September and October were some good months for doing
railroad track maintenance and repair work. We went through
another long wall move which was lots of track time and
little breaks. Larry Case the Tamper guy came and we worked
on final adjustments for the tamper near the end of October.
Fairly rainy towards the end of October although it wasn't
as cool as many have been.
September 2009
02 13 hours, by myself. Went with the rail testers from
Sperry who x-rayed the track. No bad places. Finished
weed trimming around Bridge 4. Weed trimmed around the
rail plug piles at Milepost 8 and measured all the
plugs marking them on top of each rail with white
permanent marker.
03 Off
Vacuum truck owned by Hulcher cleaning Bridge 14
04 13 hours by myself. Flagged for Hulcher as they
cleaned the coal from the tracks at the Harbor.
Cleaned the inside of the truck, pressure washed the
outside. Fueled the truck and fuel cell. Tidied up
around the harbor storage area.
05 12 hours by myself. Fueled high lift. Tamped
tangent between Bridge 9 and Bridge 10. Tamped tangent
below unloader and curve 64. Took High lift to Mapletown
ballast pile.
06 12.5 hours Took the boys up to get the regulator and
Ballast car to bring to the harbor. Tamped tangent below load out,
curve 65 and tangent at 690 cut. Fueled tamper and
regulator. Called Larry Case's 24/7, you break'em we
fix'em tamper repair service for advice on how to
zero mask readout and right side lifting light.
07 16 hours Labor Day. Regulated ballast at 690 cut.
Tamped tangent at 690 cut. Put chair bolts in tamper.
Filled ballast car with rock. Pressure washed tamper.
Brought high lift back from Mapletown.
08 Off
09 13 1/2 hours by myself. Greased tamper, tried to fix
elevation read out, positive pot bad called Larry and have
him send parts. Moved two sticks rail from hard road crossing
to hard road rail pile and picked up 3 plugs there plus
1 plug at Mapletown and took to Milepost 8. Picked up
4 sticks rail at Bridge 9 and took to Milepost 8.
Fueled excavator, organized joint bars and fixed up
crossing. Cleaned out the switch box at the bath house
switch and under the throw rod on the switch. Cleaned
the unloader and broomed from the unloader to the switch.
10 8 hours by myself. Measured rail plug at unloader.
Picked up ties at Bridge 9 and rail at milepost 11.5 and
took to Milepost 8. Picked up plug at Bridge 3, fixed the
greaser at Bridge 8, organized and tabulated all the
rail plugs we have.
11 Off
12 12 hours: Changed 6 bolts in the frog at the load out.
Put a piece of rail out on curve 54. Marked 2 plot tags and
fueled the excavator.
13 16 hours: Plotted, tamped and lined curve 47 and tangent
from curve 55 to the greaser. Drilled extra hole in joints
at curve 58, 54, and at the underpass 1. Sorted new frog bolts,
fixed the rattle in the tamper work head, cleaned the
unloader and around the storage building, fueled the excavator.
14 Off
16 12 hours: Cut 6 inches off both ends of a stick of
rail and drilled an extra hole in each end. Put in extra spikes
on curve 47. Measured 15 pieces of rail at Bridge 3 and
marked them. Measured 4 pieces at the Milepost 8 siding.
Bolted 16 joints on curve 11.
17 10 hours by myself. Fixed the two joints at the tunnel.
Bolted 18 joints on curve 12. Weed trimmed track at load out.
19 12 hours. Bolted 28 joints between Bridge 9 and Bridge 10
on the south side, replaced every bolt. Bolted 7 joints on
Bridge 14.
20 12 hours Bolted 12 joints on tangent between Bridge 9
and Bridge 10 finished the south side. Moved a piece of rail
to Bridge 8. Fueled excavator and picked up trash
around milepost 8 siding.
26 13 hours Cleaned bath house. Tamped curve 50. Dumped
ballast on it and tamped it again.
27 15 hours Measured and staged 3 pieces on curve 27.
Rained all morning. Then replaced those 3 pieces of rail.
Greased tamper and put in chair bolts. Fueled all the
equipment.
28 Off
29 Long wall move started. 10 hours Tamped curve 57.
Tamped curve 53 and curve 52. Squeezed off 150 new ties
on tangent at 690 cut.
30 10 hours, by myself. Dumped ballast on curve 50, 52,
and 57. Loaded rock car twice. Squeezed off new ties on
curve 47. Regulated ballast on curve 50, 52 and 57,
broomed curve 58. Fueled tamper, track mobile and chipper.
October
01 10 hours Tamped curve 52, tangent between curve 51 and 50,
curve 50, curve 49 and plotted curve 48.
02 10 hours regulated tangent milepost 11.5, curve 46, 47,
48, 49, dumped two loads ballast.
03 12 hours Tamped tangent milepost 11.5 tangent, tangent
between Bridge 10 and Bridge 9, curve 37 and tangent curve 31.
04 16 hours Regulated curve 58, curve 31, shoulder work on
curves 32, 33, 34, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, and 20. Greased tamper
and regulator, changed air filter regulator, changed limit switch
tamper work head, tidied up tamper, cleaned up area where
rail welders did their welds.
06 10 hours tamped mud spot Duqesene Light tangent twice,
curve 42, 41, 38, tangent between 36 and 37.
07 10 hours tamped curve 28 tangent twice, curve 32 west
side and curve 17
08 14 hours tamped curve 17, 16, back side 15, 14. Picked up
scrap from the unloader storage area and took it to the
Milepost 8 storage area.
09 Off
10 12 hours tamped curve west side curve 15, curves 13,
curve 8 and 7.
11 14 hours tamped cut out place west of bridge 7, greased
tamper, tried to fix brake bracket, fixed air cylinder, hydraulic
leak on jack beam.
12 8 hours, came out at 2 and tamped the cut out place
on the east end of Bridge 7.
16 14 hours: had 3 trucks hauling ballast in. Dumped
ballast on curves 13 and 7. Fixed leaking hydraulic line
on tamper, cleaned up scrap.
17 12 hours: Fixed bad joints on curve 36 and 42 and at
the township tunnel. Hauled ballast to curve 33.
18 15 1/2 hours: Tamped tangent west of bridge 1 twice,
curves 7,8, and 33. Picked up 3 bad rails on curve 27
and took them to the milepost 8 siding.
20 9.5 by myself, Tamped west side curve 32, curve 28
and tangent west of Bridge 3.
21 11.5 by myself, Tamped west side of Bridge 6, tangent
west of Bridge 3, cleaned up scrap at milepost 8 siding.
22 10 hours by myself. Cut up 310 feet ribbon rail at unloader
into 39 foot pieces and hauled to milepost 8 siding. Picked up
2 pieces of rail at curve 8 and took to milepost 8. Cleaned
up empty spike and bolt kegs.
23 10 hours Fixed joints on curve 9 and replaced bad
joint bar on 1 joint, fixed missing bolt curve 6. Filled
fuel cell on truck. Dumped ballast on curve 28 and
tangent west Bridge 3, loaded ballast car.
24
25 16 hours; worked with Larry Case the Tamper guy
fixing tamper. Fixed 3 leaks in engine compartment, 2 on
top of machine, fixed left rear brake assembly, put new flipper
on jack beam, fixed mask readout on lift light, new arms
on rear of machine to hold receivers, air cylinder on
light carriage, cut 12 sticks rail in half.
27 12 hours: worked with Larry on tamper, fixed air switch
on front drive unit, set unity on machine, calibrated the
left and right lining system, fixed jack beam wheel and clamp
hitting the rail at the same time, replaced 2 bad limit switches.
Tidied up around the milepost 8 siding with the loader,
cleaned out the truck cab and bed.
29 11.5 hours by myself: took the track truck to Houston
Freightliner dealer for bi-annual inspection.
30 12 hours Tamped tangent from curve 7 to curve 6 twice.
Clamp got stuck and wouldn't release from rail, troubleshot
with Larry, found a 200 wire had fallen off that he had
brushed when he was working on the jack beam junction box.
31 12 hours Replaced joint bar on bad joint curve 41.
Added new spikes on both rails through the I 79 tunnel.
32 16 hours Made track inspection, cleaned out switch at
load out, took tamper back to harbor. Made run to mine
to pick up motor and hydraulic oil. Changed oil and filter,
fuel filter, water filter on tamper and greased, changed
oil and filter regulator, oiled switches.
November 2009
03 11 hours by myself: Fueled truck, bolted plug to frog
on turnout and main line side to see if rails match in.
Loaded grease cans onto truck, serviced all 4 greasers,
none of which where working, got them all back in
service and filled with grease. Fixed high rail brake
on track truck.
04 13 hours by myself: got on track at mine, changed every
bolt on 18 joints on curve 12. Cleaned unloader, cleaned off
back of truck.
06 12 hours: tamped curve 60 & 65. Vibrator went bad on
right inside front work head. Replaced vibrator, tightened
up front drive chain. Cleaned tangent from unloader.
Helped put brooms on regulator.
07 12 hours: regulated curve 58, 57 and 56 and tangents
between them. Hooked up track mobile to ballast car and
took car out to Mapletown and loaded car, dumped ballast
on curve 56 and regulated. Fueled tamper, regulator,
and high lift.
08 16 hours: took tamper to mine and tamped tangent between
curve 7 and 6, curve 6 and frog area, took tamper to
milepost 8 siding. Loaded bolts on back of truck and supplies,
cleaned out side cabinet and detailed cab on truck,
oiled all switches at harbor.
09 8 hours by myself: finished bolting curve 12, 11 joints,
fixed joint on curve 19 and on tangent to load out, fueled
tamper. All joints are now bolted from curve 9 tag to Bridge 2.
10 9 hours by myself: moved dozer across road at Bridge 7.
Cleaned out cuts on curve 33 and 34. Fueled the Case 850
and helped truck driver to chain down and move dozer
to Bridge 5.
Case 850 Dozer operator's view cleaning out rock cut near tracks
11 15 hours, Veteran's Day: replaced bad bolts on joints
west of Bridge 6 to crossing. Measured bad piece of rail
by the clean coal silo went to Bridge 3 and picked up a piece
and took it up there to curve 4.
12 Off
13 10 hours: replaced all frog bolts at switch below
sand tower, fueled excavator. Replaced bolts in 4 joints
at load out and drilled a hole in each of the west side
rails. Made road with dozer back along tracks east of
Bridge 5.
14 11 hours Tamped tangent between curve 13 and 12,
tamped 3rd transition point of curve 7 to curve 6,
curve 5 and curve 4, took tamper back from mine to
harbor, went back to milepost 8 siding and brought
track truck back.
15 16 hours: replaced bad bolts on joints from curve 7 to
curve 6 and on curve 4. Made new cutting mix for rail saw,
serviced and greased tamper, changed vibrator motor hose,
tried to change traverse cylinder fitting, cleaned off
front of tamper, counted anchors, oiled switches.
18 11.5 hours: changed all bolts on Bridge 5, fueled truck,
changed bolts on 2 joints curve 14 tag, pulled in elbowed
joint at load out, broke up beaver dam with dozer, unloaded
kegs from back of truck.
20 10 hours: had 2 trucks hauling ballast to Mapletown,
hooked up ballast car to Trackmobile, loaded ballast car,
fueled dozer.
21 14 hours: ran dozer cutting away ballast from ties on
curve 28, loaded cable for mechanics, fueled cell on truck,
took ballast car to Mapletown, loaded it then back to
Milepost 8 siding, cleaned unloader.
22 16 hours: finished cutting out ballast on curve 28,
cut roadway and cleared brush from tracks with Case 850 dozer.
Regulated stone on curve 35 and curve 28, tried to find
#6 female fitting at mine, cleaned and oiled switches
at the load out and harbor, finished counting anchors,
fixed spiking maul handle.
24 11.5 hours: by myself. Took truck bumper to Atlas shop.
Hung no trespassing signs on bridges and access roads.
Moved 2 pieces of rail from Mapletown to Milepost 8 siding,
cut 11 pieces in half, fueled chipper, dozer and truck,
counted anchors at siding.
25 12.5 hours: by myself. Cleaned unloader, loaded Trackmobile
onto truck, picked up two rail plugs at curve 33 and put them
on curve 28 to block off road way. Continued to hang
no trespassing signs, picked up 2 pieces of rail at
curve 2 and took to milepost 8 siding, cleaned up old
oil and tires at siding.
26 Thanksgiving
27 Off
28 Wrecked ATV off until December 30
December 2009
30 9 hours, first day back. Fixed pull apart west of
bridge 2 and west end curve 59.
All about the Railroads
Working Railroad July &
August 2009
Working on the Railroad