Rail removal, track restoration projects began yesterday

by Dan McClelland

Two companies with completely different purposes are in town this week beginning to work on two projects on the Adirondack Railroad.

National Salvage & Service of Bloomington, Indiana won the state Department of Transportation contract to remove the tracks and ties from here to Lake Placid.

According to Bill Dauber, who is heading the operations here for the company, said some machinery has arrived and more is coming this week.

The company has rented office space from Tenielle and Carlos Gonzalez in the basement of the former Holy Name Church, as its local headquarters.

Mr. Dauber said his crew will work on the removal of the rails and ties into the winter months and as long as the weather permits. The supervisor has directed many of his company's railroad salvaging projects over the years.

The company was established in 1980 as a railroad dismantling company and in the last 40 years it has grown to be an industry leader in demolition, asset recovery and environmental services. It is also a leading wholesaler of new and used railroad ties, according to its web page.

National has about 150 employees.

In the photos above a piece of heavy machinery was pulling rails from the tracks from the line just east of the station, at a point about 100 feet from where McCarthy Street bends. Just before that is where the rails will end, 300 or 400 feet past the station. In front of the machine is a laborer picking rail plates and spikes from where they have been pulled from the old ties.

The photo below shows red marks on the rails where new ties will be installed.

The company will also be building a yard off the tracks in that area where ties will be temporarily stored.

The other company in town this week is Tartaglia Railroad Services, a Syracuse-based company that has been a railroad builder for over a century. It won the other piece of the DOT contract- to restore the rails and ties between here and Big Moose. It specializes in the design, construction, and project management of rail projects of all sizes. It also operates a modern-day shop that is fully equipped to build or fabricate all types of railroad equipment.

Yesterday one of the company's machines appropriately called a spiker, as it pounds railroad spikes into ties, was placed on the tracks in front of the Tupper Lake train station, ready to head south and begin to start work on the reconstruction of the rail line between here and Big Moose. See photo above.