COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All photos are copyright by George Elwood, from my collection with credit to the photographer or by the submitter. The photos may be used by individuals for their personal non-commercial use (screen savers, modeling effort, photo albums) without restriction. Reposting or other use REQUIRES permission from the owner of the image or data.

I am looking for new sources of OLDER material.

Comments

It is time for the annual fund drive. See the Donation page. Thanks to the 66 people who have donated this year.

New Material - 15 - 21 May 08

21 Jun 2008

More rescan from my collection.

The following are electronic transfer files.

20 Jun 2008

I caught the MOW equipment about two east of the area where I took the other photos.

The following are electronic transfer files.

19 Jun 2008

The following are electronic transfer files.

18 Jun 2008

The following are electronic transfer files.

17 Jun 2008

16 Jun 2008

NS conducted a tie replacement project between Dayton and Fairborn. I was able to spend about two hours watching the various pieces of ME equipment pass by.

I discussion with an NS employee the team is a combined tie and surfacing team.

I missed the dumping of ballast and placing of new ties. In talking with an NS employee he said I should really see the ballast train in operation. The ROW is mapped by a HiRailer w/GPS marking all locations where ballast is to be dropped. The ballast train operates about 20 MPH with each car controlled by the computer in the locomotive also equipped with GPS. No ballast is dropped on turnouts or road crossing while moving at speed.

These photos are fairly close in time. On Wednesday morning I caught the first piece of equipment in Fairborn where a ballast sweeper, remotely controlled by the operator was sweeping the dumped ballast off the ties so that the operator could mark ties for replacements. About three miles behind was the last piece of equipment picking up the removed ties. I have included the time stamp with the images.

About two hours after I caught a SB train going through the area, I returned to catch the MW action. For the most part, there were two or three pieces of each type machine. When the last unit completed all the task, he would sound his horn, this signaled the next unit it was time to move. The second unit would sound it's horn and the third unit would move ahead so that all units would be able to work again.

The spiker puller worked only on one side the rail. There was a right and left rail unit.

As a train moves down the track, it moves the welded rail in the same direction. To prevent this movement, clips are installed on both sides of tie. In order to remove the tie, these clips mst be moved. This process was accomplished on both side of the rail.

The tie pullers can pull from either side. Normally all ties are removed to one side of the track. However, if the tie to be removed can not be removed on that side, it can be pulled from the other side. The puller grabs the rail and pulls it up, the arm grabs the rail and pulls it out in one or two moves. Walking behind the machine are two workers who place the tie plates outside the rails.

Following behind are tie handler who are gathering the removed ties. The ties are placed one one of two cars in groups of 16. The second employee bundles the removed ties with a steel band. The tie handles than grabs an arm opposite the ties and lifts it dumping the ties on the ground. I noted one of the tie handler operators would grab two of the new ties and make a ramp for bundle to roll down.

Next came another set of tie handlers. These picked up the new ties and placed them close to the rail. They also gather extra new ties for use as required. These new ties were NOT inserted under the rail.

Next came the tie inserters. These are the same type machines that where use to remove ties. They grab the ties that the tie handlers placed for insertion and push them under the rail. It did not appear that that the rail was picked up during this process.

A ballast sweeper followed to clean off ties for the tie plates. The men follwing behind are placing the tie plate on the new ties outside the rail. the sweeper was running by itself controlled by the men placing the plates.

Next came the men who pushed the tie plates under the rail. The machine would pick up the rail enough for the men to push the tie plate under. This machine was controlled by the box attached to the top of the rod used to place the plates.

It is now time to spike down the rail. This is the most labor intensive of the machines with a three man crew. There are two men who control the spiking process. The third man kept the spike feeder filled. The actual spiker head moved about a foot front to back and some to the side. Ear protectors required around this machine.

While the spiking machine did a good job, following was a manual spiker manned be indivdual who could swing a spike mallet. He would insert a new spike if he found a missing or damaged spike. He would start the spike with the mallet and finish with a hydraulic hammer.

Following were a couple of track leveling vehicles. The reader is pushed in front of the tamper section. Laser devices were mounted on the reader and on the rear of tamper section. Each of the vehicles are from different manufacturer. A seperate tamper was positioned directly behind the TVM adjusting ties even more.

Following the TMV were clip tightening machines. These are similar to the machines that moved the clips.

Nearing the end, two ballast regulators. Their job was to make the ballast "look good." They ran back and forth, dropping various blades depending what needed to be adjusted.

The second last machine was a large ballast sweeper. This was the only device I had to move away from as the ballast was flying. The final machine was picking up the bundles of removed ties.

The crew lived in the trailers on flat cars in Fairborn OH. These are a couple of photos of this location. There is a 1" water hose running to the cars.

15 Jun 2008

Caught this NS train just before a maintenance window was applied. Watch for tomorrow's update for the MW action.