Trestle Replacement Preperation Continues

   There was only one main project worked on at the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad on 11/8/14.  The crew accomplished more prep work on the trestle which needs to be done before it can be replace when the weather gets warmer.  The spikes that hold the rail to the ties on the trestle were removed from both rails.  After this was finished, the crew then proceed to remove the actual rail that was on the trestle which will enable the replacement of the trestle to go smoother.  If the weather stays at a decent temperature until next Saturday, then there are more plans for the preperation of the trestle replacement to continue.  If the weather decides to turn horribly cold and windy and icky in general, then the trestle replacement will pick back up in the spring. 

Removing the rails on the trestle

Picture taken by Scott Bauer

1982

The new engine house

Soon to be caboose 100

     The year 1982 was a busy year for the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad.  With the money from the scrapping of the ingot cars which came from Teldyne Corporation, a 24X45 two-track engine house was erected.  In addition to the locomotives, the engine house also contained a workbench, office and a tool rack.  With all this new space available to work with, the B&W crew began working on the two cars which they kept from the donation provided by Joyce National Powder of Elderd, PA.  The Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad crew decided to construct a flatcar which would later be numbered 30 and a caboose later numbered 100 out of those two cars. 

 



Flatcar number 30

     In addition to the construction of the engine house, the flatcar and the caboose, another 300 feet of main line track was laid in 1982.  It was also decided that Otto needed a new paint job so she would look more appeasing to the eye.  The same year that Otto got a new paint job, the bucksgahuda and Western Railroad crew decided to move their open house days to August.  Changing the date from October ensured that the members of the crew who were still in college were able to be around to help with the crowds of people that open house days attracted. 

Above pictures provided by William Bauer

Keeping the Ties Dry

     Replacing old decaying ties could be considered one of the most labor intensive projects for the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad.  All of the standard gauge railroads replace their ties by using machines that can remove an old tie and replace it with a new one by an operator just pressing a few buttons.  Unlike the standard gauge railroads, the B&W crew still does most of their tie replacements by hand with some assistance from a backhoe and a tie inserter. 


Spike Puller

     In order to replace a tie, there are several steps that need to occur.  First, they take out all the spikes which holds the tie to the rail using a spike puller.  Next, they dig out the dirt from around the tie with the backhoe and shovels so the tie can be removed easier.  After that is done, they use a tie inserter to pull the old tie out.  The dirt that has fallen into the space where the


The Backhoe

old tie was needs to then be removed by shovel so the new tie can sit flat.  When the area is cleaned out, the tie inserter can then push the new tie into its spot.  Finally when all of this is finish, new spikes can be put in with a spike maul and rock can be placed down to keep the tie from moving. 


Spike Maul

Tie Inserter

     All this work needs to be done on each of the ties that need replaced.  With more than a mile and a half of track that the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad runs on, you can imagine that they can potentially be a lot of ties that need replaced each year.  In order to keep this number down as much as possible, the crew tries to keep the tracks clear of leaves to prevent the water collected in the leaves from constantly keeping the ties wet.  To make the job of getting the leaves off the tracks easier, the B&W crew made a car which has a giant leaf blower on it.  An engine pulls the car around and someone can sit on the car or walk beside it and blow the leaves off the tracks.  Since several leaves have already fallen and there is always the potential for snow which would make leaf removal very challenging, the crew decided to blow leaves yesterday (11/1/14).  This was the main project to work on and it took several hours in order to make the tracks extremely clean.  


Blowing Leaves

 

The backhoe and blowing leaves photos were taken by Scott Bauer

The tie inserter picture was provided by Thomas Bauer

The spike maul photo was taken from danbury.org

The spike remover photo was taken from industrialrailway.com

 

       

1980-1981

The B&W Crew in 1980

     In 1980, the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad received a large donation from Teldyne Corporation in Pittsburgh, PA.  The donation included several sticks of 60 pound rail and some ingot cars.  The ingot cars were used in the steal mill to haul hot steal from one part of the mill to the other.  Because the ingot cars were way to big and of no use to the railroad, they were scrapped in Pittsburgh for some much needed cash.  The Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad uses 40 pound rail so they obviously did not use the 60 pound rail.  Some of the sticks of the 60 pound rail was donated to the Teaberry and Southern and the rest of it was scrapped for more cash.  When someone said the weight of the rail they are explaining that for example, the 40 pound rail weighs 40 pounds per a yard of rail.  Speaking of rail, in 1980, the B&W crew put in about 400 more feet of main line track.

2420 the new work and passenger car

     In 1981, a new car was constructed at the Teaberry and Southern for the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad.  The car is numbered 2420 and is the railroad's first big car to be used as a work and passenger car.  In the spring, the railroad received another large donation from Joyce National Powder of Elderd, PA.  This donation included three fourths miles of track, four Brookville locomotives, and five cars.  It took the B&W crew eleven weekends to tear up and haul it all home.  When they got everything home, they kept one Brookville which became engine number four named Joe and two of the cars.  The other Brookvilles were used for spare parts and the other three cars went to the Teaberry and Southern. 

Two of the Brookvilles from Elderd



A Brookville and two of the cars from Elderd

All of the above pictures were provided by William Bauer

Trestle Replacement

The trestle with the guard rails still in place.

     Part of the track that the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad runs on includes a trestle which is a bridge for trains.  This trestle was put in by the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad crew in 1985 making it very close to being thirty years old.  The ties are starting to deteriorate but luckily the support beams are holding up well and will not need replaced.  Before the tracks running on the trestle are considered unsafe, the crew has decided that it is time for the ties to be replaced.
     Yesterday (10/25/14), the beginning steps of replacing the ties on the trestle took place.  The guard rails were removed and every other spike out of each tie was pulled.  Guard rails are rails that are placed parallel in between the tracks that the trains actually run on.  Guard rails are typically found along areas of restrictive clearance, such as a trestle or a tunnel and sharp curves.  These are in place to keep the wheels of cars and engines in alignment with the regular rails in case of a derailment.  This also helps to minimize damage to the trestle or tunnel and allow for easier post-accident cleanup.  Because the trestle replacement has just barely begun, the trestle is still able to be run over but come next weekend, this may no longer be the case.  

The removal of the guard rails and some spikes marks the start of the trestle replacement.

Pictures taken by Scott Bauer

Pittsburgh Shawmut and Northern Caboose

Getting ready to be loaded onto the truck.

     The year 1979 provided the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad with the opportunity to acquire two Pittsburgh Shawmut and Northern cabooses.  The cabooses were built by the Russel Snowplow Company located in Ridgway, Pennsylvania .  One of the cabooses went to the B&W while the other one went to the Teaberry & Southern Railroad.  (The Teaberry and Southern Railroad is another two foot gauge railroad on the other side of town in St. Marys, Pennsylvania.)  The caboose was transported to the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad by a flat bed truck.  The B&W crew then spent countless hours working to restore to the caboose to how it would have looked like when it was in active service on the Pittsburgh Shawmut and Northern Railroad.  



Making it's way to the B&W

Being placed at it's new permanent home.











Before the new paint job in 2007

     The repairs held nicely but the paint began to appear really faded in 2007.  Around this time, a crew member was working on her Gold Award for Girl Scouts and decided to take on the task of repainting the caboose.  After scraping all the old paint off, a new coat was applied and the letters and numbers on the caboose were adjusted to be more historically accurate.  In order to preserve the caboose better for many years to come, a roof was built over top of the caboose for some protection from the weather. 

All the old paint scraped off.

             


Brand new coat of paint.

The end result.

First three pictures provided by William Bauer, last four pictures taken by Fred Bauer

10/18/14 Motorcars and Shay

The newly purchased M19 motorcar

   The crew that showed up on 10/18/14 were very productive.  Their main project for the day included moving a newly purchased Farimont M19 Motorcar into the main shop to be rebuilt and made runnable again.  The motorcar is going to need new roller bearings, a few other  replacements and a new coat of paint.  "Roller bearings are a machine element that constrains relative motion and reduces friction between moving parts to only the desired motion" (from Wikipedia).  Roller bearings are similar to ball bearings except they use small cylindrical rollers instead of balls.  All this work needed on the Farimont M19 Motorcar will sure keep the crew busy for a while. 

The M9 motorcar waiting for a head gasket replacement

   If your remember from last Sunday (10/12/14) when the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad went on a motorcar ride, one of the motorcars did not work.  In addition to that, the Fairmont M9 Motorcar failed to start for the part of the return trip after a short break on the ride.  The crew figured out that it malfunctioned because of a blown head gasket.  In order to prepare to replace the blown head gasket, the crew removed the gasket yesterday (10/18/14) to make for an easy replacement when the new gasket comes in.  

An example of what the flues look like on a shay

    
    
   Finally, the crew finished off the day by cleaning out the flues of the Shay that the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad owns.  A flue is a long pipe for smoke and waste gases produced by a steam engine or shay.  There are several flues in a steam engine or shay that need to be cleaned out because excess ash accumulates in them.  Cleaning out the flues is one of the major steps of getting the Shay ready for winter.   

 

First two pictures taken by Scott Bauer, last one is from Google