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 Post subject: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 10:57 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:53 am
Posts: 124
Location: Chippewa Lake, Ohio
It's Pole Season at NORM!

Early this year, the Northern Ohio Railway Museum ran a very successful fundraiser called Yard Renewal and Electrification. The goals of the project were to rebuild all the track pictured and electrify it. To date, culvert work to address drainage issues has been completed. Both curved sections of track and 5 switches have been rebuilt with new ties. Ballasting and surfacing of this trackage is still to happen. We are continuing outdoor work including grounds and track work at the Museum until Mother Nature forces us into retreat.

For the last couple of days the overhead department has been working with a local contractor to set 29 new poles along the track that is a part of this project. As this is written 21 poles have been set and the contractor is returning Thursday to finish setting the last 8 poles. In the spring the overhead department will begin installing ground anchors in appropriate locations. Also span wire and bracket arms will be put up. Then finally the wire.

The yard renewal and electrification project was funded with a matching grant from the 20th Century Electric Railway Foundation and donations from our members and the community. Thanks to the foundation and all our donors that made this project and Pole Season possible.

Keep tabs on our progress by checking us out on line.
http://www.northernohiorailwaymuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/Northern-Ohio- ... 544183676/


Steve


Attachments:
File comment: View looking south from the Bennett Carhouse. There are 4 more poles to go in this area from about where the picture is taken. one pole can bee seen on the lower right hand corner.
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File comment: Pole being set in front of the Bennett Carhouse.
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File comment: Main track is in the foreground with the carbarn lead in the background.
llrDSC_7698.jpg
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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 12:39 pm 

Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:45 pm
Posts: 292
It's kind of hard to judge from the photos but are y'all raking the poles? I think DR&T normally set wooden poles with a 5° rake.

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Andy Nold


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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:51 pm 

Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2004 10:54 am
Posts: 1184
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Thanks for the update! Always nice to see new infrastructure going in.

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"When a man runs on railroads over half of his lifetime he is fit for nothing else-and at times he don't know that."- Conductor Nimrod Bell, 1896


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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:44 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:53 am
Posts: 124
Location: Chippewa Lake, Ohio
No raking to the poles. Ground anchors are going in where appropriate. The last 8 poles went in and the job was completed on 11-9-17 at about 1 pm.

Steve


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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 10:32 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 11:26 am
Posts: 4642
Location: Maine
And now for the gratuitous joke about "the Pole -er Express"?

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"It's only impossible until it's done." -Nelson Mandela


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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 5:57 pm 

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:17 am
Posts: 244
Location: New York
Great progress! I look forward to visiting again soon to see it first-hand. when do you start stringing wire?

-otto-

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President, Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum
Rochester, N.Y.


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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 2:33 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:53 am
Posts: 124
Location: Chippewa Lake, Ohio
Wire work will begin in the spring of 2018. There are several reasons for this. For starters it was a whole 39 degrees today at the Museum! There was intermittent light rain and there is snow is in the forecast. It is not predicted to get appreciably better as time goes forward until spring arrives months from now. Being up on top of the line car or up in the bucket truck in a northern Ohio winter would not be any fun. We are dedicated, but not crazy!!!

Actually there is a lot to do before span wire and bracket arms get attached to poles. The contractor that installed the poles strongly suggested we give the poles time to settle, or more accurately the freshly disturbed dirt around the poles. They tamped it down as they backfilled around the poles. But there is no substitute for the forces of nature to firm things up. Time is all that is needed for that and winter will give us plenty of that time.

This does not mean we will be sitting around catching up on our reading. There is a great deal of prep work to do before wire will be seen in the air.

At present overhead components are being gathered and prepared. Attached is a picture of some of this activity. Pull off arms are being rehabbed. Our wire will be strung to be compatible with both trolley poles and pantographs. We have cars that use both technologies. We also build our bracket arms on the ground and then attach them to the poles ready to add a trolley ear and then wire. So we have plenty to do on the ground in prep for aerial work.

Many poles will require ground anchors and guy wires to help keep the poles vertical in places where wire tension would make them bend or lean. Rather than buy an anchor plate to go on the end of guy wire rod, we use scrap, odd size (to us) rail joiner bars. These ground anchors are being prepared. When installed, we dig a hole with our backhoe, drop in the anchor rod with its custom anchor plate. Finally add some concrete to really make things immovable. There will be many days of work to get that done.

One thing we still need to engineer are guards to guide pantographs below trolley frogs. I have photographed guards at the Boone and Scenic Valley trolley division and other locations with them. We will be creating a guard using these pictures as a guide. However if anyone has drawings of their guards, I would love to see them. It would save us the work of creating our own.

I would ask everyone to wish for a quick winter and an early spring so we can get to work on our next section of overhead in 2018.

Finally some breaking news in the making. Can't quite reveal it yet. We need to finish dotting the i's and crossing the t's before we can go public. But I can say it is overhead related. When we can reveal it, we'll be appealing for financial help that is always needed in matters like this.

Thanks for your interest in the development of the Northern Ohio Railway Museum. Keep tabs on our progress by checking us out on line.
http://www.northernohiorailwaymuseum.org
https://www.facebook.com/Northern-Ohio- ... 544183676/


Steve


Attachments:
File comment: New poles in front of the Bennett Carhouse. Trolley wire will be hung from span wire between matching poles.
llrDSC_7768.jpg
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File comment: New poles in back of the Bennett Carhouse. This is where the overhead passing through the carhouse will terminate.
llrDSC_7760.jpg
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File comment: These are pull off arms that will go on our curved sections of wire. Photo taken inside line car 024 which is also doubling as a paint drying booth.
llrDSC_7763.jpg
llrDSC_7763.jpg [ 193.16 KiB | Viewed 8533 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:20 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:25 pm
Posts: 2324
Location: The Atlantic Coast Line
Steve,

Great news!

What is the status of 024? Operational where wire is available?

Wesley


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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:54 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:01 pm
Posts: 1729
Location: SouthEast Pennsylvania
San Francisco has plenty of examples of guards on trolley wire frogs and crossings so that poles and pans can both be used. However, Pittsburgh didn't bother with any guards when they converted from poles to pans in the early 1980s!


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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 1:12 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:53 am
Posts: 124
Location: Chippewa Lake, Ohio
Car 024 is operational and has run off the overhead. It has also operated off an "extension cord" that plugs into a 600 volt shop receptacle located near the bumper. For those unfamiliar with the car, a picture of it is attached. The car has a pantograph and this is what it has run off of when under wire. It also has a trolley pole. The pole was added when RTA was formed so the car could operate in former Shaker Rapid territory.

Steve


Attachments:
File comment: Former Cleveland Transit System line car 024
llrDSC_4458.jpg
llrDSC_4458.jpg [ 267.27 KiB | Viewed 8319 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:14 am 

Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:44 pm
Posts: 198
Steve Heister wrote:
Many poles will require ground anchors and guy wires to help keep the poles vertical in places where wire tension would make them bend or lean. Rather than buy an anchor plate to go on the end of guy wire rod, we use scrap, odd size (to us) rail joiner bars. These ground anchors are being prepared. When installed, we dig a hole with our backhoe, drop in the anchor rod with its custom anchor plate. Finally add some concrete to really make things immovable. There will be many days of work to get that done.
Steve


Hey Steve first off congrats on the overhead wire stuff. It is great to see so many museums with
successful building/infrastructure projects. Here at Branford/Shore Line Trolley museum we've just
put up and energized the first 500' of trolley wire to go with the two new buildings and yards that were
constructed from 2013-present.

I recommend against using old joint bars for ground anchors, unless you are talking about 9" girder
rail fish plates or something exotic like that! Joint bars are not going to have enough surface area,
and the use of concrete is an unnecessary expense and effort unless you have some really unusual
soil conditions. (Tell us what the old joint bars are...what rail section and drilling. Maybe someone
in the community has a use for them as joint bars)

Take a look at the ground anchor that I have pictured below. This is a Hubbell Power Systems (formerly
AB Chance) model X-16, 16" cross-plate anchor. It is remarkably inexpensive (I think we paid about $30
apiece for them) and easy to install. It has been engineered for this purpose and if installed correctly
with the axis of the plate and anchor rod in line with the down guy's pull, it will have a pull-out rating
far in excess of what you are going to put on it.

Another inexpensive alternative are helix (screw) anchors. We did not use them on this project because
of the excessive amount of large boulder in the soil. But if your soil conditions permit, and especially
if you have a professional contractor there with the auger truck, they can zip those screw anchors in
using a kelley bar adapter on their auger driver in a matter of minutes. You can also attach a long
rod for leverage and screw them in by hand, if the soil is fairly rock-free.


Attachments:
x16anchor-2.jpg
x16anchor-2.jpg [ 211.59 KiB | Viewed 8145 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:49 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:53 am
Posts: 124
Location: Chippewa Lake, Ohio
First off congrats on getting wire to your new buildings at Shoreline. It is a nice feeling to see infrastructure projects moving along. I'll have to revisit to see that someday.

Your point about joiner bars is well made, but in our application I don't think it fits. The joiner bars being used are some stuff the museum acquired many years ago and matches to some really big mainline stuff. I think it matches to 131lb or 140lb per yard rail. I don't know anyone with that weight rail in a museum. It was discovered during a recent property cleanup. It was determined to be nothing we could use for track and was heading for scrap when our overhead dept. grabbed it for its new purpose.

The current anchors are a 3ft joiner bar and a 2ft joiner bar paired up in an X configuration and a tie plate to make up the anchor. The first 3 installed were two 2ft foot bars paired up with a tie plate. I checked your anchor out on line and found it has a surface area of 150 sq. inches. The 2ft anchors paired equal that. The 2ft and 3ft anchors exceed that by at least another 50 sq. inches. Add the concrete and these anchors are going nowhere.

A few bags of concrete is not that expensive and probably justified given our potpourri of soil conditions. In places we have clay a few feet down. Other spots on the property are a mixture of silt, decayed vegetation, gravel, sand and other soft stuff. We are at the shoreline of an ancient Chippewa Lake. We are talking in terms of thousands of years of geologic history. The footers for our McCarthy Carhouse go down 12 ft. to get to firm enough soil to support this pole building due to this ancient shoreline and lake bed!

I know of another electric railway museum that used oversize former Lehigh Valley tie plates for their ground anchor plates. So improvising has a precedent! Using these joiner bars made economic sense. We would not have generated enough from scrap sale of the bars to pay for new commercial ground plates.

The helix screws you mention could have been another option, but would have been a further expense to have the contractor do them. We can do the current method using volunteers and our own equipment, our backhoe. Budgets are tight and I think everyone can relate to that. We often repeat a quote from the museums senior founder Anson W. "Red" Bennett, "We are playing a millionaires game with pennies!"

Thanks for the info, I will pass it on to the overhead dept. At some point we are going to run out of oddball size joiner bars and will have to come up with another ground anchor solution. Perhaps then it will be time go commercial.

Steve


Attachments:
File comment: Digging the hole using the Museum backhoe for a ground anchor.
llrDSC_7588.jpg
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File comment: Overhead manager Chuck Legree is checking whole depth. The anchor assembly can be seen in the center of the picture.
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File comment: Next batch of anchors being assembled. Tie plates to be used are on a tie end on the left side of the picture.
llrDSC_7765.jpg
llrDSC_7765.jpg [ 187.15 KiB | Viewed 7988 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: It's Pole Season at NORM
PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:54 pm 

Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:44 pm
Posts: 198
Steve Heister wrote:
Your point about joiner bars is well made, but in our application I don't think it fits. The joiner bars being used are some stuff the museum acquired many years ago and matches to some really big mainline stuff. I think it matches to 131lb or 140lb per yard rail. I don't know anyone with that weight rail in a museum. It was discovered during a recent property cleanup. It was determined to be nothing we could use for track and was heading for scrap when our overhead dept. grabbed it for its new purpose

Steve


Yeah I didn't realize you were using bars that big and in pairs. I'm sure that will work. Just make sure
the rod is in line with the pull, and the bars/plates are perpendicular to the rod.

If you are in really soft soil, the ground anchors may "creep" as the load is basically compressing a big
wedge of highly compressible soil. Eventually it will stabilize. Allow for this by leaving some adjustment
room on the down-guy. If you are attaching with 3-bolt clamps, this is automatic, you can just
loosen the clamp and take up on the guy (put one end of the come-along on the loaded guy and the
other on the "tail" beyond the clamp). If you are using pre-form guy grips, leave the last two turns
un-done. This will let you unwind it (after bypassing the load of course), take up on the guy, and
re-wind it. They are rated for 2 re-uses.


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