Trains are running again!

The Jackson tamper was introduced in

the 1950s on the Northern Pacific

Railway and continues in a new role

at the Northwest Railway Museum.

It has been an unusually long winter in the Northwest but spring weather has finally arrived.  Track machines and crews have been working on the railroad and trains are running again between North Bend and Snoqualmie Falls.  Check out this season’s schedule here; regular trains are operating on Saturday and Sunday through the end of October.

Vibrating work heads pack ballast

(rock) under the ties.

There are many aspects to a operating a railroad that are not apparent to the casual observer. Whether historic or contemporary, railroads have a right of way to maintain and it is a significant responsibility that consumes the majority of a railroad's resources. Bridges are "big ticket" items but even the ubiquitous tie (at the Museum there are more than 3,000 per mile) are valued at more than $100 each to purchase and install.  Signals and railroad crossings also require significant resources to inspect and maintain in compliance with Federal regulations.

A hyrail excavator from RailWorks

installs a new stringer in one of the
Museum's bridges.  Each timber is
9 inches x 18 inches and can be over
30 feet long.

Over the winter, volunteer and community work crews changed more than 150 ties and tamped them, performed maintenance along the right of way including brush cutting, and performed annual, periodic and monthly maintenance on signals. Bridges were inspected and bridge maintenance performed. In addition, the locomotives were check out, oiled and fueled.  Coaches had minor repairs and were cleaned. Now the Museum is ready for an estimated 50,000 guests who are expected to ride the railroad this year.  Come up and visit this weekend and take a trip back in time!

Tamping track

So Spike, what makes rough track smooth again? A surface, line and dress. Huh?

A few short decades ago, gandy dancers did this work with lining bars, hand operated jacks and tamping bars or shovels. Today, workers (or more correctly, one worker) use a multifunction machine called a production tamper to level and line the track, then "tamp" (or compact) ballast under the ties to hold them in position. A production tamper uses lights, sensors and a servo circuit to detect deviations from profile (low spots in the track or lateral misalignment). Another function activates a jack to lift the track to the proper level and push it to one side or another until the sensors indicate that it is back in a straight line (or conforms to a predetermined curve). Confusing? Perhaps to most of us so instead check out these photos of a Jackson 6300 in action (followed by a ballast regulator to broom the extra ballast off of the track) and see the end result at the bottom. (Tip: if you click on the photo, you will be able to view a full screen version.)