Track Recons

I often get asked, “What is it that you do?” when I tell people I’m out in the middle of nowhere doing a recon.

Track Reconditioning

The stability of the the railway is dependent on the rocks and dirt underneath the steel and sleepers. There are three layers to the rail, a stabiliser mix (basically rocks with a bit of concrete), a capping layer, then the ballast. The ballast is usually 40-70mm rocks that are shaped perfectly to fit together when weight is applied to it. The more weight, the tighter it grips to itself.

Occasionally parts of the rail line get filled with mud and water and that causes the whole section to sink and slide about which makes the track bumpy and dangerous. When that happens, it is time for a track recon.

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I Choo Choo Choose Money

After leaving the glorious field of IT I fell into Hirail work.

What is Hirail?

I hear you ask

Hirail is adding train wheels to regular trucks and other civil construction vehicles so that they can run on train lines.

I got my start on the Northwest Metro line starting at Bella Vista station driving a flatbed crane truck. We were there to install the walkways all along the tunnel. We had to use the crane to unload the pieces, weighing up to 200kg each, onto the brackets that we’d installed on the wall of the tunnel.

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