VLA Monthly Progress Report, March 1976 Photo

Tie Placement along West Arm. The VLA track requires constant maintenance, with ~74 miles of steel rail and 200,000 ties that must reliably support immense weight as the 230-ton antennas (and the 90-ton transporter) travel over the track when the array is changed. The 1976 photo shows that the original track was laid with a minimal amount of equipment and a lot of manual labor. Over the years of maintenance, a crane or boom truck was used to remove a new tie from a stack of ties, and a forklift pushed ties out from or into place under the rails.

Records of the NRAO

Still Image

1976-03

NRAO/AUI/NSF

VLA Monthly Progress Reports

p3-76-4.jpg

New Mexico Operations Series

Very Large Array (VLA) Unit

VLA Monthly Reports Subunit

3A

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