Hand laid track (in 1:1 scale)

JRad · October 23, 2026, 1:47pm

Yesterday we began building the south passing siding switch at Pogue. Switch building is a very slow process and with a large crew, a lot of time was spent imitating DOT workers

As always, the first step is laying out ties. The railroad staff had previously marked out the location of the head blocks and transitions to various length switch ties. Once the head blocks were in place, standard length ties were laid out to the south and switch ties laid out to the north before placing the stock rails through the head blocks…

Once these rails were in place, the points were laid out…

And the diverging route running rail was placed…

Rail was brought in to extend the main line point rail…

Joining rails to the points required drilling new bolt holes to match the joint bars we are using…

The main line running rail was extended and the frog placed…

Before lunch we joined and gauged through the frog…

I forgot my phone in the car after lunch, and it was too far to walk back for it. Ill grab new pictures on Tuesday when we go back to finish up and start laying the siding.

smcgill · October 23, 2026, 3:51pm

Are the wood tyes also layed with the boom truck ?

JRad · October 23, 2026, 5:20pm

Yes. They are set with the grapple near where they go, then 3 volunteers, two with tie tongs and one with a spacing jig, place them on survey marks at proper spacing.

We are building what could easily be classified Class 2 track. If the rail was heavier, it would be close to Class 1. Track is built and maintained for safe operation, not historical accuracy. Historically the ties were untreated and randomly spaced. Ballast was furnace slag and coal waste. We space to be able to use a mechanical tamper and good stone ballast is used everywhere above the sub roadbed.

Cliff_Jennings · October 23, 2026, 8:19pm

Thanks for keeping us informed, Jon. Love it.

This is probably a dumb question, so go easy…

With the high class of track, is there any talk of commercial use of the line on certain days, so as to benefit from that additional revenue?

JRad · October 23, 2026, 8:55pm

On the south end, which is the current tourist operation plus the new track being built to Saltillo, no. There are no potential customers and what coal is being strip mined is far from the railhead even if we did get all the way to the Broad Top.

On the north end, possibly. The foundation does not currently own it, but has exercised their right of first refusal and matched an offer by a third party. This has been tied up in the courts for months and will likely take many more to resolve.

The north end, Aughwick Bridge to the NS connection at Mt. Union, has several potential rail customers plus trans load and railcar storage opportunities. It is currently being developed as the Juniata and Aughwick RR who has offered $2 million for the property. The current non profit owner, the EBTPA (preservation association), wants to sell it to the J&A. The EBTF challenged that sale in court and won confirming their right of first refusal. Appeals and other legal hurdles are ahead.

Knowing who is on the board and their considerable commercial railroading experience, if the property is secured and there is earnings potential, it will be exploited! I would expect not with volunteer labor or donated funds.

Cliff_Jennings · October 23, 2026, 8:55pm

As @Deneh might say, that’s 1:1 GHA right thar:

Cliff_Jennings · October 23, 2026, 9:00pm

Thanks for the backstory, Jon! I would think that some commercial interaction would reinforce the overall operation. Sounds like that will emerge to some degree.

Rooster · October 24, 2026, 9:01pm

Jon you forgot to tell them that all 3 volunteers have one of these in their back pocket!

JRad · October 24, 2026, 10:35pm

We should! Henry, the railroads track Forman is always complaining our ties are crooked

JRad · October 26, 2026, 10:01pm

I have to post this to show that not only Rooster likes taking pictures of my behind!

Gene Tucker Photo

Rooster · October 27, 2026, 12:24pm

Now there’s a hard working company man!

JRad · October 27, 2026, 10:53pm

We finished gauging and spiking up the north Pogue siding switch and part of the siding today. I got to experience the use of a 1:1 rail bender for the first time. This switch was built using new to us used parts so it needed a lot of custom work.

To get the points to line up together perfectly, a short slice of rail needed to be removed…

Just south of the point, the stock rail for the siding required a bend to begin the curve, so we drug out the extremely heavy BUDA rail bender…

How it looked when we called it quits for the day…

We are back at it Thursday to assemble the switch throw and putting down more of the siding.

Rooster · October 28, 2026, 11:35am

This is the area behind the Baptist church on 994 correct?

JRad · October 28, 2026, 2:17pm

Yes. The track is maybe 30 feet lower than the road here. We park at the church and walk in.

After completing the siding we will continue south until the road access point. Then we will shift our efforts back to Saltillo to leave heavy equipment access to Prices bridge. BTW, now that some of the vegetation has died off, I did find the Price cemetery.

Deneh · October 28, 2026, 10:04pm

Hahahahahahahahaha!!! Those silly giant hands at it again!

Rooster · October 29, 2026, 12:13pm

Pretty sure I have a picture of the pile of used parts taken at that same spot 3 yrs ago.

JRad · October 29, 2026, 8:56pm

Perhaps, but those would be different parts. More than likely they were for 65# rail. We are laying 85# on the main and transitioning to 65# once out of the curve of the diverging route. These parts were all recently sourced.

Rooster · October 29, 2026, 9:05pm

OK, I’m just gonna add what I saw 3yrs ago cause even though it’s a short time in history it’s still history in the making…that’s all.

No argument here.