Lining
track is really pretty cool.
When the track has been repaired
and all the ballast (rock) has been put down the naked eye
can discern that the track wanders. Enter the track
lining machines. They consist of a small base with four wheels
and two sets of clamps. The clamps come down and grip the rail.
Then hydraulic cylinders underneath the machine extend between
the ties to lift up the track slightly. The Lining machine
can then move the track back and forth. In this way the straight
sections of track are made arrow straight and the curves are made
symmetrical.
We had two old Lining machines: one operated by a young
guy that I knew and the other by an old crusty alcoholic
railroad veteran. The younger guy related this to us around
the campfire the night it happened. The old guys hydraulic clamp
was faulty and he had to constantly hop off and manually snap
the clamp over the rail. He was probably half in the bag.
The younger guy's machine was in back. All of a sudden the younger
guy looks up and sees the older guy get his finger stuck as
he is snapping the clamp to the rail. He jumps off his
machine and runs up to the old guy's machine just in time to
see the old guy THROW HIS SEVERED FINGER into a small bucket of
rusty bolts. The old guy then wraps his bleeding finger stump
in his hankerchief and starts to get back on his machine to
line track.
"No, no, no", the younger guy tells him. "I'm driving you
into town".
"It's just a finger".
"Come on, we are going", says the younger guy and he hauls the
old dude off his machine. He has the old guy get his finger
out of the bucket and they walk down to the younger guys
machine and ride it to where they parked their cars. The
younger guy drove him to the hospital and they tried to
reattach it. We never found out if the finger was saved or
not.
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