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[DocSpeleo]

I was walking through the Park today... in the very merry month of... well January..

anyway.. I saw this...


anyone know why the tracks were missing?

[sdcforever]

That's interesting.  I wonder what's up?

[SteamFreak]

They've been doing some re-routing to make room for the new ride I'd guess, also, train tracks and ties have to be changed out periodically, I'm sure SDC doesn't keep the kind of heavy equipment to change out the ties with, so it must be done by hand, the old fashioned way.

[Coaster]

Maintenance work most likely?

[KBCraig]

That's about the amount of track you'd remove to install a switch. Is there room to put in a branch at that location?

Rails aren't removed to replace crossties.

(I used to work a section gang on the KCS.)

[shavethewhales]

Where exactly is this at? It looks like it may be behind either the Tree House or FITH. If it's behind the tree house, maybe they've removed the track so that they can get the demo stuff in to take the tree house down, or to put in a water main for the Splash Battle.

[Zephon]

I would guess that is at the crossing by the Pottery Shop/Flooded Mine looking back toward the Waterboggan.  And yes, it's probably just routine maintenance.

I spent two winters back in the early 80's running a "gandy-dancer" (track repair) crew out there.  We went around the whole circuit replacing ties and track as needed.  When the track was ok but the ties needed replaced, we used a backhoe to push/pull the old one out and put the new one in.  Then we had to tamp up the ties, forcing gravel under them to bring them up against the track, using a light jackhammer with a spade bit.  Replacing rails was tricky too because you had to get the joints to fitting smoothly and yet leave a gap to allow for expansion.  It was hard work.  Driving spikes isn't fun either.

[dkparks]

Actually, I have to agree with KB and shave. I have never seen any railroad remove that much rail to simply change some ties. Also, I have never seen them replace that many ties in a row, typically they replace every 4th or so, depending on the quality of the ties. They would remove those to install a switch as the ties would need to be much longer.

[SteamFreak]

Well I stand corrected, just seemed to me that it might have been easier for a small operation like SDC's. Yeah, looks like a switch could be the answer.

[Coaster]

I don't know much about trains so mine was just a guess.

[DocSpeleo]

This is located by the crossing gate by Waterboggan and Flooded Mine.. I can't see a switch going in there - No where for it to go...

I'm agreeing with Zephon.. He did the job once upon a time.. lol

[History Buff]

I have a reliable source that tells me that's where the new inversion will be - a first steam powered loop in the industry!

[SteamFreak]

I wouldn't want to be the engenieer to test that out. Maybe they'll use those super power logs from Back to the Future III?

[History Buff]

^Yup.  'Cept our "Doc" found a way to make 'em cheaper than Marty's "Doc".

[SteamFreak]

Wildfire Fuel maybe.....