While driving along Norfolk Southern’s Sandusky Line I spied all this MOW equipment stored on an interchange track. Unfortunately, I am terrible with MOW equipment and know very little about which piece is used for each task. If anyone knows that these things are, post a comment or give me an email.
I was downtown yesterday to take some photos and noticed that work is continuing on the bridge over the Turtlecreek just south of Lebanon Yard. As we discussed extensively during the winter the bridge is undergoing major repairs. As far as I know the branch is still on schedule to be reopened by July. Repairs to the second bridge near Hageman are less critical and should be completed by October.
Above is a long distance shot of the work site from the nearby bridge over the South Fork. There were extensive sounds coming from the area and I didn’t want to interrupt any work going on, so I didn’t end up getting too close. Yet even from here you could smell the paint.
Parked in the south end of Lebanon Yard was some light MOW equipment on hand for the repairs. This included an old ex-Union Pacific track speeder with most of the herald still visible on the side. I assume the MOW work on the bridge is being done under contract with the I&O, but that’s just a guess on my part.
I walked over to Main Street and turned down Clay Street to get a better angle of the work that was being done. You can see a bunch of equipment in the gravel lot where the old tool rental place used to be. I’m guessing this is machinery used for the painting. You also can see the bridge fairly clearly through the trees. Most of the structure is covered pretty well for the painting process.
The last thing I noticed was derails set up just south of the Broadway grade crossing and just north of the crossing at West Street. I found it humorous but not surprising derails would be set up on a “closed” line. While there was nothing on the track between Broadway and the end-of-track two blocks south, railroads are nothing if not consistent about their safety rules. It was important for the MOW crew to protect the bridge from even the seemingly inconceivable accident.
It’s good to see progress being made on the Lebanon Branch repairs. For continued updates on the status of this work be sure that you are subscribed to Ohio Valley Railroads.