2009 Work Session M1/M2

August 20, 2009. One of the tasks of the 2009 Montana work sessions was to move the four box cars off the trucks on which they were sitting and move them about 10 feet north. MS 504 was moved at the end of the first week. Spare rails were placed under the car, and each end lifted 6 to 8 inches at a time with hydraulic jacks, and then blocking inserted to support the rail at the increased height. This photo shows the south side of the car after it has been jacked up enough to clear the trucks. The trucks are not the correct ones for these cars, and the center sills were just resting on steel plates on top of the truck bolster. One of these plates is visible on top of the truck in the photo. These four cars had been left at the end of track when the line was abandoned, and at some point the trucks and all available steel from the cars had been removed. Thus, these cars are missing the lower portion of the body bolsters, the queen posts and under-car truss rods, the couplers, and coupler pockets. Photo by Roger Breeding.