I know you weren't looking for hiring or buying a machine, but what about renting one?

If all you are looking for is some help in getting the old ties out the mini excavator can get into most places, can be hauled with a pickup truck and doesn't cost too much to rent by the day or week. Near me in northern NJ the mini excavators rent for around $300 per day.

If you have all the ties ready to be removed, spikes pulled, you could probably get some good production for removal alone.

Just a thought.

I may be mistaken, but I believe the OP is in Australia. Rental equipment may not be as readily available, depending upon where "his" railway is located. Unless it is close to a major city, there may not be any rental options available. In addition, depending on the track gauge, it may be nearly impossible to find used equipment. There are three common track gauges: 42-inch, standard gauge and 5'3."

And there seems to be more preserved equipment per capita down under than here up over. Maybe we're just fed up and over it? I wouldn't be surprised if somebody has preserved some track equipment in all of the gauges and might possibly be willing to share under the right circumstances. In any case, the cost of volunteer time and medical attention is probably greater than the cost of a good days use of some power equipment's help assuming the roadbed can be prepared to take maximum use of it efficiently. I used to spend a week preparing for a weekend's activities by volunteer teams by getting everything ready to make best use of the large crews, no reason you can't do the same for a temporarily available machine.

I think it would be better to say we have more old life-expired rail equipment set aside and not scrapped lying around the country. Certainly not preserved. Yes, I am in Australia (Canberra).

It was a very bleak day last workday, only a few in attendance and we took all day to replace a particularly recalcitrant point timber. Hence me wondering if there were easier ways than old fashioned pick and shovel. Obviously there are (and I thank you all for your suggestions), but they cost money we don't have. Even hiring a small backhoe seems to be about twice what you'd pay in the USA.

I like the logging mules. They would be bullock teams in Australia. We don't have any of those lying around, either.

You should see the draft horses they have in Lancaster County PA. I watched a team of three move from one field to another. They are huge; I've never seen horses that big. Even a PRR switch timber under 155 pound rail wouldn't stay put for these!

We did manual trackwork back in the day. To paraphrase the book and movie, we were trackmen once...and young. 90 pound rail, cinder ballast. We used hammers, spike mauls, claw bars, tie tongs, ice tongs, jacks, brooms, a couple of levels and several Mark I eyeballs.

It was sweaty work but very rewarding to get the ties in.

You should try to obtain as much mechanical equipment as you can get. NSW is Standard RR gauge. Aren't Melbourne's trams also? These might be sources of used track equipment.

Phil Mulligan

A lot of the old ties in Niles Canyon were in contaminated ballast (dirty ballast) that was like concrete. Where possible we used a backhoe to remove old ties and to clean out the holes.
But there were times when the job had to still be done by hand. In that case we have a rail mounted, diesel air compressor with long air hoses and using the portable tampers (jack hammers with a tamper blade on the end) we would loosen up the ballast before removing the rotted tie. It made the job a lot easier.

Over the years we have collected a bunch of MOW equipment to mechanize the whole process. A tie remover followed by a scarifier makes quick work in prepping the hole for the new tie. It's worth the money to buy the equipment. Volunteer time is not free. Give them the tools to do the job easier and they will come back to do it again. Leave it a backbreaking job and your volunteers will find somewhere else to be and you will have to hire professionals to do the job.

The Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources (SPCRR) at Ardenwood in Newark, CA once stabled a draft horse to pull a flatcar fitted with benches. The old SPC RR once had a horse powered branch line in the area.

I am told that on occasion they would utilize the draft horse when they were doing track work. They would hook the tie tong onto a tie and hook it up to the singletree on the Belgian's harness. Walk the horse to take tension and then the horse would just lean forward and pop the tie out.