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Wolfeboro Line Tie Job - 11/05/07

Written by Ian MacMillan

Tuesday, 13 November 2007

Jesse pounds in spikes

While mowing though Cotton Valley about a month ago I found that there was about 100' of track that was flopping everywhere as the tractor passed. On closer inspection I found that most of both rails was just sitting on the tie plates and pretty much being held in place by its own weight...a dangerious situation for speeders. So the need for new ties to be put in became the next project for the Monday MOW group.

Jesse and I checked the area again in detail and found that we could put in 3 ties for now and it would bring the track to a point where it would be safe for all speeders to pass at speed. Loading 3 ties onto the lorry cart Jesse then dropped them on his way out to Rt 16.

Arriving early in the morning, myself, Jesse, Frank, and Jim got everything together at the enginehouse to head out to the work site. As I loaded the backhoe onto the tractor, Jessse got the caboose stove fired up, hitched onto a lorry car and the caboose, and departed.

Jacking up the rail

As the weather has been really cold lately the tractor came into good use with the semi frozen ground. After not using the backhoe for a year I was a little rusty, but after a bit it came back to me and I was able to clear out the old ties with a few scoops and then shove them out from the rail. Installing the new ties was just as easy by just setting the ends on the side of the "ballast" and using the hoe to smoothly slide in the tie, just like in the DVD's of the MOW gangs.

Tamping with cinders

While we did not order any new ballast for this tie job we had to use whatever extra cinders from the ROW we could find to tamp the new ties. Jesse and Jim tamped the ties with the tamper bars, while Frank raised the tie with the rail jacks to get the tie nice and level. This actually worked out pretty well. Next year we will add actuall ballast to protect the ties and improve the water run off, as well as make the ROW look nicer.

Leveling a tie for spiking

The UP MOW manual says that an employee should be able to drive a spike into a tie in 7 blows. This actually turned out MUCH harder than it looks, and I'm pretty sure that I made Mike Rowes effors when he did tie work on Dirty Jobs look like he was a pro. Jim had started filming me drive the spikes in, but I'm sure the foul language coming out of my mouth made him stop filming quickly. After driving about 4 spikes I finally got the hang of it and was able to drive it home in about 11 - 12 blows...however the air powered spike driver they use on NEGS would have been much easier!

The work train

Soon we had all 3 ties in and I had to depart for work. Jesse and crew continued tamping the new ties, and then headed east with the caboose for a ride on the rest of the ride. I'm sure that Frank loved riding in the caboose...and can only wait for more tie repairs when the ground thaws next year.

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