Pan Am Railways (PAR) Maintenance of Way (MoW) Activity

Typical railroad tie spacing for wood ties (21") yields approximately 3000 ties per mile. This would mean about every sixth tie would be replaced.I don't know how this affects FRA standards.

Roughly 2000 ties per mile. Like Newpy said every fourth, though they arent changing every fourth. Some places they swap out 3 or 4 in a row and then jump 10 ties up and change another, its all about getting the worst ties swapped. What I was told is an average of 500. Some miles see more than 800 ties swapped and some as little as 2 or 300.

It also worth noting that there is still a good sized stack of ties in Mattawamkeag. Even though the tie train hasnt been up there in. A while and ties are stacked for stagin at least into Bangor. Hopefully they will return next year to put the rest of the ties into the ground.

One thing too to remember about all of this work is that railroad capital investment is arguably one of the most durable capital investments that can be made. Ties, rails and associated hardware can last for a very very long time with minimal maintenance. This unusually long lifetime can be substantially extended if a few minor additional steps are taken to included regular surfacing and lining with ballast as necessary and careful attention to drainage.

The improvements being made to these tracks now are going to last for decades going forward. In short, the oil trains have now rejuvenated and extended the life of the ex-Maine Central main lines and branch lines still in service for decades to come.

For wood ties, it's closer to 3,000 ties per mile, not 2,000. Concrete ties run about 2600 per mile.

roberttosh wrote:For wood ties, it's closer to 3,000 ties per mile, not 2,000. Concrete ties run about 2600 per mile.

Thank you,
I have worked on several hundred miles of railroad construction projects and never seen wood tie spacing that results in 2000 ties per mile, it is always 3000 plus.
From the Railway Tie Association:"How many wood crossties are there per mile in the United States on average? There are about 3,249 ties per mile based on 19.5 on-center spacing"


http://www.rta.org/faqs

Thanks for the info.
I was just relaying what I'd been told. Have heard repeatedly they are doing about 1/4 of ties and are going an average of 500/mile. Where and why your figures and theirs differ I don't know.

neman2 wrote:

roberttosh wrote:For wood ties, it's closer to 3,000 ties per mile, not 2,000. Concrete ties run about 2600 per mile.

Thank you,
I have worked on several hundred miles of railroad construction projects and never seen wood tie spacing that results in 2000 ties per mile, it is always 3000 plus.
From the Railway Tie Association:"How many wood crossties are there per mile in the United States on average? There are about 3,249 ties per mile based on 19.5 on-center spacing"


http://www.rta.org/faqs

Not sure you've ever been up this way but in Maine, especially deeper parts, we don't do things like everybody else does

CN9634 wrote:Not sure you've ever been up this way but in Maine, especially deeper parts, we don't do things like everybody else does

Sshhhhh... we don't want the FRA to find out about the ties that are held together with Bondo .

Looks like they're getting ready to rehab the crossing in downtown Clinton, MA. Pavement is marked off, ties and rubber matting is nearby. Now only if they'll fix that crossing in Lancaster on Center Bridge road, a definite 'front end suspension' breaker...


J

At this point it appears everything is on the table. If the crossing really is that bad it is probably already on their list.

Perhaps they will stretch the trackwork season into December this year. That would certainly seem feasible in Massachusetts.

As of 0925 on 11-14-2012, ties had been put in place on both sides of the Chestnut Hill Avenue OHB in Athol. Rails were still on either side of the ties. It was still cold enough that frost showed what looked like pre-attached tie plates, so mebbe this stretch will be Pandroled. No crews were visible during the driveby.

The grade crossing in downtown Clinton on the Worcester line is being rebuilt as of today, detours for auto traffic are in place. Working on a house in Clinton and came across this work being done...

J

A couple weekends back, the tie gang working out of 'Keag had made it as far east as Veazie. The ROW looked like a tie graveyard with most of the oldies strewn along where the old siding up to Main Street used to be.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 517505.jpg
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 597872.jpg

As of this past Saturday, there was some big time work going of at Northern Maine Junction and points west. The equipment from Vezie had worked west to the Hammond/Doane Street Spur and was holed up there for the weekend. However, a decent sized MOW crew was working in NMJ itself with an MOW train dropping ties out near MP69 and working back toward the yard....

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 056981.jpg
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 467322.jpg

Four centerbeams loaded about a third of the way up in height with ties were by the office in the yard with two tie trucks bringing loads out to Cold Brook Road and Bog Road at CPF66.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 286377.jpg

Out near Carmel and MP 71, there hasn't been any tie marking done as of yet now. The whole ROW between Keag and Waterville could use this kind of TLC, but it's quite impresseive to see the levels of work being done lately. As for the Bucksport Branch, there has been a lot of tie and even ballast and tamping being done in locations closer to the Verso mill. Of course, the rash of derailments in the past year and a recent FRA visit might have added to that progress being made.

Today while I was picking up something for work I noticed that ballast has been dropped on the lower road in Winslow along Bay Street. So far its just behind J&S oil and Winslow House of Pizza. I'm not sure if they dropped any more at other locations but this must have happened either yesterday or today.

I guess with Brunswick finished, the trackworkers can focus on the north end now. Glad to hear they're making good progress. How late can they continue...until the first snow? Until the first hard freeze? New Year's?