Working rail roads and their tracks.

[the old grind]

Bad, but ... The telephoto lens exacerbates the condition....

Sure does.

 

[RobS]

Bad, but really THAT bad... The telephote lens exacerbates the condition....

True, but they are pretty bad.

When you see the tie replacement video earlier, it's easy to see that railway maintenance must be terribly expensive. This line (in Elkhart) only serves a couple of customers and only a couple of runs a week. I'm sure if they budgeted for full replacement, their costs to their customers would skyrocket and the customers would move to truck transportation. I suppose it's only a matter of time before the line becomes unusable...

 

[JethroB]

Where I once worked there was a very rarely used and deteriorated siding that came within a few feet of our office wing. The engineer would walk the track first, then creeeep along with a few cars. Someone would go along the hall warning our employees and they would clear out in a hurry. :laughing:

 

[ArlyA]

True, but they are pretty bad.

When you see the tie replacement video earlier, it's easy to see that railway maintenance must be terribly expensive. This line (in Elkhart) only serves a couple of customers and only a couple of runs a week. I'm sure if they budgeted for full replacement, their costs to their customers would skyrocket and the customers would move to truck transportation. I suppose it's only a matter of time before the line becomes unusable...

Rail track maintenance should be done,,, especially when someone else is paying for it. :laughing:

 

[5030]

RJ Corman operates a number of short lines in Ohio as well plus they do rail wreck salvage and rerail jobs. Have a big facility east of St. Mary's Ohio. They also have some very informative You Tube video's that are quite entertaining.

In fact, I think Corman and Hulker are the 2 largest in the 'set 'em back on the tracks' outfits.

 

[Hay Dude]

True, but they are pretty bad.

When you see the tie replacement video earlier, it's easy to see that railway maintenance must be terribly expensive. This line (in Elkhart) only serves a couple of customers and only a couple of runs a week. I'm sure if they budgeted for full replacement, their costs to their customers would skyrocket and the customers would move to truck transportation. I suppose it's only a matter of time before the line becomes unusable...

Our abandoned tracks look better than those tracks. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

I get it, but when locomotive speed is reduced to 5mph because theres no funds to fix tracks, something痴 wrong.

That entire RR has maybe 3.5 miles of track and maybe 4 customers. I think it started as a hobby RR for a guy that didn't want to see it go and was a train fancier, and he sold it to Pioneer. They keep two old engines up there. Last I recall, the local population started getting huffy because there are no automatic crossing signals and the cars don't stop at the stop signs at the tracks because "there's never a train there". I think he crosses maybe 10 roads total. Anyhow, they were talking about adding automatic signals in the near future, so there must be some money somewhere for that.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, I found some more info... the two engines they have are GP9's from the late 50's. They have 4 customers.

Elkhart and Western - RailroadfanWiki

Originally, it served customers on the north side of the river and ran east-west from Mishawaka to Elkhart.

On an interesting note, while looking at this stuff, I found reference to a 2 mile long railroad called the Twin Branch RR. It served to take coal from this line to the Twin Branch power plant. They had steam engines, then two battery storage locomotives (pre-Tesla! :laughing, then later cantenary wires to charge the battery storage locos on the move, then diesel, then they closed the coal plant.
Twin Branch Railroad

Man, I could follow these links and read for days!

 

[the old grind]

Ayup.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yeah, I found some more info... the two engines they have are GP9's from the late 50's. They have 4 customers.

Elkhart and Western - RailroadfanWiki

Originally, it served customers on the north side of the river and ran east-west from Mishawaka to Elkhart.

On an interesting note, while looking at this stuff, I found reference to a 2 mile long railroad called the Twin Branch RR. It served to take coal from this line to the Twin Branch power plant. They had steam engines, then two battery storage locomotives (pre-Tesla! :laughing, then later cantenary wires to charge the battery storage locos on the move, then diesel, then they closed the coal plant.
Twin Branch Railroad

Man, I could follow these links and read for days!

No kidding. That’s a great railroad resource. :thumbsup:
Got look up East Penn when I get a chance