Track work is complete here on NS..

[Modelcar]

oOOOOo....Said I would inform when they continue with track work here....Crossing renovations and replacements have taken place now and the equipment to dig out the old ties and replace with new is working it's way through west Muncie now and on west and right behind is the ballast tamping machines and then a machine dressing up the ballast after the tie work and I suppose realign it all because it had light weight looking small vehicles being pushed ahead on long connections like tow bars but being pushed....Track base should be in pretty good renewed shape as this project pushes through.

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

oOOOOo....Said I would inform when they continue with track work here....Crossing renovations and replacements have taken place now and the equipment to dig out the old ties and replace with new is working it's way through west Muncie now and on west and right behind is the ballast tamping machines and then a machine dressing up the ballast after the tie work and I suppose realign it all because it had light weight looking small vehicles being pushed ahead on long connections like tow bars but being pushed....Track base should be in pretty good renewed shape as this project pushes through.

Modelcar: Sounds like you encountered a Jackson 6700 (White lights on front buggy)or A Canron/Tamper Mk4 tamper (red light on front buggy) doing a skin lift. Plasser liners (a.k.a Prussian nightmares) use a hydraulic stringline solution w/ no lights... Railroads have been sold a bill of goods on predumping ballast: (1) Never really works and (2) shoulders in CWR territory never are adequate/ possible future sun kinks!

Ballast regulator follows behind (Kershaw Model 46????) with rotary broom, scoop wings and plow.

Crossings being done out-of-face, probably by agreement with the local road dept.( can't close - 'em all at once!)

Herzog cars are most likely remote control or GPS pre-programmed remote dump cars.
Dumping ahead of the tie gang implies (to me) a skin lift going on (minimum raise of track with relining of no more than 2-3 inches) and that the existing ballast was not badly fouled with mud & dirt.

Rock Kickin Dirty Bird....[banghead][banghead][banghead]

[kenneo]

Mudchicken - agree about spotting the ballast ahead of time. Only way i've ever seen that works well for putting in new rock is the oldfashioned ballast car with ballast dump doors - cross dump, over-rail and sholder.

Number 3 Crushed is expensive and to simply waste about half of it and get the other half dirty doesn't make sense.

[Modelcar]

MC....I was able to just get passing view of above activity I mentioned in previous post and it is rather involving....I have always wondered [as an amateur observer], about the dumping of ballast on top of the ties...etc....but that is what has been done in this case and that was several weeks ago as the Herzog hoppers worked through and on west. It is true to my eyes as you mentioned, the present ballast did not look that bad...Track was well raised and not down in the mud, etc...I might have discribed the equipment out of sequence a bit in above post but tie replacement....tamping of the ballast down between the ties.....and the alignment equipment....and then the machines with the equipment down on the side dragging the ballast back up towards the track seems to be, from my eyes...what was being done. The ballast tamping was being done with vertical hyd. ram like fixtures pushing down between the ties as it worked forward....As for the model and names on this equipment I didn't have a chance to eye ball that...Just barely able to see a bit what the process was they were doing. It does look like a rather good finished product...
I noticed several days ago on the NS line in the center of town by the Trail Depot where the [Ft. Wayne], line parallels the Trail....and I could get close to it to see...It is 1998 rail and is 132 lb rating. As I mentioned before it has the tie plates and clips and one spike and 2 bolts holding it in place at each tie....That area is on a long sweeping curve.

[rrnut282]

QM
Thanks for the updates. I actually made it down to your neck of the woods Sat. I saw some of the equipment parked down by High St. All the usual suspects were there (regulators, MK4 tampers, tie inserters, spikers, etc). There was one I hadn't seen before. It was just a long box with cab windows at each end. I couldn't get close to see what appendages it had without tresspassing. It might have a Plasser or an ultrasonic rail/weld testing unit like a sperry car on steroids.

Anyway, I only had 3 hours free and I caught 3 at 6th Street (2 on/off the Frankfort Distrcit) and only 1 on the double track. Typical...the single track main is busier than the double track.

[mudchicken]

rrnut:
It's called a ballast consolidator....works much the same way as a concrete vibrator does when you form concrete. (except at that size it shakes the fillings out of your teeth and anybody else within a thousand feet)

http://www.eurailpress.com/plasser2/en/t1/index.htm
http://www.eurailpress.com/plasser2/en/t1/index.htm (track stabilizer)


Rock Kickin Mud Chicken
(heavy snow tomorrow?)

[Modelcar]

....2 8 2...Sounds like you had a pretty good railroad day in our neck of the woods. Maybe that vehicle you described is the unit I just got a quick glance of 2 days ago and possibly is what had the stick outs on long poles with small wheels and with lights on....looked like something that would be checking track for alignment, etc....
I just crossed that track in the last half hour down by the trade school there on Kilgore, if you know where that is at and looked west and something was working within sight out the track....Some of the gang I've been describing. The ROW looks pretty good once they process all what they are doing.
I wonder if you got a chance to take a look at the ex. C&O Depot there on Wisor where the NS crosses Broadway too....They have renovated that building to it's original build appeareance...including the original type tile roof....and it is now really looking great, including landscaping around it. It has been over a $800,000 project...! It is now ready to become the Cardinal Greenway Trail main offices and a small display of R R artifacts inside. It really looks great...! A wrought iron fence separates the paved trail from the parallel NS tracks heading to Ft. Wayne and points north.

[Modelcar]

Another update for 2 -8 -2.....Noted today NS had about a half mile of track maintenance equipment stored on the last siding in west Muncie on the line to Frankfort....Believe the tie replacement, track alignment and ballast treatment is finished now beyond Muncie and out beyond Camack...Don't know how far they are beyond that point. The finished result does look good. Traffic potential on that line must be right up there to merrit the good track upkeep work.

[JoeKoh]

MC
a loram ballast train has been busy on the old nyc main in wauseon ohio.(now ns)Parked by the depot.
stay safe
Joe

[Modelcar]

....Looks like the railroads are in general doing a fair amount of track updating now...and perhaps they see increased traffic coming....I noted in the Rail News of increased rail freight being hauled compared to last year at this time...Something like 7% more tonnage. That sounds like good news for the rail business.

[Modelcar]

...NS has loaded specail MOW equipment...about a quarter mile of it onto special flat cars may even contained fastened down rails on the loading surface and chained them all down secure in readyness to travel. That is the equipment that has been working here in Muncie and west on the Frankfort line this past month. Did not drive past the area today to see if the convoy of equipment has been moved yet.

[swknox]

Here in Delaware we now have a crane, High sided gons with new ties going in as well, maybe NS is having a Maintenance blitz going on. I have also noticed large flat cars with crew cabins on them about 10 in all parked in Harrington DE, where the main switching yard is here on the Delmarva Branch. Also if anybody can answer what this means I would be thankful, I have noticed that they are marking ties with blaze orange paint, which I assume is to be replaced but I also noticed that they are marking the sections where the rail come together with either green paint or blaze orange paint. I don't know what that means but south of Dover we have Stick rail. Also to top it off they are starting to fix the worn out Grade Crossings also an a electric crew has be repairing or fixing and hanging a ton of new electric or communication wire along the poles along the ROW.

[Modelcar]

...Sounds like the same basic operation we have experienced here in Muncie, In....Crossing repairs....tie replacement....new ballast....track alignment.....and the finished product looks very good....Like it's ready for good heavy business. This line sees a fare amount of grain car business through here, but also a good amount of general freight...Notice lots of tank car traffic.