On Saturday, February 8, volunteers Dwight Maxey, Kendall Crouch, Chris Pollard, Bruce Davis, Chris Traficante, Dannis Hudson, Nick Walker and Paul Brown stayed busy working on track. Our first task was to replace a section of rail that had a piece of the head of the rail broken out. This piece of rail, a little over eight feet long, is special in that it allows a change in rail weight from 110 lb/yd to 90 lb/yd. The size of the rail actually changes from one end to the other, and we were lucky enough to have another section that matches the one that needed replaced. The crew unbolted the broken rail and bolted up the replacement. Overall a pretty simple repair, and an excellent way to teach some of the crew members about track repair.

After a lunch break, the crew headed back out to repair some damage that was done to the dirt crossings that we installed a few months back. Some contaminated material was deposited on the crossings and it blocked the flangeways. The crew dug out the offending material, and then fabricated end blocks from 6X6 timbers to box in the material. After finishing this work, the crew cleaned up all the tools used, and finished up before the cold wind started blowing.

I have included a few pictures of today’s action.

– Paul