Maintenance questions............

The Bath Iron Works shipyard on the west bank of the river in Bath,does NOT take rail service. Plate steel is shipped in to the fabrication facility at East Brunswick,alongside old Rt.1. This is called Hardings,and is where locomotives frequently tie up.It was also the FIRST interchange point between GRS & Maine Coast when the Rockland Branch was "reopened" in 1990.(even when the branch was "embargoed"1987-90,GRS still went to Hardings from Rigby. The propane facility,across from "Moodys Diner" in Waldoboro has NOT been a rail customer since the reopening in 1990. When the line was rehabed a couple of years ago,switch was removed ,even though track & bumper remain. The cement plant is also in a receiver of carloads of coal usually in blocks of hoppers,but mostly in spring as they stockpile(gee,Maines own "coal train"-wow!!) and also black silica & filings in gons. 2 consignees will rarely use the "team track" in Rockland Yard. Beaver Industries)located in part of the old Yard office,boxcars of "sandblasting grit,and O'Hara Bait & Salt,boxcars of rock salt. NOT a lot of potential rail users & the 2 previous operators have aggressively tried to add consignees. Two biggest "users" have been the Maine yankee decommissioning and the actually rehab of the tracks,with ties,plates - and several "rail trains". Bud

To get back on topic,I recently saw a gradeall own by the local county HWY dept.It was sitting on the side on the road,near some freshly dug ditches.

Older trucks have been a hobby for 50 years,also;so heres the scoop on a Gradall. The patented product was licensed to Warner-Swazey Co.They basically had an extendable boom that could grade,ditch,dig as a backhoe etc. The truck part was built by Duplex Truck Co. of Lansing,Michigan. They had been a small "assembler" of trucks since 1920 or so. Most of their trucks were bought by contractors,as they featured reinforced frames etc. They later used mostly International sheet metal from the mid-50s to build these trucks,making them hard to spot. Warner Swazey bought out Duplex,in the 50s,and besides the Gradall chassis,also used for cranes,they concentrated on chassis for fire trucks(which they done since the 1940s for Howe & Oren fire trucks). They developed an enclosed cab chassis caled the Spartan,that was sold to some builders of apparatus. through the 1980s.Pretty sure they are out of business now. Gradalls,on hi-rails have largely replaced a classic piece of railroad equipment;the Jordan Spreader! Pushed by a locomotive,the spreader could ditch,spread ballast,and of course,plow snow. Had a big cab,wing plows-a big piece of equipment! There is one in the SLR yard at Lewiston Jct. in Auburn,ME. But theyve been using a leased Gradall "hi rail" for ditching,as their ability to travel on highways(not to mention NOT having to have a 2 man engine crew(and engine!!)saves $$$$ Hope this helps,Bud