(The following story by John W. Dermody appeared on the Frazee-Vergas Forum website on June 16, 2009.)
FRAZEE, Minn. — There is always good news and bad news when people talk about trains.
They dislike the blaring horns in the night, yet they enjoy a standard of living that depends on efficient, economical methods of transportation.
Frazee is split by the tracks of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) system, part of the railroad’s key route from Chicago to Seattle. Normally, there are dozens of freight trains through the city each day, but lately the numbers have been reduced slightly – and they have proceeded more slowly – because of crews doing track maintenance and repair.
Last week, two “tie gangs” went through Frazee but residents may have been aware of only one. The first worked along 10 or more miles of track with the other trailing a few miles back. When the trailing crew reached the section of upgraded track, the front group then moved its machines ahead a few miles.
The current project began near the Twin Cities and is tentatively
set to be finished at Moorhead June 26, after 230 miles of repairs and about 230,000 new ties put into place by more about 150 workers.
‘Tie-ing’ into the project
Each tie gang has 45 men and women running dozens of machines, with 30 support personnel, according to Dan Warren, project foreman for the group that did the work through Frazee. Sherry Ellis is the roadmaster for this section of BNSF track.
“We lay about 1,000 ties per mile and about two miles a day,” Warren said.
He said the ties cost about $12 each, but he could not estimate what the overall cost – including labor – was per mile.
While his group was approaching from the east, the second tie gang was near New York Mills, also moving westward.
Noting that he has men from Kansas, Texas, North and South Dakota, along with many from Minnesota on the team, he pointed out that machinery valued in the millions was doing the jobs that years ago were of the manual type.
Some of the machines can “see inside the rails” to determine weak spots and imperfections.
“We do maintenance like this every 15-20 years,” Warren emphasized. “In Texas, it is every eight years because they have ‘super termites’ down there.”
Four mechanics keep the tie gang’s apparatus going as it eats up the miles. The project kicked off near Minneapolis April 27, according to Steve Foresberg in the BNSF’s Kansas City office.
He said all of the track repair/maintenance efforts across the nation on his company’s tracks will cost at least $1.5 billion this year, but he said it more likely would be at the $2 billion mark.
A huge network
“BNSF owns 23,050 miles . . . but operates on 32,000 miles of track,” Foresberg explained. Most railroads haul loads over other firms’ networks, of course, in reciprocal arrangements.
He said the railroad operates in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. He termed it a high tonnage line.
“We own some track to Winnipeg and Vancouver,” he continued.
He added, “The equipment wears on the track; it is expensive, but the gangs are very efficient.”
Just the locomotives alone weigh 400,000 pounds each, and they are lighter than many of the old-time steam locos that traveled the mainline for what was then the Burlington Northern. Before that, the line through Frazee was the Northern Pacific. The current locomotives cost approximately $1.8 million each.
Work through situations
Foresberg noted that the operations on double-track stretches are easier for tie gangs to work on than single-track sections. On the latter, “windows” must be created which delay trains for hours while work is done; then crews move aside for what is usually a reduced number of units to pass.
The spokesman pointed out that it is not unusual for women to hold leadership positions with the railroad. And he cited some specific cases, with track foremen, engineers and roadmasters, just to name a few.
He said there are persons in his Kansas City office that are third-generation employees of BNSF. One interesting family situation occurred in Wyoming not long ago, with a young woman joining her mother piloting coal trains on the Powder River line.
“They often meet each other,” he commented. “One has a full train going one way, while the other is returning with an empty to be loaded.”
The roadmaster for this area, Sherry Ellis, has a supervisory job over a relatively long section of track, he explained.
“She oversees safety, maintenance, inspection and puts together estimates for work . . . and requests capital dollars for the work to be done,” Foresberg said.