To be able to operate our trolley No. 10 into our new Carbarn, we need to use the House Track. This track had not been used much for many years and needs extensive work. You can also see a report on the extension of the House Track to the new Carbarn, a report on the building of the new Carbarn and one on the installation of the new trolley wire over the House Track.

In the spring of 2017 we completely rebuilt a 100' section of track at the top of Depot St. This section had been damaged by years of road salt, heavy trucks and neglect. Some of the ties that we pulled out had been put in use in 1940 according to the date nails. Date nails have a year stamped on their head and were used to keep track of when a tie was put into service.

The House Track section that we rehabilitated is shown here, on the right, nearly buried in the gravel, prior to work commencing.

First we built two 40' panels of track on the House Track, east of the section to be rehabbed.
You can see the first section in the distance and the ties piled up in the foreground for the second section.
The foreground ties will be spaced apart and aligned before placing rails on them and spiking them down to make panel.

Under that gob of black fence post sealant is a cedar plug to fill the old spike holes.
This will give a few more years to these used ties after they are buried.

Here is a side view of a panel sitting on the existing track.
By greasing the rails, we were able to shove these panels along the track with a tractor.

Steering them while shoving was a bit tricky.

Building a panel on existing track greatly simplifies things, as the track underneath gives even support for aligning and spiking.
Here you can see our pnuematic spiker.

We used the boom truck to place the rails on the new panels.

Two panels, ready to be pushed into the hole.
Here is a movie of the boom truck pulling up a rail from the section to be replaced.

John inspects the aftermath of pulling out the rails with boom truck.
Note that none of the ties came out, clear evidence that they were no longer doing their job of keeping the rails in place.

The next step was to remove the dirt, gravel and tie remains.
The orange fences were to keep people from driving into the hole.
An auto rack train heads east in the background.

Jake starts digging, you can see the two panels lined up in the background.

The old ties are out and we've started putting in some ballast in the foreground to go under the ties.
We also took the opportunity to replace a few ties on the Main Track, to the right.

Kind of a mess, but progress nonetheless.

View looking west.

Replacement ties in the Main Track await spiking.

We'll use chains and the boom truck to lift and drag the panel into the hole.
Here is a movie of Dick Hillman's backhoe dragging the second panel into place.

The panels are now in rough position, Dick Hillman's backhoe helps to tweak the final alignment.

"Well that track won't just jack itself into place guys, get to work!"

Partly jacked into place and aligned, bolted together, some ballast has been dumped and tamped.

Larry and Nash dump more stone around the ties, prior to tamping.

And more stone...

Getting closer. Next steps are to roll out the fabric ontop of the stones and ties and them bury it with the stone dust on the right, to make it drivable.

Finished, looking west.

And looking east.

Photos by Marco Moerland, Dave Goff and Sam Bartlett.

This was the section of the House Track most in need of repair, but the rest of the track needs attention too, so work will continue. If you want to support our future trackwork or restoration projects (caboose CV 4015, PCC car MBTA 3321, Fitchburg and Leominster No. 60) you can Renew your Membership or Join us as a new Member or join our crew of volunteers or make a donation at the bottom of the Membership page.

Any questions? Contact Sam Bartlett at trolley@sftm.org.