Welded Rail and Infrastructure Multi-Year Upgrades

As of Wednesday 2-28-2007, there is one WPRR gondola down at one of the Lakeville Shop Tracks loaded with ties. It's on the "wheelset and truck storage" track. The spring (if it ever gets here) and summer will certainly be full of lots of track work. There is welded rail to be laid, ties to be changed out in association with the welded rail project and Barilla's trackage to be completed.

As a recap of last year, welded rail has been laid on the ballast profile, from Brook Road down through Avon and in sections between Avon and Lakeville. Some sections of the line have previously been converted to welded rail as per Conrail and some of the LA&L's own upgrade efforts. The rail appears to all be 127 pound Dudley rail parts of the Metro North Railroad (commuter line downstate, NY.)

Ties have been piling up in Avon since late last year. Associated track parts (plates, etc) have been sitting in Avon in gondolas for some time now as well on the MOW siding.

Stay tuned for more information.

Last week a WPRR gon went northbound, I would assume they emptied it and are returning the car.

MOW equipment has been moved onto the old siding in Avon, NY. The five pieces of track maintenance equipment are to be used for the welded rail project and other related activities. Pictures coming soon.

12pm 4/3/07 I noted, on my way to work, that Silk Road Transportation truck was delivering 3 pieces of MOW equipment in Avon. The truck was parked across the highway at the crossing on Rts 5 & 20 in Avon, with flagmen assisting traffic while the equipment was being dropped. The siding that Luther was referring to is the King Cole Bean Co. Siding, which sees rare use for deliveries, and is a siding off of the Avon Industrial line.

I sure hope that everyone is keeping their eyes open because it appears that it will happen soon, and I will be out of the area for the next week and limited availability for the week after that.

Greg

So that means from what Luther (posted 4/3) and I (posted 3/28 on RR Movements)saw will now bring the total at King Cole siding up to eight equipments? What about the the euipments at the RGE siding? With the 300 mm zoom, standing on the east side of the tracks, I could just see it. Need to learn how to use the Picasa program so I can post pictures!
Chris
alsorailfan

On the old King Cole Bean siding are the following pieces of equipment:

Two tie cranes, a tie exchanger, a tie inserter, a spike inserter, a tamper and a couple more pieces of equipment that were not readily identifiable.

Also, three more gondolas were spotted on the siding just north of the Papermill Road grade crossing south of Avon.

It appears that the beginning of welded rail will be at MP 359.14 in Lakeville, New York. With that said, the worst of the bad ties are starting to be marked for replacement.

Apparently the CWR project was supposed to start earlier this spring however, the weather has not be conducive to this major of a project since the ground has not settled but it is in the works.

The CWR Project is slated to start next week says an informed source.

First, the worst ties will be replaced with those from Mount Creosote Tie in Avon, NY. This may take as little as a week depending onthe number of bad ties and the number of "good MOW days" we have when it starts.

Afterwards, the track will be replaced with CWR, some switches will replaced/rebuilt where needed, amongst other things.

Most if not all crossings are already up to snuff.

Keep your eyes open for activity on the line both day and night.

I noted today that the ties through to Avon and north near the County line are marked for replacement. I have been seeing crews working, MOW and others in and around Avon.
Gons are setting on the Industrial spur. And the LAL open hoppers have moved down to the third track in the yard. Siding on the south side of Rt. 5 (Main St.) off of the Lakeville line is now emptied out.


Greg

Not sure if the train schedule will be affected, but in the past the LA&L has run the road train at night when there has been major track work in progress.

Mike

Mike Stellpflug wrote:Not sure if the train schedule will be affected, but in the past the LA&L has run the road train at night when there has been major track work in progress.

Mike

As the track work commences, the railroads operations will shift to a time when the track crews will not be working.

Also, look out for a slower running railroad until the track is tested at various speed. A very respectable source says that the line speed may increase as the new rail is tested but during the process itself, speeds may be lowered as a precautionary measure.

As I drove home from work Tues 17th,I saw the compressor and the backhoe at the site of the switch for Barilla. If you turn down the road to Aldon Chemical you are almost right on top of the switch as it is being installed.
Can someone go get pictures?

Here are some pictures of some of the various equipment involved in the process. This is the equipment on the King Cole Bean Siding.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lutherkb/LA ... xHZqvTusVE

The welded rail project is in full bloom as of today. The LA&L MOW crew has been marking the ties that need the most immediate attention. The tie contractor is scheduled to begin work tomorrow. The MOW equipment has been moved into place.

LA&L 4444, 4401 (ex PC 440103 [H36 coal hopper modified for ballast service]) and WNYP 4448 (ballast hoppers) have been moved to Lakeville.

Ties were being inserted on the Lakeville to Avon section on Sunday. Mid to late afternoon I saw the equipment working its way down the Main line.

Greg

Also, the switch for the MOW siding in Avon has been pulled. At the same time the switch for Barilla has been laid.