Surfacing
Weekly Update #11
24 June 2004
CONTINUING ON SCHEDULE
As of the 24th of June, we have
surfaced over 245 of the 800 pass miles that we had projected to be surfaced in
the 2004 production year. As of now, it
appears we will meet that schedule.
¨
All
of the 53 new Ballast cars that were leased for 2 years have arrived on line
and are in service. The general
consensus of the engineering forces is that these cars are an excellent
investment and allow increased efficiency of the ballast unloading process.
¨
The
Brandt truck, operated by Ernie Lehmkuhl, has been very instrumental in the
ballast unloading operation. This truck
can pull up to 20 cars of ballast or other material for MOW crews to unload,
saving on work train requirements and increasing the flexibility of the MOW
forces.
¨ Surfacing continues at a
very strong pace with over 20 miles completed again last week and averaging
over 20 miles per week. We have eight
surfacing crews operating on the two properties this year. Seven crews consist of our own employees,
and the eighth is a contractor, ARB out of Northwood, Iowa. The surfacing crew foremen are Mike Cherne
at Chillicothe, Jason Teynor at Marquette, Remington Hill at Mason City, Kent
Maxon at Waseca, Earl Ruckdaschel at Huron, Jared Hook at Philip and Bob Tech
at Belle Fourche. The crews are all
doing an excellent job!
¨
As
of the 23rd of June, over 105,000 tons of ballast has been
delivered. This is nearly 45% of the
230,000 tons of ballast that we will now require to complete this year’s
projects
¨
We
are working very closely with the LG Everist Quarry and New Ulm Quartzite
Quarry to provide adequate supplies of ballast.