Wild and Wooly

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

What is required, before a train can be run on a little used branch line? Last weekend, we were at a wedding in Aberdeen, S.D…The Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western Railroad has a line that runs northeast out of the BNSF yard in Aberdeen.

It connects, more or less, with the CP Rail (former DM&E,) in S.D., and CP Rail in N.D. I say more or less, because there was a battle between BNSF and CP about whether the DM&E trains could go through the BNSF yard. I believe that got settled, but that the DM&E purchase by CP probably made it a moot point.

Anyway…the particular line in question is a grain hauling line, used only sometimes during the year. Right now, it has thick weeds past chest high. I’d imagine, that at the very least a hi-rail truck would be run on the line for an inspection. I question whether the hi-rail truck could make it through the weeds, let alone inspect the track hiding under the weeds. Would the weeds need to be cut, and then the track checked out?

What is the normal routine, to get a little used line up and running?

2

Ballast regulator broom (rotating rubber hoses) to remove the weeds and small trash and debris; on-track brush cutter or backhoe, etc. for anything bigger such as downed trees; then application of herbicide to prevent reoccurrence.

Hi-rail truck for nominal inspection; tie renewals and regage rails as needed, and plug and respike any ties with loose spikes; fill any washouts with ballast; raise and tamp same and any other severe dips. Replace any broken rails found. Inspect and tighten all joint bars and bolts, replacing those loose, missing, or broken, as well as rail anchors and all Other Track Material. Clean, lubricate, and adjust switches, stands, and operating rods, check gage at frog, double-check condition of switch timbers. Make sure you’ve got spare rails on hand of the odd sections in the track, in case any of them break.

Remove encroachments and large debris with backhoe; also, any ‘wash-ins’ of mud & dirt or rockfalls into the track or ditches that the ballast regulator didn’t remove. Clean flangeways at grade crossings; repair any flashers/ gates; inspect signs, markings, and grade crossing surface, and arrange for repair/ renewal/ replacement by whoever is responsible (sometimes local highway forces). Fence and cattle guard repair may also be important in some places, mainly out west.

Hire qualified bridge inspector, have that done, agonize over report, and repair as needed to be legal; likewise for culverts; inspect all waterways for signs or erosion and scour. Tunnels are a special headache and source of a lot of work. Be on the lookout for unauthorized grade and underground utility crossings, excavations, and other activity near the tracks that could affect safety.

Then do a formal inspection to determine the FRA track “Class”, maximum allowable speed, and any restrictions. In any event, the first few trains should operat

3

Excepted track - NO HAZMAT - chug on.at 10 MPH or less.

4

If it was excepted track- there are several, short grain gathering lines like that around here- would a railroad do a quick visual check of the tracks, and skip everything Paul mentioned? …If they were felling lucky, of course. [:-^]

5

If they wish to remain a common carrier, they have hoops to jump through or it doesn’t happen.PERIOD. If 49CFR213.37 doesn’t bite 'em, there are plenty of others. Some of the operating bubbas might deem it OK, but them they’d be looking into the teeth of the FRA inspector and see their whole railroad career come to an end (plus a gaping hole in their bank account).

If the line has been dormant for a while, the must inspect before resumption of traffic, plus comply with Paul’s laundry list that I could add to.

6

Oh sure, happens all the time. Nothing much could have deteriorated over the last year or two, right ? The ties under that 70 lb. rail are undoubtedly just as capable of maintaining gage and supporting the 286K covered hoppers. It just depends on the experience over the last few years as to how much maintenance and replacements are needed.

The saving grace is that at low speed (< 10 MPH), the damage from any derailment won’t be much.

The economic rationale is that the costs of any derailments and patching the track back together at those locations - and in any other obvious bad spots - is likely less than the cost of doing a decent maintenance cycle on the whole line. Makes sense, and as long as the management understands and is OK with the premise that there aren’t any guarantees of “No derailments”, can put up with the unpredictability and consequent unreliability caused by same, and the aggregate cost of any derailments is indeed less than a maintenance project, then they’ll look and feel good about having gotten away with it again (deferring maintenance) for another year. But sooner or later, that luck runs out, and some serious $ has to be put into the track or it’ll be inoperable . . . [:-^]

  • Paul North.
7

No more than 5 placarded hazardous cars, NO key trains ever, no passengers.

8

Not quite as bad…

9

Edit: Duplicate post

I found the picture here:

Tunnel of Green

10

Butler, that’s beautiful. Where is that?

11

I stumbled across that pic. while surfing the net. There was not any info. on where the photo was taken. [*-)]

12

[quote user=“Paul_D_North_Jr”]

Ballast regulator broom (rotating rubber hoses) to remove the weeds and small trash and debris; on-track brush cutter or backhoe, etc. for anything bigger such as downed trees; then application of herbicide to prevent reoccurrence.

Hi-rail truck for nominal inspection; tie renewals and regage rails as needed, and plug and respike any ties with loose spikes; fill any washouts with ballast; raise and tamp same and any other severe dips. Replace any broken rails found. Inspect and tighten all joint bars and bolts, replacing those loose, missing, or broken, as well as rail anchors and all Other Track Material. Clean, lubricate, and adjust switches, stands, and operating rods, check gage at frog, double-check condition of switch timbers. Make sure you’ve got spare rails on hand of the odd sections in the track, in case any of them break.

Remove encroachments and large debris with backhoe; also, any ‘wash-ins’ of mud & dirt or rockfalls into the track or ditches that the ballast regulator didn’t remove. Clean flangeways at grade crossings; repair any flashers/ gates; inspect signs, markings, and grade crossing surface, and arrange for repair/ renewal/ replacement by whoever is responsible (sometimes local highway forces). Fence and cattle guard repair may also be important in some places, mainly out west.

Hire qualified bridge inspector, have that done, agonize over report, and repair as needed to be legal; likewise for culverts; inspect all waterways for signs or erosion and scour. Tunnels are a special headache and source of a lot of work. Be on the lookout for unauthorized grade and underground utility crossings, excavations, and other activity near the tracks that could affect safety.

Then do a formal inspection to determine the FRA track “Class”, maximum allowable speed, and any restrictions. In any event,

13

I would suspect a “shopped” foto.

14

The picture may have been retouched but not necessarily so. There is a stretch of IHB’s Sheddfield branch just north of Wolf Lake and within the Chicago City Limits that is similarly bordered by trees although without the overhead arch and less growth in the track structure.

15

Well, to be honest, I can see a repeating pattern in the photo. It looks as though the original may have been a very short tunnel or underpass. If not, how would the green leaves inside get any sunlight?

But hey- at least they can see the rails without needing a weed whacker.

16

It is shot with a telephoto lens, so it makes the trees look more packed together than they really are.

17

And coincidentally in a repeating pattern?

18

Well, there is a repeating pattern of lights and darks, but it looks natural and random to me. There is a progression of light and dark values, and there is repetition with both, but I don’t see a segment of lights and darks repeating again in the same sequence. I agree that that would indicate that the image was manufactured by editing, but I don’t see it.

If you look at the first dark segment, it is followed by a light segment, and that is followed by a medium segment.

If you look at the second dark segme

19

We’ve got a few sections of “tree tunnels,” albeit not so nicely groomed. They’re just the result of running through a forest, with the biggest trees spreading over the ROW.

Our line is a snowmobile trail in the winter. It gets a good going over in the spring. The “out of service” section gets fairly regular visits by our maintenance folks just to make sure nothing untoward has happened (like beavers plugging up a culvert and washing away 100-200 feet of roadbed…)

20

I drove a stretch of highway like the photo between Boonton and Fort Bragg, California.

The whole trip (including the ride on the SuperSkunk) was interesting, but that road stuck in my mind.

Chuck