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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Army Reserve soldiers from multiple companies and locations of the 757th Transportation (Railway) Battalion invested sweat equity in July 2011 providing project completion for the U.S. Army Transportation Museum at the Fort Eustis, Va., half of Joint Base Langley-Eustis.
Twenty U.S. Army Reserve soldiers endured the July heat wave in southeast Virginia to refurbish two antique flat bed rail cars and construct a new rail spur at the Transportation Museum. The soldiers arrived between, July 7-9, for a three-week mission, but despite the steamy weather, they were able to complete their projects three days ahead of schedule, July 26.
To help beat the heat, the crew liked to start their day at 3 a.m. The soldiers would repeatedly cycle through 10 minutes of activity followed by 15 minutes of rest when the sun and humidity stoked the boiler over the century mark on the thermometer.
The work looked similar to railway construction from over a century ago, by laying wooden ties and 30-foot sections of steel rail, fastening everything together with sledgehammers versus rail spikes and then surrounding the installation with crushed rock to keep it in place.
The two flat bed cars got new wooden decks and an entire treatment of paint and stenciling.
The work isn't for the faint of heart, but it's not an all-male domain either. Sgt. Melissa Ramskugler of the 1152nd Transportation Company convinced rail spikes they really needed to go where she willed them by deft strokes from a sledgehammer.
"You kind of get in your own groove and you get used to what you’re doing, and you get good at it eventually," Ramskugler said. "You get that spike in, in less and less hits. It’s just all part of the job and if you can make it fun, it’s just kind of awesome coming to work every day."
Staff Sgt. David Cibrario was non-commissioned officer in charge of the project, and he understands that people in his military occupation specialty are becoming a rare breed in 2011.
"It gives you a sense of pride in the work that you’re in a specialized unit with a specialized skill," Cibrario said, "and the camaraderie that you build with these guys is great, because this is manual labor. I would say this team here is the hardest-working people I’ve ever worked with."
| Date Taken: | 08.09.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2011 11:27 |
| Story ID: | 75116 |
| Location: | NEWPORT NEWS, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 368 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Rail soldiers from 757th Transportation (Railway) Bn. help U.S. Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, by Rick Haverinen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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