Tie gang waiting to work

This is a tie gang waiting for my train to go by so they can start work for the day. Railroad holds traffic for about 6-7 hours a day.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

I think it would have looked better with more of an angle (the tracks wouldn't be straight but you could see more detail in the equipment)

I like it as is - that's a lot of equipment! I'm guessing that there are a number of different maintentance machines in the line or are there groups of equipment that work on different sections of track?

From having seen this type of equipment at work, and not having my camera each different machine does one thing, then the next does one thing and so on down the line until the entire job is done.

WMS

RadAL wrote in post #3282062
I think it would have looked better with more of an angle (the tracks wouldn't be straight but you could see more detail in the equipment)

Might want to re-evaluate your criticism of the shot...hard to get a different angle while sitting at the controls of a locomotive. Not like he can just hop his train off the tracks to fit your artistic vision.

Neat shot Duane...love the shots from the cab!

Thanks for the comments. Yup, Only angle possible unless I jumped. Doing about 50 mph. This is one of the 2 large regional gangs. About a week left on 95,000 ties. The other gang is about 20 miles behind. They split the job on two pieces.

Duane,
Can they actually change the ties? Seems like a nearly impossible job to remove a tie from under a welded track and get another put back that provides the same support.

Brian

As I understand the process one machine clears the road bed from around the tie, then a second machine removes the spikes, a third lifts the rail and removes the tie. Then a new tie is inserted under the rail, which is followed be a spiking machine. Then the road bed is regraded. The tie gangs make it look very simple, and I am sure that I am omiting some operations.

WMS