Dave’s Photo Blog

Tie Replacement Trains

I managed to get over to the West Medford Commuter Rail Station on Sunday afternoon to take pictures of the equipment they’ve brought in to start what looks to be a very large job replacing the railroad ties along this stretch of the Lowell Line. Most of the photographs I’ll be posting are close-ups of the scene, but this shot gives you a good view of the three trains on a side track that are the apparent work-horses of this project.

Of course, there are a lot of people out there that love pictures of trains. I have taken many, although I don’t claim to make it a specialty. I spent a few hours at the scene on Sunday looking for interesting subject matter. I found some. Before I continue, let me make it perfectly clear that hanging around train tracks that are active is dangerous. You would be surprised at how quiet a fast-moving diesel engine can be. The Downeaster is a good example of this. You should not step off the platform and certainly not be anywhere near the tracks if you can’t give a healthy amount of attention to what might be traveling down them.

There are stacks of palettes of railroad ties all around the West Medford station. They are bound with a flat metal strip. The end of this strip has been curled up to make a handle. It all looks very ornamental and a bit out of place, given that railroad ties are oil-soaked pieces of wood.

Tie Palette Strap

I often take my son to the train station to watch the morning rush hour. We usually miss the Downeaster, but do see several Lowell line commuter trains in the course of the fifteen minutes we have between school drop off for Katherine and day care. We’ve been doing this for a few years now, and the biggest change (aside from this project) is that this year the number of people taking the train has increased dramatically. We used to see only a dozen or two people waiting for the inbound trains in years past. Now we are seeing a multiple of than number - probably forty or fifty on a given morning, and I read in a discussion group somewhere that it is now often standing room only if you get on an inbound train at the West Medford station.

Train Wheel with Brakes

The photo above is not a commuter train, though, it’s one of the work trains that will be used to help replace the railroad ties. It’s unusual to see this equipment unless you are at the train yard. I’m lucky - I work next to the Grove Street train yard and you can see this kind of equipment from my employer’s parking garage. But this is from West Medford.

And here’s how unusual the trains are: this is clearly a large hydraulic apparatus for aiding in the replacement of the ties.

Tie Laying Equipment