Yes, Cubans.

Steve

A few things to keep in mind about ties and surfacing:

1. It's very difficult to replace ties without disturbing the line and surface. As mentioned earlier, an inexperienced backhoe or tie inserter operator will hump the track or knock it out of alignment. Remember, the railroads always require a spot tamper and a ballast regulator in the tie gang to squeeze the ties then restore the disturbed ballast. 2. After all QC and punch list work is done behind the tie gang, an out of face surfacing operation is completed with a tamper with automatic lifting and lining capabilities.
3. If you are going to replace rail out of face, it would be highly recommended to surface the track both before and after replacing the rail to ensure all ties are bearing firmly under the ties. Since funding is usually finite, at a minimum you should at least surface after laying rail.

I could go on, but this is all stuff that Randy's team could provide much more comprehensive technical direction.

Rob Gardner

Larry replied before I had the chance, but he's right on the money. FRA standards are "condemnation standards", not design standards.

Saying "construct the track to FRA Class 1 standards" is like saying "the boiler must have less than 1472 days of service on it". A boiler with 1471 days would meet that requirement.

Yes, obviously your track has to conform to FRA class 1 (or better) if you're hauling passengers, and it is a starting point. However, as Larry says, it should be significantly better than Class 1. "5 good (not new, just good) ties per 39 feet" is not what you want your contractor building to.

This is where the services of a good consultant come in, they can inspect the track, give you some advice on the work that should be done, and write the specifications in a manner that gives you a good job, allows the contractor to make a decent living, and everyone is happy when the job is done.

I'm just thinking some ahead here, is the track pretty clear, no overgrowth?

Probably a good thing to do is get a small volunteer crew with some spike hammers and a rail car and go down the line slowly, inspect the track, and hammer down loose spikes. Don't knock yourselves out doing it, keep it leisurely. It may take a few day trips (sessions), may save some work, time and money.

If you do hire out, when done, go back and re-inspect the track and the ole inspect fix run again, as above some of them contractors failed out.

Replacing ties.

That makes we recall a letter (copy) that I read in the Special Collections at U of Nevada - Reno. It was written by the VP-General Manager of the narrow-gauge Eureka-Nevada during the 1930s to the President who was in Boston.

To paraphrase the letter: I road the motor car trip this last week and it had a breakdown en route to Eureka. I walked with the operator to the nearest line-side phone box. Boy, do we have a number of bad ties that need replacement. This last year we install (some number) thousand used standard gauge ties we obtained from the Southern Pacific. The problem is that when we replace one we disturb the adjacent six ties and have to replace those too!

Something to think about -- your project may grow because of the conditions you're working with. Just like a car restoration project.

not sure how a "disturb" would cause replacement of 6 adjacent ties. Yank the spikes out, clear some gravel to move the tie out, dig some room for the new tie, slide it in, gravel back in poke some ballast around, 1 good tie done. This of course the condition of adjacent ties.

10 miles nearly ASAP if get the financials for it just do it. I don't know what equipment you are operating, the lighter it is the lesser the FRA requirements may be. Square up the near minimal needed to operate but don't hold back, keep the process up for the rest of the ties popping down any loose spikes on older ties. Doing some casual volunteer work sessions it will get done slowly but surely, rest between poundings, bring some drinks, munchies, make it fun.

in the longer run you may gain strength, energy doing it, its exersize, do not over do it or you break yourself. You will find later you can tolerate the work a little more.


Some time back a UP train on the south shore had a hopper train derail but the train stayed connected and ruined a few miles of track, the South Shore brought in a horde of help somehow, and had the line fixed... IN ONE DAY. wow

Mr. Charles Sexton may have been slightly exaggerating, but not much.

You've got to know about the Eureka-Nevada and its predecessor Eureka & Palisades. During the 1930s it was a down-on-its-knees narrow-gauge. It had been built back in the mid-1870's with typical dirt ballast and never got rock ballast.

one of the selling points about narrow gauge, lighter equipment, easier on the track, lumber roads with shays laying track practicaly on rough ground, the shays could run rough track.

yeah, the FRA specs are I believe bare minimum to operate. A recent thread here showed a train running on ridiculous wavery track, I wonder why they even attempt running it, and all the time at 5 miles an hour or less.

Bet your track isn't even half that bad...heh.

good luck on the endeavor, lotta ground covered in this thread.

Some photos of temporary track laid on some of the old logging roads would be appropriate. They'd lay down a temporary branch to log a stand, then lift it. Some of the photos I've seen were pretty scary.

I'm just a humble house carpenter ,but I really have a lot of experience with rotten wood.A railway tie is wood, so please except this observation, if wood is exposed to rain it must be coated,any crack is an invite to decay.My guess is that a man with a bucket on a little wagon with a roller painting the tops of the ties could extend the life of a line far more than the expense of this operation.Remember a well built line should have good drainage an if so, the bottoms of the tie's should remain dry. Replacing tie's is disruptive to the line in many ways so persevering ties is very cost effective , I wish there to be a through investigation on the best top coat ,perhaps driveway top coat ,(I'm only guessing here),For this has implication's that could lower railway cost worldwide.Ether a monolithic cap type coat or a flexible thinner rubber coat .Remember wood expands an contracts with the weather. Enough said, go to work an report your results this could take 50 years..

ties are dried then creosote soaked, dried in kilns, normal logs wouldnt last a year.

The Japan Shinkansen every night crews are out re-aligning the routes/track, you never hear of accidents there.

it sounds like an interesting idea from time to time drag some creosote out on the line and dash up some weathered ties, might do some life extending, for a short.

Creosote has to do 2 things, preserve the wood, then keep the varmints out, them ants and termites are killers! I use cut logs on my garden to hold down weed block, every workover them creatures are all over it.

Bruno Sanches recently posted an excellent update to the ABPF blog, detailing track maintenance work on two of the steam-powered tourist lines in southern Menias Gerais, Brazil: http://abpfsuldeminas.com/2013/12/27/ma ... ermanente/

Suggestion: Copy-and-paste the Portuguese text into your favorite on-line translator.