September 2013: Approximately 70 civil engineering students and faculty from the CEE 408 and 409 classes participated in an annual “work day” at the Monticello Railway Museum (MRM) in Monticello, Illinois on September 14, 2013. This year the project consisted of assisting MRM volunteers with reconstructing approximately 300 feet of track, including the track within a highway grade crossing, and replacing defective switch ties in an adjacent turnout. Work on this day consisted of setting and spacing crossties, laying rail, bolting rail sticks together, setting plates, gauging and spiking rail, aligning the track, spreading and tamping ballast, and setting final top-of-rail elevations.
