As others have said that rod is hundredth's of a foot, not inches. If I was closer to you I would come by and give you a hand. I'm a retired surveyor with 40 years of heavy construction experience, the majority of which involved trackwork. Suggestion- record your readings in a notebook, label your first shot as station 0+0 , then 0+10, 0+20, 0+30 etc. 100 feet is 1+0, then 1+10,1+20..... You are doing a good job!!! Just trying to help.
Barry, do you know much about track jacks? I ask, because I want to know if there is a simple way to make an adaptor to allow 1 or 2 car jacks to lift up the rails of Death Valley.
One word: SPEEDER! 1) Cuz lets face it...they are fun. 2) They are utilitarian along with the cart as you can carry a bunch of stuff with you, 3) Saves a lot of walking and 4) Coffee mug holders.....you can always put in coffee holders for cups or even a coffee pot of some sort.
You guys might want to contact diesel creek he isn't too far away and has equipment and skills to get the line up to snuff quickly and to a high level of quality too
You should establish stationing, which is a numbering system from start to end of your track alignment. Start at 100+00, just in case you need to go in back of your starting point. You do not want negative stationing, this could become confusing. Station at least half a station ( 50 feet ) beyond the end of your track alignment. Get some good benchmarks along the alignment. Call the first one 100 and set elevations to the next two from there. This will become useful for drainage. Looking up station will be how you determine right and left, negative is left plus is right looking up station. You should be reading tenths and hundredths.
All the land down here west of the Scioto river here in scioto county was surveyed by George washington's crew after the war. They gave it to the veterans as a payment for fighting the war. My property still has some of the very stones they placed long ago for the corners of the land.
That's how my fraternal ancestors ended up in Franklin County, OH. They came over from Baltimore County, Maryland as payment for service in the Revolution.
You are correct about how difficult it is to clean all of the sand out of a piece of equipment. Two years ago I had the task of trying to blow sand out of a track loader after sandblasting. The track loader was eventually repainted. It was a horrible dusty mess with sand buried in hard to reach areas. Even with air guns with tubes six feet long.
That's when you need an extreme high pressure washer with an inline soap dispenser. Some Deckies on a Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless did it that way. Needle gun, sandblasted then pressure wash. The pressure washer was a portable ex Navy hand me down unit with big wheels. I watched them using it on some upper deck fittings and equipment while on board as a Flight Mechanic on Sikorsky HH52a Seaguard helo on a 10 day AvDet wolf pack drug patrol around the southern tip of Florida in 1979. I had a blast. I was based at Coast Guard Airstation Miami. The Dauntless at Beach Miami station. We met up with her outta St. Pete on Florida's west coast then cruised around past Key West back up to Miami. Them flew off her back to Miami's Opa Locka Airstation. Couldn't wait to see my red head Irish wife and 1 year old baby daughter.
I bought a car that was used as a rural mail carrier vehicle. It was driven on gravel roads, with the window open. I never did get all the dust out from the inside of the radio and dash.
Bran, Brian, Brian. You don’t have a dip in the tracks, man. You’ve got the start of a hump yard. LOL Hahahahahah! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! Cheers! Whipple
I look forward to seeing more work being done on the Terminal Railroad. I also want to see the your locomotive cleaned up and painted. All that will make great videos. Everything you share if fine. Thank You
Just happened upon your channel and I liked it so I subscribed & a 👍🏻 too. I’ve done a lot of final drives, torc dividers, etc., lots off heavy work but that’s why it’s called heavy equipment, LOL Looks like a cool project, I’ll be watching for more. Ron
Since you mentioned President Lincoln.... "I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.". Thank you for another outdoor RR class and allowing us to "ride" along. Happy Thanksgiving and God Speed ETR!
Those are great plans that you have for the ETR, and the drive behind it. You are going places and it’s good to be here and watch it all happen. Keep up the good work. 👍👍👍❤️
Another informative video on one of the basics of railroad design. It isn't a theodolite survey, but hell, it doesn't need to be. I like your style. Most folks would love to see the video on bulldozer drive rebuild. I certainly would. Don't leave ANYTHING out Brian. These topics are fascinating to your viewers.
New stuff to me. What you should do is all about what your goal is. I'm still in the dark, but I'll keep watching. Today is Nov. 22, 2021. St. Joseph, MO (I'm 77.)
Nice station and receiver setup. I use a torpedo level on top of a shovel as my station and someone holding a tape measure as the receiver. You get them to hold their finger against the tape and it works within 1/2 inch up to 100 feet. You just sight down the top of the torpedo like it were a gun sight and have the receiver call out the measurement. Can even shoot slopes if you have the right level
As my late Grandpa always said, "Do it right, or don't do it". And it looks like you're doing things right. Also, glad to see 2021 moving on the tracks a little. Love the little engine that could! Best Wishes for ETR.
This video brings back memories of taking a surveying course in high school. The teacher divided us up in groups of four. One person with the "stick", one with the transit similar to the one used here, one recording the data, and one verifying the measurements. We had to survey all the way around the school building, rotating our group assignments, coming back to our starting point. If done right (and we did it ) the elevation when we finished would be the same as when we started out +/- a very small allowed tolerance. It was a very interesting course but don't ask me to remember much of it since that was 52 years ago! Haven't surveyed anything since.
In engineering college I had advanced surveying. Our final project was laying out a railroad with curves and cut and fill. My dad bought me a portable calculator. Only two of us in the class had them. Faster than a slide rule. Laying out a railroad is harder than you imagine. Happy Thanksgiving
You're writing your elevations in inches and reading your rod in inches but your rod is in tenths of a foot, not inches. It's not a big deal for your initial measuring but it will matter when you start grading.
I absolutely love doing Permanent Way (track) work on our railway (admittedly it's only a 20" gauge one that's a mile long). Last year we reballasted and tamped about 75% of our track and 25% of it was contaminated with mud and mulch.... With so many trees around the specific section it all needs doing again. Hard work when there's only 2 or 3 of you on the project and all work is done by hand (plus the odd Kango hammer for packing). So my thoughts and prayers will be with you guys when you undertake the project. Keep up the good work 👍
Looks like some exciting things going to be happening in 2022. Glad to see the new merchandise available. Thanks for sharing with us, Brian and Graham.
If you are going to purchase ties. Consider buying steel ones. U wont need the rubber insulators. Qnd then to spide the rail u just need 4 pandrol type clips u pound in with a sledge hammer. The cost is more but they basically last for ever. Have value once used up (scrap/repurpose) and likely wont ever need changing.. hold gauge for you less bars needed. Take more weight. Better for environment. Wont rot. Dont have cresote in them right on ur water source. Big plus is u wont need any other track materials like fishplates. Spikes. And u can get switch tie ones as well which will hold ur track separation on ur switch better. Less likely to have a track dip. One side to other which would break the wood tie. ... so much better. Check out steel ties.
Agree w/ previous commenters about dry ice as blasting medium and Diesel Creek. He also knows something about heavy equipment and final drives. And please rethink the stock offering....
High pressure air will solve the residual sand problem after sandblasting. You're gonna need to tape up a lot of things anyway. If there is that much grease around then it needs cleaning also. We high pressure wash everything before we sandblast anyway. It's amazing the eye will tell you one thing but the transit don't lie. Take care.
For rail ballast, we usually send material to a company that rebuilds trackage, and they use 2" Clear between the track for ballast and ground stability. Be sure to mark the ground with your counts to be sure you have a 2ndary visual on site.
'Sand blasting' is now a generic term. Now it's really 'media blasting'. And it's called 'media blasting' because of ALL of the different types of media used for different types of 'blasting'. Yes, it is all kinda messy, but even Styrofoam beads are used on certain types of surfaces. In my harley shop, I used crushed glass on most parts that needed blasting. And even that is available in different grades or 'fines'. Just an FYI ;}>
I used crushed walnut shell one time to blast paint on the interior steel structure of an industrial building that was getting renovated into apartments and condominiums. There was a specific reason but it eludes me now.
@@williambryant5946 I used crushed walnut shells and warm water with tide soap to douche out my turbine engines decades ago. But sometime in late 1970-71 they found out the crushed walnut shells caused cracking on the turbine blades. They never did come up with an adequate replacement.
Loved the video. You certainly have a wide breadth of knowledge. Loved hearing about the bulldozer also and how you have to fix it. Many of these things would stop a lesser man. Glad to be along for the ride. Keep em coming.
It looks like your tape is graduated in tenths of a foot (which it typical for surveying) rather than inches so your dip is 2 tenths of a foot rather than 2 inches. Not really a big difference but thought it was worth pointing out in case it wasn't already mentioned in an earlier comment.
Don't know if it's more expensive or not but I know some use crushed walnut shells as a substitute for sand blasting and while sand sticks around forever, walnut shell will eventually rot.
Yeah I used crushed walnut shell on the interior steel structure of an industrial building being renovated into apartments and condominiums one time. Can't remember the exact reason for that but there was a reason.
Yes walnut shells will wash or I should say float away with water being walnut shell are lighter than water. You also can use soda blasting we have used it on delicate surfaces and can be washed away with water to. If you use sand make sure to use a positive airflow helmet, sand particles that are inhale are dangerous for the lungs causes Silicosis.
Needlescaling it is the way to go. Currently doing this with an SW1. Needlescale it, then take an orbital sander and sand it all smooth, then prime and paint. Turns out just like new.
This might be a long shot, but everyone knows that youtube collabs are always great....there's a guy named Dave (CCRX channel) who does track maintenance in PA. I forgot exactly where you are...but I bet he could help out, although I expect he can't "just" bring his tamper over for a weekend.
So great to things early in the planning stage. Every confidence you guys, together with all the input and experience from the rest of the " team " are gonna make it happen.
Wow. Your "level" appears to be just like one I have that belonged to my father. One of my first Jobe was to hold the stick while he layed out a construction site. Mine now lives in its wooden box inside a glass door cabinet in my house.. The stick and original tripod are long gone.
Depending on who your interchange is or will be you need to contact them first if they are going to be possibly putting their locomotives onto your rail lines as they have alot of requirements for them if they are going to be possibly on them. Both in rail and ballast, and spikes.
True. With the KLS&C, we interchanged with CSX. There was only a very short distance they would put their engines in the interchange track. Normally just enough so the cars would be about 100 feet from the switch. Rarely, if we were at interchange when CSX came, we would be asked to go out onto the CSX main and pull a cut of cars onto our track. That way the local would not have to go further up the CSX to do a run around move after switching an industry up the line. CSX would come back and pick up their cars and leave our car at interchange. As engineer, I got to do that once.
Good you're doing the track through the turnout because that's the low spot with the east side being lowest. I have done grading work since 2004. To me it's a very enjoyable line of work and in the years to come I can say hey look I did that and it's still there. You for sure need to remove all that ballast full of dirt, and put in a larger pipe if possible, maybe another small one, and dig a test hole with the mini excavator to see what the subgrade looks like. If it's a little soft and firm ground is too far down I'd suggest you get some stabilization fabric put down before you ballast and if it's very soft you may need to mix powdered lime into the ground to harden it up like they do when building highways. Another solution is you can dig down two feet or until solid, if there is solid; into the soft ground put the fabric down, bring in riprap up to 1 foot below subgrade, then a 1 foot layer of crushed roadbase, crusher run, abc, whatever its called in your area, fill and compact the abc up to your subgrade level, then add the ballast and track. It all depends on the situation of how saturated that ground is and gets, which winter time I'd say would be the best time to punch a hole down to do an inquiry on what you have. Saying all that if the ground is firm under the ballast all you may need to do is take it out, bring in a little fill dirt that will compact nicely or abc compacted to level subgrade, then add track and ballast. You might be able to get by just filling it all with ballast though. Which is most likely if the subgrade is firm. If you think it's just a wee bit too soft to just add compacted dirt or abc, but doesn't need all the excavating and stone then use the fabric under the fill on top of the soft ground. It really helps a lot. Hope my rambling is understandable and helpful in some way. Can't wait to see how this works out. I enjoy this channel a lot and love what you're trying to accomplish. Stay safe. -Wil 👍 I like to see a tour of the line starting up at the junction with the main line or partner railroad showing where it comes in. I know you've done a tour video before but I'd like to see a tour again with a little more detail and slower with the plan of how many side tracks you will have and how you property lays exactly. Is it a big block or is it just the track and right away down each track like a jigsaw piece. Nice video by the way. 👍
He called the entire thing a switch which it's a turnout and he pointed at the frog, the big large center piece with groves and called it a guard rail, is how it looked and sounded to me. You are correct about the frog being where the two tracks meet or cross each other. The outside rail crosses the inside rail with the assistance of the frog.
@@williambryant5946 On the KLS&C, we had a CSX freight derail just north of interchange going south. One derailed car slammed into the frog and BENT IT! That takes some force!
Brian, you may want to take the Basic and Advanced Principles of Railroad Maintenance from the Railway Educational Bureau in Omaha, NE. When I was doing track work and wanting to move up to Section Foreman, those two courses were what enabled me to do it. I did that job for several years and really enjoyed it. Make sure that that switch frog is not too worn down. You may have to build the point up with a welder and grind it to the right profile.
Track work will take time and lots of White Castle! Can't wait to see the bulldozer in action. When the track is improved to the point of rail cars and locomotive #2021 rolling along without rocking or swaying it will be a source of pride to all of the ETRY and friends. This is the fastest 15 minutes in video and enjoyed by thousands. All of the hard work, White Castle Coffee and food will be worth it when the railcars start rolling in. Stay strong and safe!
There is a old formula for switch leads, a quarter inch on track centers equal a foot on the lead,its not exact but shooting from the hip, it will get you by, you can use some trigonometry to find the thoricial point of the turn out, but it's not critical on Class 1 trackage, in a turn out you have force and acceleration, 3 to 5 class track at speed it can be critical, move the point of turnout the switch frog, 3 to four inches, has a lot to do with the ware on the frog.but ask A real section foreman, I played the role for five years, iam not a civil engineer a actor.
Great video Brian! Are you out in Washington at this point, maybe on a job? Wish I could be there at the ETR to help. Maybe hold surveying staff, write down numbers or just do what needs to be done. I look forward to whatever winter projects you share and thank you for making the videos. I know they use up your valuable time and energy. Great to see 2021. I think she is getting her own fan club. I'm going next to order long sleeve shirt! Perhaps a 2021 shirt at some point? Best to the ETR Family!
That seems like an awful lot of work to correct a slight deviation. It would be far more practical to replace every third or fourth tie, put any spikes back in the existing ties that may hold, then jack the track up to get it back into level. You have locomotive air, so with a hand air tamper and some time you can tamp it up to hold. For us that job would take about three days with a backhoe, a load of ties and a load of stone.
Just $0.02 from a civil engineer here. As long as you’re doing ballast and excavation, I would suggest getting a larger and stronger pipe to replace that green one. Dual wall HDPE would be a good choice. Bury it below your ballast, not in it. There are minimum pipe cover standards that ADS puts out for said pipe, and while you might not have enough elevation to get to their standard, the pipe shouldn’t be in contact with the rail as it is now. It will eventually get crushed. Getting proper drainage now will save a lot of headaches later. Keep up the great content!
Boy, your transit reminds me of my youth following my archaeologist uncle around. Keep it simple. When you need just elevation offsets why use a total station!
Tried & true old school surveying method! A great amount of track rebuilding ahead. The good side the track itself is still in place! Most important the switch still there! Any rough estimate of new ties needed?
George Washington surveyed my homes property. House is 200+ years old. Williamsport MD was almost out nation's Capitol. Washington surveyed the entire area, but ultimately choose the swamp farther down the C&O canal.
Is recreating the J-lead's existence on the eventual to-do list? Edit: Ok you answered that....but only enough track for the 2021, or longer for more storage capacity?
I wish you had been the owner of the KLS&C. It would be still operating and making good money. Think long term and never the next quarter. You will be a great many quarters ahead down the line!
Well good morning to you and all the rail fans following your dreams. Speaking for myself I think and everybody that's reading these comments and watching the videos maybe have the same thoughts as I do maybe not I don't know, let's find out. Let's do a survey. I understand railroad ties are very expensive, however I think that you could have railroad ties donated to your cause by the rail fans. Instead of buying a coffee mug or t-shirt and only making a few dollars which I know I had supper but you know there's probably only about five to 10% will purchase these items. Now let's look at a different way. If you sold a railroad tie with the option to put a tag on it that said donated by or in memory of people might go for that so let's do a survey on that if you fans think this is a good idea give a thumbs up, if not give a thumbs down. I myself would love to have a railroad tie with my name on it, and would be willing to pay for one or maybe two over sometime. Because I like you, had a dream of rebuilding tracks in my area for scenic rail. I'd like to see a thousand people donate 1,000 ties. So thumbs up thumbs down. Big things can happen in the spring if this works.
Once ur done redoing the bed n put new ties n rails in n when u have the trains run on the rails how much settling will the cars will do n have affect on the rails?
Use the point of one of your switches as point 10+00 or 100+00 then go from there. Do NOT remove the switch, unless you have direct experience laying a switch. You will end up paying a contractor to come back and put it back in.
As others have said that rod is hundredth's of a foot, not inches. If I was closer to you I would come by and give you a hand. I'm a retired surveyor with 40 years of heavy construction experience, the majority of which involved trackwork. Suggestion- record your readings in a notebook, label your first shot as station 0+0 , then 0+10, 0+20, 0+30 etc. 100 feet is 1+0, then 1+10,1+20..... You are doing a good job!!! Just trying to help.
Thanks Barry You have knowledge and experience few will ever get! Brian
Barry, do you know much about track jacks? I ask, because I want to know if there is a simple way to make an adaptor to allow 1 or 2 car jacks to lift up the rails of Death Valley.
One word: SPEEDER! 1) Cuz lets face it...they are fun. 2) They are utilitarian along with the cart as you can carry a bunch of stuff with you, 3) Saves a lot of walking and 4) Coffee mug holders.....you can always put in coffee holders for cups or even a coffee pot of some sort.
You guys might want to contact diesel creek he isn't too far away and has equipment and skills to get the line up to snuff quickly and to a high level of quality too
I agree
Yes. Diesel creek is the EXACT type of person you guy want to work with
Yeah I think Matt would enjoy something different.
And he now owns a transport truck
Yep
You should establish stationing, which is a numbering system from start to end of your track alignment. Start at 100+00, just in case you need to go in back of your starting point. You do not want negative stationing, this could become confusing. Station at least half a station ( 50 feet ) beyond the end of your track alignment. Get some good benchmarks along the alignment. Call the first one 100 and set elevations to the next two from there. This will become useful for drainage. Looking up station will be how you determine right and left, negative is left plus is right looking up station. You should be reading tenths and hundredths.
All the land down here west of the Scioto river here in scioto county was surveyed by George washington's crew after the war. They gave it to the veterans as a payment for fighting the war. My property still has some of the very stones they placed long ago for the corners of the land.
That’s cool as heck
@@alcopower5710 yes its really cool!!
That's how my fraternal ancestors ended up in Franklin County, OH. They came over from Baltimore County, Maryland as payment for service in the Revolution.
@@edinnorthcarolina--ovelhog5786 it’s really cool. That property I have even had a cemetery on it from the 1700s
Belated Happy Anniversary! November 5, 2020 was your first post. You've come a long way. Congratulations.
You are correct about how difficult it is to clean all of the sand out of a piece of equipment. Two years ago I had the task of trying to blow sand out of a track loader after sandblasting. The track loader was eventually repainted. It was a horrible dusty mess with sand buried in hard to reach areas. Even with air guns with tubes six feet long.
That's when you need an extreme high pressure washer with an inline soap dispenser.
Some Deckies on a Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless did it that way.
Needle gun, sandblasted then pressure wash.
The pressure washer was a portable ex Navy hand me down unit with big wheels.
I watched them using it on some upper deck fittings and equipment while on board as a Flight Mechanic on Sikorsky HH52a Seaguard helo on a 10 day AvDet wolf pack drug patrol around the southern tip of Florida in 1979.
I had a blast.
I was based at Coast Guard Airstation Miami.
The Dauntless at Beach Miami station.
We met up with her outta St. Pete on Florida's west coast then cruised around past Key West back up to Miami.
Them flew off her back to Miami's Opa Locka Airstation.
Couldn't wait to see my red head Irish wife and 1 year old baby daughter.
I bought a car that was used as a rural mail carrier vehicle. It was driven on gravel roads, with the window open. I never did get all the dust out from the inside of the radio and dash.
Do not worry about a boring video. I watch everything you put upload. Thanks
Bran, Brian, Brian. You don’t have a dip in the tracks, man. You’ve got the start of a hump yard. LOL
Hahahahahah!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Cheers!
Whipple
Talk about vintage, I have the same level. Is your rail all the same size/weight?
I look forward to seeing more work being done on the Terminal Railroad. I also want to see the your locomotive cleaned up and painted. All that will make great videos. Everything you share if fine. Thank You
Just happened upon your channel and I liked it so I subscribed & a 👍🏻 too. I’ve done a lot of final drives, torc dividers, etc., lots off heavy work but that’s why it’s called heavy equipment, LOL
Looks like a cool project, I’ll be watching for more. Ron
I can't wait to see all this done going forward. Good luck, men. Good information about your idea and future plans.
Since you mentioned President Lincoln.... "I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.". Thank you for another outdoor RR class and allowing us to "ride" along. Happy Thanksgiving and God Speed ETR!
Those are great plans that you have for the ETR, and the drive behind it. You are going places and it’s good to be here and watch it all happen. Keep up the good work. 👍👍👍❤️
Another informative video on one of the basics of railroad design. It isn't a theodolite survey, but hell, it doesn't need to be. I like your style. Most folks would love to see the video on bulldozer drive rebuild. I certainly would. Don't leave ANYTHING out Brian. These topics are fascinating to your viewers.
New stuff to me. What you should do is all about what your goal is. I'm still in the dark, but I'll keep watching. Today is Nov. 22, 2021. St. Joseph, MO (I'm 77.)
Did my dues laying grack and learning that there is a learning curve to working the spike hammer to properly drive spikes
Would love to see content on the crawler final drives.
“Red sky at morning” poem is for when you are at sea and particularly in the trade winds.
Nice station and receiver setup. I use a torpedo level on top of a shovel as my station and someone holding a tape measure as the receiver. You get them to hold their finger against the tape and it works within 1/2 inch up to 100 feet. You just sight down the top of the torpedo like it were a gun sight and have the receiver call out the measurement. Can even shoot slopes if you have the right level
As my late Grandpa always said, "Do it right, or don't do it". And it looks like you're doing things right. Also, glad to see 2021 moving on the tracks a little. Love the little engine that could! Best Wishes for ETR.
As my dad used to say, “There’s never enough time to do the job but always enough time to do it again.”
This video brings back memories of taking a surveying course in high school. The teacher divided us up in groups of four. One person with the "stick", one with the transit similar to the one used here, one recording the data, and one verifying the measurements. We had to survey all the way around the school building, rotating our group assignments, coming back to our starting point. If done right (and we did it ) the elevation when we finished would be the same as when we started out +/- a very small allowed tolerance. It was a very interesting course but don't ask me to remember much of it since that was 52 years ago! Haven't surveyed anything since.
It would come back if you did it again, I bet.
In engineering college I had advanced surveying. Our final project was laying out a railroad with curves and cut and fill. My dad bought me a portable calculator. Only two of us in the class had them. Faster than a slide rule.
Laying out a railroad is harder than you imagine.
Happy Thanksgiving
You're writing your elevations in inches and reading your rod in inches but your rod is in tenths of a foot, not inches. It's not a big deal for your initial measuring but it will matter when you start grading.
Good eye! I am learning all the time! Brian
Awesome progress! Thanks for having us along for the ride!
Another great video .
Make a plan work the plan “ get it done “ .
Having that downhill slope from your partner railroad's line will also help solve any runaway car problems. Party on!
I absolutely love doing Permanent Way (track) work on our railway (admittedly it's only a 20" gauge one that's a mile long). Last year we reballasted and tamped about 75% of our track and 25% of it was contaminated with mud and mulch.... With so many trees around the specific section it all needs doing again. Hard work when there's only 2 or 3 of you on the project and all work is done by hand (plus the odd Kango hammer for packing).
So my thoughts and prayers will be with you guys when you undertake the project.
Keep up the good work 👍
Looks like some exciting things going to be happening in 2022. Glad to see the new merchandise available. Thanks for sharing with us, Brian and Graham.
I watched Gamera,1965. last night and they had the same yard engine in Japan. It looked new. It was moving tankers to get Gamera's attention.
Looking forward to see some track work being done. Safe travels up your way
If you are going to purchase ties. Consider buying steel ones. U wont need the rubber insulators. Qnd then to spide the rail u just need 4 pandrol type clips u pound in with a sledge hammer. The cost is more but they basically last for ever. Have value once used up (scrap/repurpose) and likely wont ever need changing.. hold gauge for you less bars needed. Take more weight. Better for environment. Wont rot. Dont have cresote in them right on ur water source. Big plus is u wont need any other track materials like fishplates. Spikes. And u can get switch tie ones as well which will hold ur track separation on ur switch better. Less likely to have a track dip. One side to other which would break the wood tie. ... so much better. Check out steel ties.
It sounds like the tree stumps that grew in the ballast will be coming out too. 😊
Agree w/ previous commenters about dry ice as blasting medium and Diesel Creek. He also knows something about heavy equipment and final drives. And please rethink the stock offering....
High pressure air will solve the residual sand problem after sandblasting. You're gonna need to tape up a lot of things anyway. If there is that much grease around then it needs cleaning also. We high pressure wash everything before we sandblast anyway.
It's amazing the eye will tell you one thing but the transit don't lie.
Take care.
That's the right way to do it! Roll the rails aside, remove the ties, bulldoze the r.o.w. and renew the track from the bottom up!
Dry Ice Blasting will eliminate the media contamination and disposal. Just need to loose the paint/rust chips when done.
For rail ballast, we usually send material to a company that rebuilds trackage, and they use 2" Clear between the track for ballast and ground stability. Be sure to mark the ground with your counts to be sure you have a 2ndary visual on site.
'Sand blasting' is now a generic term. Now it's really 'media blasting'. And it's called 'media blasting' because of ALL of the different types of media used for different types of 'blasting'. Yes, it is all kinda messy, but even Styrofoam beads are used on certain types of surfaces. In my harley shop, I used crushed glass on most parts that needed blasting. And even that is available in different grades or 'fines'. Just an FYI ;}>
I used crushed walnut shell one time to blast paint on the interior steel structure of an industrial building that was getting renovated into apartments and condominiums. There was a specific reason but it eludes me now.
The railway museum close to me uses a soda blaster to clean the old paint and rust off and it does a pretty good job.
@@williambryant5946 I used crushed walnut shells and warm water with tide soap to douche out my turbine engines decades ago. But sometime in late 1970-71 they found out the crushed walnut shells caused cracking on the turbine blades. They never did come up with an adequate replacement.
@@railroadactive What railroad museum is it?
@@gotchagoing8843 That wild that the walnut shell is hard enough to damage turbine blades.
Loved the video. You certainly have a wide breadth of knowledge. Loved hearing about the bulldozer also and how you have to fix it. Many of these things would stop a lesser man. Glad to be along for the ride. Keep em coming.
Glad you enjoyed it!
It looks like your tape is graduated in tenths of a foot (which it typical for surveying) rather than inches so your dip is 2 tenths of a foot rather than 2 inches. Not really a big difference but thought it was worth pointing out in case it wasn't already mentioned in an earlier comment.
Good eye! B.
@@eastterminalrailway5975 just means that you sag is a little bit worse...which is what your eye told you. Keep up the good work!
scott
Don't know if it's more expensive or not but I know some use crushed walnut shells as a substitute for sand blasting and while sand sticks around forever, walnut shell will eventually rot.
Yeah I used crushed walnut shell on the interior steel structure of an industrial building being renovated into apartments and condominiums one time. Can't remember the exact reason for that but there was a reason.
Yes walnut shells will wash or I should say float away with water being walnut shell are lighter than water. You also can use soda blasting we have used it on delicate surfaces and can be washed away with water to. If you use sand make sure to use a positive airflow helmet, sand particles that are inhale are dangerous for the lungs causes Silicosis.
Needlescaling it is the way to go. Currently doing this with an SW1. Needlescale it, then take an orbital sander and sand it all smooth, then prime and paint. Turns out just like new.
This might be a long shot, but everyone knows that youtube collabs are always great....there's a guy named Dave (CCRX channel) who does track maintenance in PA. I forgot exactly where you are...but I bet he could help out, although I expect he can't "just" bring his tamper over for a weekend.
Yeah especially since that line is completely landlocked with no rail access at all lol.
@@rebelyank6361 Trucks exist. But I was actually thinking Dave has lots of experience fixing all kinds of track issues, including bad ballast.
@@fredygump5578 Ohh I agree with that. He would get it whipped right into shape in no time!
So great to things early in the planning stage. Every confidence you guys, together with all the input and experience from the rest of the " team " are gonna make it happen.
I have been watching since the beginning and perhaps it was mentioned and I forgot. How long is your railroad?
Nice work Brian
Thanks 👍 Cdr.
Wow. Your "level" appears to be just like one I have that belonged to my father. One of my first Jobe was to hold the stick while he layed out a construction site. Mine now lives in its wooden box inside a glass door cabinet in my house.. The stick and original tripod are long gone.
Depending on who your interchange is or will be you need to contact them first if they are going to be possibly putting their locomotives onto your rail lines as they have alot of requirements for them if they are going to be possibly on them. Both in rail and ballast, and spikes.
True. With the KLS&C, we interchanged with CSX. There was only a very short distance they would put their engines in the interchange track. Normally just enough so the cars would be about 100 feet from the switch. Rarely, if we were at interchange when CSX came, we would be asked to go out onto the CSX main and pull a cut of cars onto our track. That way the local would not have to go further up the CSX to do a run around move after switching an industry up the line. CSX would come back and pick up their cars and leave our car at interchange. As engineer, I got to do that once.
Brian, I get inspired every time you and Graham post an update. Don't change a thing, not even the songs. Keep living the dream!
Hard Hat should always be Worn on the Work Site. We’re going to Issue a Warning this time. 😬👍
But boss , I couldn't see through the transit! Brian
Don't they have those fancy Digital readout lay-zors with color tv screens 😀 😉 😄.
I heard 👂 👀 they can tell you thickness of ants 🐜 hair 🤣 ...
you need a trackside sign to put up that says Death Valley on it
Got a solid plan. Glad to see you are getting your base line measurements.
Good you're doing the track through the turnout because that's the low spot with the east side being lowest. I have done grading work since 2004. To me it's a very enjoyable line of work and in the years to come I can say hey look I did that and it's still there. You for sure need to remove all that ballast full of dirt, and put in a larger pipe if possible, maybe another small one, and dig a test hole with the mini excavator to see what the subgrade looks like. If it's a little soft and firm ground is too far down I'd suggest you get some stabilization fabric put down before you ballast and if it's very soft you may need to mix powdered lime into the ground to harden it up like they do when building highways. Another solution is you can dig down two feet or until solid, if there is solid; into the soft ground put the fabric down, bring in riprap up to 1 foot below subgrade, then a 1 foot layer of crushed roadbase, crusher run, abc, whatever its called in your area, fill and compact the abc up to your subgrade level, then add the ballast and track. It all depends on the situation of how saturated that ground is and gets, which winter time I'd say would be the best time to punch a hole down to do an inquiry on what you have. Saying all that if the ground is firm under the ballast all you may need to do is take it out, bring in a little fill dirt that will compact nicely or abc compacted to level subgrade, then add track and ballast. You might be able to get by just filling it all with ballast though. Which is most likely if the subgrade is firm. If you think it's just a wee bit too soft to just add compacted dirt or abc, but doesn't need all the excavating and stone then use the fabric under the fill on top of the soft ground. It really helps a lot. Hope my rambling is understandable and helpful in some way. Can't wait to see how this works out. I enjoy this channel a lot and love what you're trying to accomplish. Stay safe. -Wil 👍
I like to see a tour of the line starting up at the junction with the main line or partner railroad showing where it comes in. I know you've done a tour video before but I'd like to see a tour again with a little more detail and slower with the plan of how many side tracks you will have and how you property lays exactly. Is it a big block or is it just the track and right away down each track like a jigsaw piece. Nice video by the way. 👍
I've been wondering when you were going to get back to the roadbed. All I can say is Make it happen Capt'n.
What you stated was a switch is actually a "frog" where two tracks meet
He called the entire thing a switch which it's a turnout and he pointed at the frog, the big large center piece with groves and called it a guard rail, is how it looked and sounded to me. You are correct about the frog being where the two tracks meet or cross each other. The outside rail crosses the inside rail with the assistance of the frog.
@@williambryant5946 On the KLS&C, we had a CSX freight derail just north of interchange going south. One derailed car slammed into the frog and BENT IT! That takes some force!
@@klsc8510 Wow! Yeah I imagine it would. Jeez that's crazy.
What a positive way to start a day!!
What about sand blasting with dry ice as the medium instead of sand?
Looking forward for the projects to get started. Btw have a Happy Thanksgiving to you and family
Brian, you may want to take the Basic and Advanced Principles of Railroad Maintenance from the Railway Educational Bureau in Omaha, NE. When I was doing track work and wanting to move up to Section Foreman, those two courses were what enabled me to do it. I did that job for several years and really enjoyed it. Make sure that that switch frog is not too worn down. You may have to build the point up with a welder and grind it to the right profile.
Love the video. Keep up the good stuff
Thanks, will do!
Excellent informative video 👍😁😁😁😁😁🚂🇬🇧
Love the enthusiasm and planning that’s going on at the ETR!
Perhaps you can call the track where the 2021 lays “the pocket”
Have A Safe Day!
Cool Idea, lets do that! B.
Since you are planning to put back the parallel "J" track, will you prep that area while you are replacing the "main"?
I would love to do some bonafide weed abatement for them, and some brush removal, etc. Anything to get the job done!
Thanks Paul that is so kind. Brian
Track work will take time and lots of White Castle! Can't wait to see the bulldozer in action. When the track is improved to the point of rail cars and locomotive #2021 rolling along without rocking or swaying it will be a source of pride to all of the ETRY and friends. This is the fastest 15 minutes in video and enjoyed by thousands. All of the hard work, White Castle Coffee and food will be worth it when the railcars start rolling in. Stay strong and safe!
On the KLS&C, old 85 rocked and swayed all the time. I just called it, "The Blomberg Waddle"! 85 was an EMD GP-7R ex ATSF 2110
Thank you for the post card I received after placing an order
There is a old formula for switch leads, a quarter inch on track centers equal a foot on the lead,its not exact but shooting from the hip, it will get you by, you can use some trigonometry to find the thoricial point of the turn out, but it's not critical on Class 1 trackage, in a turn out you have force and acceleration, 3 to 5 class track at speed it can be critical, move the point of turnout the switch frog, 3 to four inches, has a lot to do with the ware on the frog.but ask A real section foreman, I played the role for five years, iam not a civil engineer a actor.
Great video Brian! Are you out in Washington at this point, maybe on a job? Wish I could be there at the ETR to help. Maybe hold surveying staff, write down numbers or just do what needs to be done. I look forward to whatever winter projects you share and thank you for making the videos. I know they use up your valuable time and energy. Great to see 2021. I think she is getting her own fan club. I'm going next to order long sleeve shirt! Perhaps a 2021 shirt at some point? Best to the ETR Family!
That seems like an awful lot of work to correct a slight deviation. It would be far more practical to replace every third or fourth tie, put any spikes back in the existing ties that may hold, then jack the track up to get it back into level. You have locomotive air, so with a hand air tamper and some time you can tamp it up to hold. For us that job would take about three days with a backhoe, a load of ties and a load of stone.
Just $0.02 from a civil engineer here. As long as you’re doing ballast and excavation, I would suggest getting a larger and stronger pipe to replace that green one. Dual wall HDPE would be a good choice. Bury it below your ballast, not in it. There are minimum pipe cover standards that ADS puts out for said pipe, and while you might not have enough elevation to get to their standard, the pipe shouldn’t be in contact with the rail as it is now. It will eventually get crushed. Getting proper drainage now will save a lot of headaches later. Keep up the great content!
Great suggestion, but follow AREMA and put it in with Steel Corrugated pipe, not plastic.
You both are now on the Civil Engineering staff!
You should raise the rail bed 12 inches higher than where it is now. Have a hump so cars will run downhill after a certain point
Good evening to all from SE Louisiana 20 Nov 21.
As Travis Tritt said, "It's a great day to be alive".
Number 700 like. Where yall located??😁😁😁🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
the gaurd rail as you call it. is called the FROG
Great to see this inspiring project progressing!
And yes, geotextile is a must!
Great video.
Boy, your transit reminds me of my youth following my archaeologist uncle around. Keep it simple. When you need just elevation offsets why use a total station!
Tried & true old school surveying method!
A great amount of track rebuilding ahead.
The good side the track itself is still in place!
Most important the switch still there!
Any rough estimate of new ties needed?
Laser Level would be a good tool to have
George Washington surveyed my homes property. House is 200+ years old. Williamsport MD was almost out nation's Capitol. Washington surveyed the entire area, but ultimately choose the swamp farther down the C&O canal.
Dustin That's a cool story! Brian
If youve ever seen dry ice blasting...it's grit free and the removed paint is vacuumed off.
Paint the loco. .for crying out loud! 😆😆
neat video very cool
Definitely sounds like a good plan for where you decided to start the work.
Get a working party together and smash it out
When will you get to this rehab work? Will it Feb/March of 2021 before the ground softens and turns to mud? Guestimates at the costs?
Good video
Hello from Arizona🌴🌵🌅🇺🇸
Is recreating the J-lead's existence on the eventual to-do list?
Edit: Ok you answered that....but only enough track for the 2021, or longer for more storage capacity?
i think eventually they plan on rerouting the j lead parallel to the main, functioning like a siding
I wish you had been the owner of the KLS&C. It would be still operating and making good money. Think long term and never the next quarter. You will be a great many quarters ahead down the line!
Good progress - always interesting. Can I ask if you refer to your railway as 'railway' not 'railroad' for historical reasons...?
Was that a 80's Music ( Red-Sky )....Another Awesome video !
"Red Skies At Night", by The Fixx. Great 80's band and a great song.
Well good morning to you and all the rail fans following your dreams. Speaking for myself I think and everybody that's reading these comments and watching the videos maybe have the same thoughts as I do maybe not I don't know, let's find out. Let's do a survey. I understand railroad ties are very expensive, however I think that you could have railroad ties donated to your cause by the rail fans. Instead of buying a coffee mug or t-shirt and only making a few dollars which I know I had supper but you know there's probably only about five to 10% will purchase these items. Now let's look at a different way. If you sold a railroad tie with the option to put a tag on it that said donated by or in memory of people might go for that so let's do a survey on that if you fans think this is a good idea give a thumbs up, if not give a thumbs down. I myself would love to have a railroad tie with my name on it, and would be willing to pay for one or maybe two over sometime. Because I like you, had a dream of rebuilding tracks in my area for scenic rail. I'd like to see a thousand people donate 1,000 ties. So thumbs up thumbs down. Big things can happen in the spring if this works.
Dad57 That's a whole new way of looking at it, thanks for adding your ideas. Brian
You can use baking soda as a medium for "sand blasting" also walnut shells and plastic.
RDF That is a good idea and we will look into that. Brian
@@eastterminalrailway5975 Good to know. You loco isn't a battleship.
Once ur done redoing the bed n put new ties n rails in n when u have the trains run on the rails how much settling will the cars will do n have affect on the rails?
I am just a Irish navvy so give me a shovel
Use the point of one of your switches as point 10+00 or 100+00 then go from there.
Do NOT remove the switch, unless you have direct experience laying a switch. You will end up paying a contractor to come back and put it back in.
Thanks for the input, you are a valuable part of this team. Brian
Plot your data on graph paper and exaggerate the vertical scale times10 and you will have a great visual of conditions
Thank you for sharing. Enjoyed.