Located at Penitentiary
Glen
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Track Crew 7 met at Hose Master once again but this time took a few minutes to celebrate Frank Fotis' birthday. Frank closed his eyes as he blew out the candle. The cat was the ornament for the cake. |
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A close-up of the cat for the cake provided by Dick and Edith. I wonder if that votive type candle indicated it was to be a long birthday or whether Frank would need repeated attempts to blow out the candle. |
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George Woodling, George Davidson, Bill Deptowicz, Dick Clark and Frank Foti enjoying the cake. The 37 degree crossing as the work crew left it last week with only the main rails welded down. |
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Two more views of the crossing looking down each set of rails as it sits on our transport cart. |
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You can see by this overhead photo of the crossing that the guard rails haven't been bent yet. In this view you can see how the foot of the guard rail was milled off for clearance. Welding the rail to the plate to hold the alignment was a great idea. |
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George is loading up more rail as we are working at the other end of the plant and it's a long walk back for anything you forgot. The first two guard rails are bent and then clamped down in preparation to be welded in place. |
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The rails are marked with a number so that they will get back to their original position after bending. George touches up the ends of the rail with a file to remove any burrs from machining. |
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Chris Ashley at H/M handled the torch again to heat the guard rails for bending as Frank waited. Frank started bending the rail and Bill let him know when it was enough of a angle. |
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Chris and George clamp down the guard rails prior to welding with the required 1/4 inch spacer for wheel flange clearance. Chris starts TIG welding the guard rail down to the 1/4 inch plate |
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The welding process without the flash on the camera. It's like holding a pencil and feeding the welding rod into the arc with no splatter of the weld to clean up or to chip flux. |
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The last guard rail is welded in place and now we turn the plate over to weld the rail where it extends past the plate so the rail won't roll sideways if a derailment occurs. |
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With another crossing almost done Frank starts milling the ends of the rail to the angle of the next crossing. Bill is grinding the flangeways where the rails cross and this crossing will be finished. |
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The guys hurried up with the cutting of the main rails for the next crossing and had Chris weld them down to the plate before the end of his shift. Dick figuring the length of the guard rail as George watches. |
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Frank was milling the end of the rail to length on one Bridgeport and Bill was milling the foot of the guard rails on another Bridgeport. Part of Track Crew 7 with the finished 37 degree crossing. |
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Frank and George carry the crossing to Dick's van and load it in. We are getting pretty good at making these and it's a big help that Dave Foster provides the full size layout drawings that we transfer to the plate. |
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