Our Build East Railroad Construction Crew was out for their usual first Saturday in May work session this past Saturday, May 3, 2025. With a crew of 13+ volunteers including some new to the NCRy, the order of the day was leveling and tamping the newly hardened track between Happy Valley Bridge and Castlewood Bridge.
Our Build East Railroad Construction Crew was out for their usual first Saturday of the month work session this past Saturday, May 3, 2025. With a crew of 13+ volunteers including some new to the NCRy, the order of the day was leveling and tamping the newly hardened track between Happy Valley Bridge and Castlewood Bridge.
With good weather and a good crew, a lot of progress was made with a first pass on almost the entire section between the bridges. Here are a series of photos taken mid-morning as the crew and our tamper worked their way east. First jacking the track to meet the grade stakes places earlier and then using the tamper to set the stone solidly under the ties. Some ballast cleanup was also undertaken.
Our crew will again be back at it the first Saturday of June, and we always welcome new people to join the crew. It is a great workout! Questions? Please feel free to contact us.
All images by Christopher Hauf. Used with permission.
Just east of Happy Valley Bridge, our tamper works tie by tie to force stone under the ties providing a solid base for the track.To level the track, it is jacked into position. As the tamper gets closer to a set of jacks, they are removed since the track now under the tamper is sitting on a firm base.Jacks are set down the track to create the proper height and level.Yes there is a good amount of shovel work to get the ballast ready to be tamped.Occasionally a tie will come loose and the ballast needs to be cleaned out from between the rail and tie to allow the tie to be snugged back up tight.The vibratory forks of the tamper work and vibrate the ballast into a tight formation under the ties.Jacking to the right level based on grade stakes set by an earlier crew.Jacking to the right level based on grade stakes set by an earlier crew.Tamping stone by hand. Our tamper makes this one all human powered process much faster.More level checking…Working their way east, Castlewood Bridge is in the distance. At this point, they were setting jacks in the mid-point between the two bridges.Our tamper operator and NCRy Treasurer, Pat Stratton, concentrating on working each tie.Jacks are set waiting on the tamper.Sometimes the best way to check the level and set the jacks is just to get down and sight down the rail. There will be more than one photo of crew supervisor, Steve Hill, laying down on the job and setting the proper height of each rail.Sighting down the rail…Jacking to level…Turns out railroad track with ballast on it can be a little heavy.The crew awaits directions on setting jacks.Going up!Leveling out ballast to ensure the tamper has a proper amount to drive under the ties.The tamper waits during final jacking. The MOW train waits in the distance on the west side of Happy Valley Bridge.First pass tamped and leveled.Great progress by late AM.The current End of Track stop board at Happy Valley Bridge with the crew working in the distance.
