441
59
75
GEORGIA STATE EDITION
Cornella 19
A Supplement to:
Rome 85 27
Athens 441
Atlanta
20
Madison Augusta
85
20
Griffin 1
129
Milledgeville
75
La Grange
Macon
301
185 19
16
Dublin
Swainsboro Oak Park
Columbus
Statesboro
341 441 16
Lyons Americus
May 18 2011
Dorchester
341
Cuthbert
75
Albany
84
Douglas Tifton
82
95
82
Blakely
Pearson
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.”
301
1
82
Vol. XXIII • No. 10
Savannah
McRae Cordele
27
27 84
Moultrie
19 319
Bainbridge
84
Valdosta Thomasville
Waycross Brunswick 82
1 441
Your Georgia Connection: Rich Olivier, Atlanta, GA • 1-800-409-1479
Cleaning Up Tracks Between Georgia, North Carolina By Peter Hildebrandt CEG CORRESPONDENT
The tie and surfacing gang of Norfolk Southern Railway Company has been working on the line between Charlotte, N.C., and Augusta, Ga., for several months on a section of about 190 mi. (306 km) of track. Though creosotecoated, extremely heavy and solid (ask anyone who’s ever had to move), railroad ties eventually deteriorate from steady use and untold tons of daily pressure on them. Getting equipment onto the tracks and doing the work when the trains aren’t running on the tracks seems like a tricky job, yet railroads do manage to rather seamlessly and efficiently update worn tracks and ties on a fairly regular basis. Robin Chapman, manager of public relations for Norfolk Southern in South Carolina and North Carolina explained that the rate at which they are replaced is
Some hand labor is involved with this project, but the majority of the work is machine-operated work.
Despite the busyness of this stretch of rail line, the work of tie replacement is proceeding flawlessly and on schedule.
The tie and surfacing gang of Norfolk Southern Railway Company has been working on the line between Charlotte, N.C., and Augusta, Ga., for several months on a section of about 190 mi. (306 km) of track.
perhaps more often than we may imagine: every 10 to 20 years or sometimes even more frequently, depending on various environmental factors involved. This is what is called program maintenance, and how often this reconditioning is done depends on how much rail traffic a particular line gets. This is how the replacement and repair work starts: the ties that are in the worst shape and are most in need of repair are marked with a clearly-visible white spot. In the stretch crews are currently working on, the Norfolk Southern will replace about half the ties, or about 1,800 per mile. That is a lot of ties. Luckily, they have a train to bring them to the right place. The train runs with loads of fresh railroad ties and a loader that sits up high on the back of the train unloads those ties in piles on the sides of the tracks. Large piles of railroad ballast rock material for the bed are piled at the side of the tracks near the road crossings. Eventually the ballast is spread evenly down the railroad line, and the new ties are spread out from their piles. A single operator double track cleaner slowly makes its way down sections of the line, brushing and cleaning off the tracks and ties to make the sections clean and clearly visible prior to the final work of replacing the ties. Some time later, equipment comes along, picks up the new ties, lifts the rails up and inserts the tie where the old one was. Old ties are disposed of by a company that Norfolk Southern contracts with, National Salvage, based in Ohio. Because the ties contain creosote, they have to be disposed of in an environmentally sound way. A lot see RAILWAY page 2