I have been posting here at RYPN for at least a year now, and I haven't seen many posts regarding the Maintenance of Way Department (M of W) . This is a very important department of the railroad. I live next to the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad's main line, their M of W crew is stationed in my town at the moment. They have been here for about a month and are scheduled to depart town tomorrow. They will be traveling up to the railroad's other division (The Lehigh Line) . They have been having a lot of problems with their Mark IV Fairmont Tamper One, and have been working on the same projects each day (This machine is six years old, and the crew has been spending at least three hours each morning to work on it. The one crew member gets very mad and frustrated, and the railroad's office in Port Clinton, Pa. doesn't realize how bad it is. The M of W track crew's equipment consists of a Mark IV Tamper One, and a very old Fairmont Regulator!

Just wanted to shed some light on the department, Aaron B.

Link: The link below is to the Harsco Track Technology's website.

http://www.fairmonttamper.com
norfolk_western_611@hotmail.com

MOW is important, but it sure isn't glamourous! It can be very interesting to get involved in and learn about, and there is a great sense of accomplishment to be had at the end of a day's work, looking at nicely-lined and dressed-off track. And, it's a hell of a great aerobic workout! Most heritage/tourist/museum railways manage to get by with traditional hand track tools, and a beat-up old tie crane or tamper (if they are lucky).

hpincus@mindspring.com

I put bread on the table by swinging a spike maul each day. The MOW is perhaps the most important part of any railroad, either modern day main line operations,or tourist/museum. We are usually out on the road so much that the general public doesn't see how hard we work to keep the tracks in good shape.
However, on our railfan weekend, we (the track crew) demonstrate our abilities before a crowd of onlookers. They are always amazed at how we swing the hammers. It is a difficult skill to learn, and a good track man can make his hammer sing as he spikes. The hammer will make a tone much like a tuning fork as it strikes a spike.
Come to think of it, this sure would make a good story for RyPN. I'll try to work on it.
Thanks Aaron for the shot in the arm!

Brian Hebert


Conway Scenic Railroad
btamper@hotmail.com

Brian,
I think it would make a great article. Maintenance of Way - The Other Department sounds like a good title, too.

Photo & Link: The photo below is a picture of the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern's (RBMN) Ballast Regulator. The unit is currently painted light green, unlike the picture shows. I got this picture from the website: Railroading in the Northeast. The website's MOW section is inquired in the link below the picture.


http://www.northeast.railfan.net/mow.html

norfolk_western_611@hotmail.com

2001! Is that the last time anyone here talked about MOW preservation?

OK maybe not, but it seems like it. The topic comes up rarely in this community that is obsessed with cars and locomotives above anything else.

Anyway, here is a MOW-related item. The rail and flange greaser is a device that has been around for many years. But has anyone ever thought to save and preserve one of the early models? There may only be a few of the old timers left out there.

Would it be interesting to see one on display with a short piece of rail and an explanatory sign? Or is railroad history only about cars and locomotives?

The one in this pic was on a shut down line.

We have two 1960-vintage RACOR flange greasers on our line; both partially stripped of parts and long (30+ years) out of service.

Howard P.
MP 6
NAUG

The Western Railway Museum has a very active track department. They are highly mechanized, and can change over 100 ties per day with a fairly small crew.

One of the department's volunteers has uploaded several videos of the team at work

As a volunteer I helped lay about 100 feet of track for some display stuff.
At some point the foreman suggested that I bang on the nail looking things, not the really long steel thing and not the wooden thing.
This may explain why I am now on the paint crew.
The MOW folk make it look easy, but it is a WHOLE lot of hard work!

-Clyde "keep that guy away from a hammer" Putman

MOW does seem to get little interest. Try getting a conversation going on locomotive cranes or pile drivers. John C. LaRue, Jr. published a very good quarterly newsletter on mow equipment. The last two issues dealt with Sperry rail detectors. You can contact John at mofwcaboose@aol.com .

Jack Anderson returned four flange lubricators to operation at the Nevada Northern. They were on the line to Ruth. I do not know the exact model.

Robby Peartree

We have two greasers very similar to that in service on the car line at IRM.

TVRM has two greasers of either the same or similar model in service on their main line. One is at East Chattanooga on the curve west of the No. 1 switch and the other is at Grand Junction at the top of the hill by the driveway crossing. Both curves are very sharp and require constant lubrication to prevent wear. The grease from the flange greaser builds up over time and requires the points of the spring switch to be periodically scraped by hand to get the points to mate to the stock rail.

I have been doing track work - off and on - both professionally and as a volunteer since 1977. I've done track work at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, and the Wilmington & Western in Delaware. From 1998 to 2005 I worked on the Maryland Transit Administration's Light Rail in M.O.W. (the last year as supervisor) and I've returned as Superintendent Maintenance of Way for Light Rail this past September.
Hardly anyone likes to do track - it's not as sexy as working on the train, and it can be hard, demanding work, but it must be done. I guess I'm crazy, but I love track and track work.

How many average number ties are replaced on a workday with about 8 guys only using hand tools? I'd say in my experience you can do between 60-100 if you have a few people who know how to drive spikes, otherwise you might only get 30-40 until you get the hang of it. Thoughts?

We had a supervisor on New Hope & Ivyland RR in the early 1980s who came from the
Milwaukee Road and later went contracting on Metro North Commuter RR. His answer
was 1 man hour per tie.