No one want to see a train derailment happen and today I prevented
one from occurring with this track repair. This is one of the reasons why
I make weekly and/or biweekly track inspections to catch things like
this that break and fix them before a train derailment can occur. Often
in very cold weather I will even do a track inspection 3 or 4 times a week
because of all the things that break and need repaired.

We have 16 miles of jointed track here and that means there are around 4,330
joints in our track and almost 26,000 bolts that I am responsible for keeping
in good shape. It's a never ending job maintaining this jointed track. I
do the very best I can to keep all those joints in good health. Everything
we have on the track is old. Plus the heavy coal loads are hard on track
along with the weather conditions we have here in SW Pa. Bolts and
joint bars break all the time; almost daily I find new bolts that have broken
out and I put new bolts or joint bars on if needed when I find them.

There are only 2 of us who work track maintenance here. I wish they had
2 guys on the weekends and 2 guys during the week on track. Besides taking
care of all those bolts and joint bars (over 8,660 joint bars), I have to do tamping,
fixing mud spots, cribbing ties, loading and hauling ballast, pilot contractors
on the rail when they come in, change rail, unload ties, do tamper and hi rail truck
maintenance, make track inspections, help with car repair and switching of cars,
take care of 9 switches, clean bridge walk ways, etc. And I'm getting tired just
typing all the things I do on the railroad....:-)

Check out the video on riding the rails from the back bumper of my
hi rail truck here, it's a pretty cool view:
   • Ride the Rails from a Different Persp...  

Disclaimer: I am an employee of Iron Senergy at Cumberland
Mine. My job is railroad track maintenance. I am very fortunate to
have this job and everyone at the mine is very fortunate to have
Iron Senergy as it's current owner. Our past owners had every
intention of shutting this mine down, but Iron Senergy took
over and have kept this mine alive.

Please understand: I am NOT in any way an official or unofficial
spokes person for Iron Senergy or Cumberland Mine. Any viewpoints,
opinions or anything that I show in the videos, or write in the video
descriptions or any answer to any comment, should NEVER be
misconstrued or interpreted as being in any way shape or form,
any kind of official or unofficial statement from Iron Senergy,
Iron Cumberland, Cumberland Mine, any of the mine's management,
any of the contractors that may be shown in any video, nor of
any of my fellow co-workers.

Any viewpoints or opinions I may make in the videos, in the
descriptions, or in any answer to a comment is strictly that of my
own and NOT an official or unofficial statement or viewpoint that
Iron Synergy or any one at Iron Senergy or Cumberland Mine
necessarily has or makes.

Again, we are very fortunate to have Iron Senergy as our current
owners. Please, when making a comment be respectful of Iron Senergy,
Cumberland Mine, my fellow coworkers and also any contractors
that may be shown. Thank You, Dave

#trainderailment#derailment#trackrepair