Pennsylvania short lines: Rail authority advances bridge program, RBMN acquires tamper

The SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority (JRA) recently obtained a $1.8 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to restore nine of its highest priority rail bridges.

The authority will provide a $768,000 match for the bridge restoration project, which will involve raising bridges or spans, replacing portions of decks, realigning track, reconstructing abutments and restoring pedestals. Five of the bridges are located on the Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad's line and the others are along lines operated by the Lycoming Valley Railroad, North Shore Railroad, Shamokin Valley Railroad and Juniata Valley Railroad.

"Completion of these nine rehabilitation projects will positively affect every customer on the authority's rail lines," said JRA Executive Director Jeff Stover in an item included in the authority's April newsletter.

Meanwhile, the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad Co. (RBMN) late last month took delivery of a rebuilt Harsco Mark IV Tamper from Delta Railroad Construction Inc.

Positioned in the railroad's yard in Tamaqua, Pa., the machine replaces a 17-year-old Mark IV tamper that also will be rebuilt.

The acquired tamper features an array of mechanical and computer upgrades, and will require less maintenance than the machine crews have used since 1997, RBMN officials said in a press release. The rebuilt Mark IV Tamper was acquired at about 60 percent of the cost of a new machine, they said.

Given the high number of ties replaced over the past 12 months and the railroad's aggressive trackwork plan for the coming years, the timing was right to obtain a new production tamper for the surfacing gang, RBMN officials said.