Thought this was worth sharing; Working on the RR

[Greg]

Last week we replaced a panel of track in a road crossing and I decided to take a few pic of the process. Thought I'd share with you folks how that went.

The crossing here was holding a lot of water, which isn't good... the ties were about 1/3 a thick as they should have been, the track was sinking in the crossing and plows of the trains were starting to hit the concrete crossing planks, to the point that concrete was being broken out and steel holding it together was bent and broken.

Myself and my laborer built the panel in a day and a half, which is 40' long, using 24, 10' ties and weighs almost 6,000 pounds. We loaded it on 2 push cars, then hauled the panel several miles down the track with my hyrail truck and unloaded the panel with the backhoe at the crossing, the day before we tore apart the crossing.

We closed the crossing on Wednesday at 6:00am started at 6:15 had the track for 3 hours before the next train. In that time we had to cut the rail in 4 places, yank the old panel out, clean out all the nasty dirt/mud/water, put the new panel back in, bolt it up, dump new ballast/rock, spread it out, surface the track with 2 on-track machines and clear up for 3 trains. The crossing planks were still out, so after those 3 trains passed, we placed the planks, then the welders went to work, making sure the planks stayed put. After that, a little clean up and the road crossing went back in service, 3 hours ahead of schedule.

Here's pics of the process as it went on... I didn't get any pics of the concrete planks going in and out... I was working.

 

[TEAM FRED]

Is the welder in the bottom pic using an additional rod for extra filler on that pic?

 

[Greg]

Is the welder in the bottom pic using an additional rod for extra filler on that pic?

Yep, exactly. There was a bit of a gap between the 2 planks, not a lot, but enough to justify putting a little more filler in there.

 

[Brian P]

Far out!

 

[UNSTUCK]

Not sure what the process is called, but I've watched them heat up the filler in a large container and then pore it in between the two rail sections. It was pretty cool.
BTW Greg, not sure if you know Robinson Construction, but I work as a mechanic for them. They do tons of railroad work all over the place.

 

[Spork]

Cool stuff.

 

[Greg]

Not sure what the process is called, but I've watched them heat up the filler in a large container and then pore it in between the two rail sections. It was pretty cool.
BTW Greg, not sure if you know Robinson Construction, but I work as a mechanic for them. They do tons of railroad work all over the place.

You're talking about pouring a thermite weld, it's a very interesting and dangerous process. Molten steel pouring into a mold, joining two pieces of rail together. I should shoot a video of that one of these days, it's pretty cool. Matter of fact, the welders were at this new panel today, pouring welds and removing 2 of the joints.

It's easy to loose a weld, have molten steel running all over and ruining that section of rail and the ties in the area. I've seen it happen once before, it's not fun to repair.

I don't think I'm familiar with Robinson, what do they do, new construction, scrapping? There are a lot of RR contractors out there, but it's probably good work! I didn't realize that's what you did.

 

[jp008]

Awesome.

 

[Herzog]

That is fast work. Cool photos.

 

[UNSTUCK]

Yep Thermite. I remember it now. I watched them do it at the crossing just down the road from the turnoff to go to Mantie from the 6. It was pretty cool. We were in charge of fire control (with a water truck that wouldn't start!)

Robinson has been tasked a few times with filling the tracks out around the Salt Lake. They keep sinking and we keep laying new foundation for them. We have also been helping out with the flooding in Escalante (sp) that wiped out the tracks through there. I do mostly heavy earth work. I spend most of my time in the shop repairing Cat equipment.

 

[gijohn40]

gess we need you to come fix the panel in Layton on Hill Field Road... I think I have lost 2 tie rods to that track... I avoid it at all cost... when Front runner put that section in they screwed it up something fierce!

 

[Chevycrew]

The Frontrunner track would be the UTA Maintenance people, while the other tracks are UPs... Some of the crossings on Frontrunner are bad enough, we have had to rework the plow on the Locomotive to get it back within requirements.

 

[Tacoma]

That's pretty cool. I always assumed those were laid one by one.

 

[Coreshot]

Ive been on a few locomotives where the cow catcher would hit the leading edge of the concrete at a crossing. It gets your attention real quick when you tag one at 50-60mph.

 

[SAMI]

Very cool... and I sit here at a desk..

 

[TRNDRVR]

the road crossing went back in service, 3 hours ahead of schedule.

It's about time!!!

Ive been on a few locomotives where the cow catcher would hit the leading edge of the concrete at a crossing. It gets your attention real quick when you tag one at 50-60mph.

How about when the 'soft' spots are so deep the suspension bottoms out and the plow hits the top of the rail? That's always fun!

 

[rockdog]

Unstuck, would that be any relation to Kay Robinson? I know he used to do dirt work.

 

[gijohn40]

The Frontrunner track would be the UTA Maintenance people, while the other tracks are UPs... Some of the crossings on Frontrunner are bad enough, we have had to rework the plow on the Locomotive to get it back within requirements.

There are three sets of tracks... two are UP and one is UTA... all three are in terrible shape... the UP ones are the worst ones of the three...

 

[Greg]

Figured I'd just add to this thread, rather than start a new one.

More interesting stuff... I thought was worth sharing. The last handful of days I've been working nights with the Loram rail grinder. It's essentially a track maintenance work train that maintain the rails by grinding them back into shape with massive grinding discs. It also removed surface defects, which get worse with time if left alone.

We worked nights because the humidity is higher, the temps are cooler and there's less chance of starting a fire. We were working a minimum of 12 hr shifts, more often than not, 14-15 hrs. My job was to protect the head end of the train and make sure we were working within our authorized limit.

Here's the grinding train.... it's 800' long and carries 60,000 gallons of water for fighting fires.

And some videos... the skies opened up on us around midnight, right outside of New Castle, CO.

[YOUTUBE]hyc3homLGM4[/YOUTUBE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyc3homLGM4


And working thru the tunnel at Glenwood Springs. -

[YOUTUBE]3d4vaRJ97gQ[/YOUTUBE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d4vaRJ97gQ


It's now off my territory, so I go back to days and work as usual.

 

[Coco]

That is pretty dang cool Greg! I never knew they ground the rails to help preserve them. That is pretty sweet