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Guilford Rail Employees Refuse Tree cutting and signal crews like (L to R) Ben Otto, Lead Signalman; Tom Thompson, Signalman and Signal Foreman Chuck Flechtner (climbing pole) labored around the clock during the four-day storm, cutting down trees on the brink of breaking and with branches coated with heavy and potentially dangerous ice. Sheets of ice and a blanket of snow couldn't put to bed the efforts of Guilford Rail's employees during one of Maine's most devastating winter storms in recent memory. Contributions from Rumford to Rigby, Leeds to Lewiston and Auburn to Augusta combined to equal service that would make the most hard-nosed mailman proud. The deep freeze began with frozen rain that lasted four consecutive days. Three days later another one-to-three inches of sleet and ice stuck and froze to every imaginable surface. Within the following week the already battered communities would see another 8 to 12 inches of snow. With some of the worst damage along our lines occurring in the Lewsiston-Auburn area, this storm gave the landscape both surreal beauty and permanent scars. At once, trees and their branches bent to the will of mother nature and strained the resources of government, industry and of the public. Unable to hi-rail due to excessive ice build-up, tree cutting crews had to either ride on locomotives or ballast regulators outfitted with snow removal equipment. Even after the passage of a train, ice quickly stuck to the rails, once again making them impassable for lighter hi-rail vehicles. While removing trees, crews had to watch and listen for falling trees and ice as well as smell for burnt rubber to indicate that a power line had fallen nearby. "It can be pretty hazardous when you're out there at night with stuff crashing down all around you," said Bob Hough, Engineer of Track. "There's nothing routine about working in these conditions." One example, crystal clear as hanging icicles, of the extensive tree damage was the Rumford branch line. Crews labored for six hours over a three-mile stretch of track to keep the railroad's service from falling like the trees that littered its right-of-way. One such tree fell across high-tension wires just east of a trestle crossing the Androscoggin River in Livermore Falls. "We had to shut down a hydro-dam at the Wausau Mosinee Paper, Otis Mill in Livermore so that we could work near the lines," said Bill Rideout, Area Manager, Rumford Branch. "Once it was all set we got back to work," in a sleet-filled wind chill of 40 degrees below zero. Having to cut down hundreds of trees, maintenance crews sometimes found themselves operating under Form D restrictions. This would give a crew exclusive track occupation rights to ensure safety. According to Safety Officer Walter Zaccadelli, the company made it through the storm injury free due to employees' extensive attention to safety procedures and proper equipment. "Most of the guys are wearing spiked ice-creepers on the heels of their boots," he said. Keeping the public's safety in mind, trains operating from Waterville to Rigby Yard in Portland wouldn't take the chance of a crossing signal failing. Trains stopped and flagged vehicle traffic at each crossing. "We're going over every signal," said Joe Caret, Signal Foreman. "Our crews will do a full FRA inspection before they're put back into service, just to be safe." As power and communication lines went down, employee efforts rose. The loss of radio contact between North Billerica, MA dispatchers and locomotive engineers required people like Portland Trainmaster Bruce Labbe and Bill Rideout to serve as transportation middle-men. Using their car radios to talk to a train's crew and cellular phones to link up with dispatchers, they kept the lines of communication open and train traffic moving. Efforts such as this can only be appreciated when they are put in the proper context. Employees kept up with trains on roads which couldn't remain clear of debris and ice, and in a windchill which bit hands that had to remain steady while holding a chain saw or checking signal equipment. All of this from people who were spending their nights in houses without electricity. "I have crewmen that are not going to have power for another month and they're still in here," said Rideout. "They have families at home with no heat and they're still coming to work." Those who are lucky to have power are running extension cords to any unlucky neighbors. According to Joe Caret, one such neighbor extended their appreciation for the railroad's work in such harsh conditions. Tom and Terry Underwood, owners of the Lobster Trap II restaurant in Fairfield, unexpectedly made up baskets of food for the crew and delivered it to the work site at the height of the storm. "I had gone out to check on the condition of our church and a few friends," said Terry. "Every time I drove by I noticed this crew just kept working, working, working and we just had to do something for them. It's wasn't much but if everybody does a little it helps out." Uncut branches in the right-of-way could knock off a train's retainer valves, fuel caps or even activate its brakes. |
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