Working on the railroad

[plonq]

I just got back to my room from ordering food at the front restaurant in the hotel and noticed that I still have a pair of grubby earplugs slung around my neck. D'oh!

Today we performed (and survived) the most potentially dangerous job we'll be performing out here; we cut out a 39' stretch of rail and replaced it with fresh track. If I had my way we'd cut out a few dozen miles of track and replace a few things like ballast, ties and rail. This line is long overdue for some track replacement. On the other hand, if the track was in pristine condition then there wouldn't be much for us to do.

Comments

[ionotter.livejournal.com]

Dude, if you do any thermite welding of the rails, TOTALLY take pictures of that! I'd love to see that in action.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

Sadly we won't be doing any of that. We're strictly the "bolt 'em down" guys. They have special thermite crews for that.

[mwalimu.livejournal.com]

Any chance they'll send you to a yard where you'll get to hump railcars?

[plonq.livejournal.com]

Nope. For the duration of this assignment I am a track fixer.