Weekend workers!

[Mookie]

Time for show and tell:

Got out to the old home place on Sat. The crossing is closed due to maintenence. Of course, that didn't slow down the several drivers that roared right up there and slammed on their brakes. Guess they thought the road closed barriers would just lift and they could go on through. Driver and I wished they would have - to see how they would get over the tracks that had the concrete removed from around them - making for a very, very bumpy ride!

Anyway - MOW was working on two separate tracks. Heard them yell that they had one hour to get it done. It was fascinating. They built little houses on the rails and then set them on fire. OK - I may be a little dingy, but even I knew they were welding the rails. Quite spectacular if you have never seen it. Then they ground the weld down to what they wanted and while the rails were still very hot, they sent a train over it. Can't stop progress you know!

We didn't see a lot, but will give you what we did see.

Union Pacific! - work train - 3085 and 3298. They were hauling sections of ties and unloading them with a crane in the yard. Two big UP engines working in the BNSF yard. Write that one down!

5147 and 5146 -

947 and NS 6613 (SD60)

7561 - CSX

9801 & 9564

4611 & 4638 engines only (had trouble reading my writing!)

9497 and 9587

9570 and 8235

5637 & 2573 - CN - engines only - just running around lost I guess. The first one is a 75 IW according to my book

9852 and 9816

If they aren't marked, they are BNSF and mostly coal trains! And all this in about 1.5 hours with 4 very small looking men working between the trains going by. The trains were very careful, but I was still nervous for all of them.

Really spiffing things up for Nora's visit.

Gone tomorrow - so will run by there and check on the progress for a report on Wed. Would not be too terribly surprised to see a hole in the road closed barrier - some one pretending to be a train again!

Reporterette Mookie - out for now! [:X]

[rrnut282]

Keep your distance from the welders. I was working on a project 3 years ago and decided I would watch them weld the new rail to the old. It was just like watching trains. A long boring time was punctuated by a minute of intense activity. ( using acetylene torches to heat the ends of the rails and setting up the crucible followed by the reaction.) Anyway I got too up close and personal when they set off the reaction. I was fortunate that all I got was a half dozen holes burned through my brand-new carhartt jacket even though I was close to twenty feet away! Live and learn.

[Big_Boy_4005]

A couple of years ago, I was at my favorite hot spot, and I had my 10 year old daughter with me. A 2 man welding crew drove up, and waited for permission to to go out into the middle of a 5 track interlocking plant to repair a switch frog. There was no way for us to get too close to the actual work, but the second guy held a plastic shield, so we couldn't directly view the arc welders flame. Bad for the eyes you know.

When he had removed the bad chunk of the frog, the welder tossed it over to us as a souvenir. I just let it lay there for a few minutes. When i did finally pick it up, it was still warm, but not hot to the touch. It was interesting to see the chunk of steel. It had cracked out horizontally, and was about 4" long. The welder had cut it back beyond the crack. Then he ground the area smooth, to form a seat for a new chunk of steel, and welded it in, ground it to shape, and voila.

It is amazing when you stop and think about it the kind of pounding the point of a frog really takes. The welder said that it wasn't the first time he had done this repair to this particular switch. I suspect he has been back a few times since then, as this was just a patch job.

This year the real repair will take place, when the whole switch gets replaced. By the way, my daughter thought this whole thing was pretty cool.

[Anonymous]

You all ought to see a self propelled continuous rail welder built by Plasser. They can do 12 - 14 welds a day. It,s an awsome piece of equipment.

[daveklepper]

This sort of stuff used to happen between midnight and 4AM on the streets of Manhattan when we had streetcars. Dave

[JoeKoh]

Railroad people dont have a chance to rest.trackmen were out all weekend on CSX.
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JoeKoh

Railroad people dont have a chance to rest.trackmen were out all weekend on CSX.
stay safe
Joe

There's always something breaking down, trains are tough on the old infastructure, steel on steel.

[moelarrycurly4]

mmm thermite