Speeders
Vehicles
Cranes
Plows

MP 15346 - Welded Rail car at Louviers, Colorado; 12/16/00 - photo © RailArc

MP #16863 - work crew unload this ballast car at Lincoln, Nebraska; 4/17/96 - T. Greuter Photo ·

MP 17001 - working for a living in MofW service on the UP. This flat w/crane car was spotted in the Council Bluffs, Iowa yard paired with a MP shorty on August 11, 2001. The Burro crane (BC-405825) uses the ramp (seen in it's stowed position) to track level. The green paint is strictly UP paint. It's unknown if this flatcar itself was originally used by MP as a crane transport. - T. Greuter Photo ·

Working on the Railroad

Every bit of equipment has a story, some of the most interesting stories were of the MoW.

A retired box car would modified with doors, windows, bunks, stove, etc., receive the MP X designation and used as a MoW bunk car. The "new" car would be assigned to special gangs (pile drivers, wreckers, bridge construction, tie replacement program gangs, rail relay gangs, etc.) and moved where needed. Anything that couldn't be done by the average MoW section gang was the job of the specialized gangs.

Section gangs were also housed in section houses. As the gangs became more mobile the size of their rail section also increased in size. MoW gangs today stay in the nearest motel and get travel money to fly home every two weeks. . . So much for the good ol' days ;)

The old passenger equipment that was put into MOW service was painted aluminum with red lettering - a few even had Razorback emblems on them. 

The mantainence vehicles put to action on a railroad began with handcars, later hi-railer trucks and speeders, push cars, huge steam and diesel cranes, burro cranes, and a wild assortment of mechanized vehicles for tie replacement and rail straightening. The tools put to use on the rails included: spike mauls or drivers, pick axes, ballast shovels and forks, spike puller bars, bolt wrenches, rail tongs, and guage bars. Materials included metal cans of spikes, rail bolts, tie plates, fish plates, as well as replacement cross ties. For big jobs flatcars would be loaded with cross ties and sections of rail (in later years welded rail on specifically designed flat cars.