IT's TEAM TRACK TUESDAY!!! Share your team track photos here! Team tracks are a vital part of day to day real railroad operations. A team track is basically an undesignated siding/spur which serves no one particular industry. Team tracks are located in remote rural areas, small towns, and large cities. Practically all types of freight cars, some passenger and MOW equipment can be on/off loaded on team tracks. Another way one might think of a team track is a utility track because of the variety of ways it can be utilized.
This week on team track one in Lower Patsburg, a bad order car has been set out, due to a cracked axle. A Free State Junction Railway car inspector spotted the crack when doing routine inspection of a mixed B and O freight. As luck would have it, BIG HOOKER and it's trusty campanion Docksider were in the immediate area on a MOW assignment. Immediately they were dispatched to aid in retrieving the damaged car and to assist in the ensuing repair operation. The car inspection took place not too far from team track one. The bad order car ( a B&O hopper ) was cut out of the freight train and the dockside, with BIG HOOKER leading the way, pulled the hopper back onto the team track. The car inspector had already alerted the dispatcher and the car department was dispatched to team track one for a freight truck replacement. BIG HOOKER did the heavy lifting in order to slide out the truck with the bad axle and replaced with a new truck, transported over from the car shop by one of the railroad's newer trucks, a 1950 Chevrolet. The entire operation was completed in three hours and twenty four minutes ... from the time the docksider pulled the damaged hopper back onto the team track to the finish of the truck's removal and replacement. After the repair, the hopper was inspected again and then cut into the next east bound freight.
As the TTT thread continues to evolve, I may get my freight car fleet completely weathered ... or at least most of it. LOL! I just finished the B&O hopper today in order to have it ready for today's thread. I've weathered cars for the last several TTT
Remember to post your railroad's team track photos here. Everyone is welcome to participate as long as you have a team track. It doesn't matter if you have a museum quality layout or a simple oval of track with an undesignated siding come on in and join the fun. Real life railroading team track photos are also welcome. If you miss posting on Tuesday just go ahead and post any day of the week ... no worries!
Thanks for stopping by the TEAM TRACK. Have a wonderfully creative and fun week!! See ya next week on TTT!