfort line since I haven't seen any activity up my way on the NCD.

[Modelcar]

...rrnut282: It appears, at least for now it is on the Frankfort District line. That would be on the line heading northwest out of Muncie and of course right into the city itself. If you remember where Tilliotson Ave. is that is generally where it all appears to start but they will possibly go farther east too. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know how it is going. They have dumped a bunch of ties along the ROW as the track starts out of Muncie and heads for Frankfort. I don' know how far west this maintenance is planned.

[rrnut282]

Find out if it goes past Alexandria, where trains swing over onto the ex NYC branch to Elkhart. I'm guessing the stretch from Muncie to Alexandria is 3 times busier than beyond Alexandria.

[Modelcar]

....We'll keep our ears up for any additional info....and yes, the line into Muncie since the Conrail merger is rather busy compared to times in the past. They even installed signs at road / rail crossings in this area back at merger times: "Caution, rail line is soon to be more active"....or something close to that.

[Dough]

The one thing about track work is that it usually comes in nonstop work followed by long periods of waiting as they work between regular traffic and get all of the supplys and equipment together.

Also, I thought I would add this pic. When CSX came through Athens, GA they used this CAT trac hoe. Now this was the scarriest operation that I have seen. It would use this car as a ramp to get on top of the gondolas. It would then travel down them while placing ties on the sides of the track.

Unlike the herzog type attachemnts for backhoes, this thing just crawled between the middle of the cars. It would then use the arm to pull itself up and then drive to the next car using the track length and a blade on the front of the tractor. It was quite a thing to watch.

Oh and that engine was an old SD40, not dash 2.

[Modelcar]

....I hope I can get a better look at it....That little train with the half-dozen gondolas with crane on top and caboose on back is not here today. I believe it is working west to continue unloading the ties along the ROW. I suppose it will be a different accumulation of equipment that will do the work of removing the old and installing new ties and tamping of ballast, etc....

The crane on the gondolas was in some fashion riding on top of the sides of the cars. I didn't get a good enough look to specify more details. There was no entry or ramp car [to load the crane], with this train set. Just the caboose on the rear and engine on the front.
P S: That engine in the photo is really at the end of the line.

[Dough]

Keep an eye out, you never know where they will park it for the night. (As you can see from the pic above.) It really is a hurry up and wait process so it may be a while after they set out the ties. Around here they delivered the tie gang on a set of 89’ flat cars that had rails built down the middle. At the end would be a Kershaw ramp car. (See link below) If they were going the correct direction then they would just drive them off. If not then they would bring in a crane to lift and turn them.

Here are some links that you might like.
Herzog makes an attachment that allows backhoes to work on the top of any gondola. You may have that or you may have a piece of equipment that is designed specifically for unloading ties.
http://www.herzogcompanies.com/ (Link from above corrected. Go to “cartopper.”)

Knox Kershaw makes all kinds of MW equipment.
http://www.kershawusa.com/products.php

This site is great because of all the links. I can find pics of equipment when I don’t know what it is used for. For instance the Mitchell: Rail Laying Crane that I had the opportunity to photograph.
http://www.allenrailroad.com/RailQuick/material_handlers.htm

I hope that that helps some! Some people like a particular road name, for me its MoW…

[Anonymous]

There are usually lines of MOW equiptment on the CSX line here in Brunswick, but they have been gone since CSX has placed piles of new ties along the line. The ties have been there for 2 months, so I don't have any idea when the ties will be replaced. I wonder if they are going to replace all the bolted rail with continuas wealded rail, those bolts have been coming a little loose lately, and the roadbed could use some work, so it wil be some welcomed maintinance.

[Modelcar]

....Wow, that is a collection [in photos], of MOW equipment....and that Herzog Cartopper is somthing else..! For sure, the operator of the Cartopper moving from the ground and lifting itself up and onto the gondola top rails is some task...and it looks to me the operator has to really know what he is doing to get that accomplished and not upset himself down on the ground by touching the wrong lever, etc.....Wild. I'm anxious to see the rig in our area again now to try to ID what it really is. I have noted the rig [work train], was parked in town on a siding several nights ago but was in poor light to be able to see any details. We'll keep our eyes open and hopefully our camera lens near by as more work progresses.

[mudchicken]

While on the subject of cartoppers:

It has taken railroads a while to learn to make sure that when not working, to have the cartopper lower itself totally into an empty gon while travelling. There are plenty of cases where a cartopper has been left on top of a partially emptied car while moving, only to find a bridge, passenger canopy or a shop door. The result is plenty expensive.

Herzog sends operators for their equipment out of western Missouri....I don't think you are allowed to rent one of those things without one of their people...They certainly can make those things dance!

These rascals do great as well scooping ballast, with a magnet dropping OTM along the R/W or picking up scrap.

[Modelcar]

I can see where it's uses, with various attachments, would make it a do it all machine.
And surely understand why the company would want to send the operator with the machine. The pic. in my mind has the machine lowered somewhat in profile as you mentioned [M C], and that's why I at first didn't think it had enough profile to be a front end loader type machine...Now with that possible feature, it very well may be it.
Each season it seems different rail equipment for MOW continues to pop up...Someone is working smarter and coming up with much smaller stuff to do so many jobs better. Looks like good planning down at the concept stage of making something to do a job....and contacting some of the people that really do the work to help with their input to influence what the machine will look like and will be able to do.

[Anonymous]

I got to be part of an unusual method of rail repair today. A wye on the west side of town was out of service. On our way to the west side of town the MOW dept. was working on some rail by the CSX/NS diamond. We were briefed that we would have to drag two 400ft pieces of welded rail through town to the wye. The rail was chained to the front knuckle, a front end loader with some hook attachment positioned the rail in between the existing rail and we starting dragging. Now, knowing that people would probably go through road crossings as soon as the engine passed we had about 4 MOW trucks stopping at crossings to protect and then racing onto the next crossing. We shoved with a caboose and just crawled through town. Probably the only time I'll ever see something like that! [tup][swg]

[Puckdropper]

Do those Cartoppers have any nick names? Looking at the picture of the one mount and dismount, it looks like a giant lizard.

[Modelcar]

Where there's a will, there is a way....[rail movement].

[mudchicken]

Modelcar:

The office mail got distributed this morning and 'lo and behold, on the cover of this month's RT&S (sorry, not a Kalmbach publication - more of a "Better Yards and Backtracks" for those of us in the maintenance disciplines) is a jimbo crane on the cover of March 04's issue ...alias a John Deere powered "OTM Tracker"...

http://www.rtands.com/

Take a look at http://www.rtands.com in about a week or so when they change covers on the website (Feb 04 is there now).....Also has a nice picture in there of a TC-80 brought up in another thread...The article in the 3/04 RT&S is about material handling trends p21-26...



Dirty Bird[banghead][banghead][banghead]

[Modelcar]

MC: Just noticed your post and took a look at the publication cover and we'll take another look next week as you mention.....I haven't seen that tie dropping train with the "cartopper" on it since it made it's appearance last week....Perhaps they are making their way farther west with this project. I did see they are working on one of the road crossings today here in Muncie....They are going to do several. They seem to be serious in doing a pretty good update in maintenance of track on this project.
Thanks for the update....

[Modelcar]

....latest of track restoration work here in Muncie on CSX...Crossing replacement ongoing this week and [M C]: I just witnessed a train load of ballast being off loaded onto a passing track in this area and all the cars were special and from Herzog...

And P S: The wonderful gas Co's just changed our gas price overnight from 1.58 to 1.83...! Premium: 2.03

[rrnut282]

Strange our gas dropped to 1.66. Amazing what 70 miles can do!

[Modelcar]

....Yes, it's very regonal...That's what's so frustrating about the whole mess. From what they are doing we can see it has nothing to do about OPEC...it's just what certain regons decide how bad they're going to jerk us around. 15 miles south to New Castle usually produces much lower prices...

On the track work...They offloaded ballast in this area this morning along the track and the new ties are still laying along the ROW...I understand they have machinery to remove and install the old and new ties...but why lay the ballast down first....That sure seems a bit strange knowing the ballast has to be under the ties...

[JoeKoh]

They have been working on the old nyc main in NW ohio parking their equipment in sidings around my workplace.Orange tracksters and a yellow generator truck.
stay safe
Joe

[Modelcar]

282: Yes, to answer your question of some time ago of the work on the NS here in our area...Our mornng paper indicates the work is happening throughout the Muncie area on the crossings and also west from Muncie to Alexandria on track work.