Fisher Man

Fisher Man offers the following trips to customers:

Trips booked with Fisher Man include:

Loram Maintenance of Way was founded in 1954 in Hamel, Minnesota, in the United States^[2] by Canadian businessman Fred C. Mannix. The company name is an abbreviation of the phrase "long-range Mannix".^[3]

Loram initially acted as a contractor for railways, cleaning ballast on track beds. The rough edges of ballast rock not only supports the ties and holds them in place, it helps water drain away from the track bed. Over time, ballast becomes clogged with earth, weeds, and debris, inhibiting its drainage properties. Its major competitor in this field was Speno Rail Services (later owned by Pandrol-Jackson, and still later by Harsco Technologies).^[4] Over time, Loram replaced its large work crews with automated machines which can clean ballast 2 to 2.5 feet (0.61 to 0.76 m) in depth.^[5]

LORAM Ballast Cleaner in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on July 4th, 2019.

The company's first mechanical products were the Mannix Sled and Mannix Plow,^[6] both developed in the late 1950s. The Mannix Sled was a device towed behind a locomotive which raised the rails and ties and cleared the ballast between the ties (a process known as "skeletonizing"). The Mannix Sled would be followed by a work crew which manually refilled the empty space with clean ballast. The Mannix Plow was a device which lifted both rails and ties, while three blades passed below them and removed all the ballast. This left the ties and rail lying on bare earth; a large work crew followed, lifting the rails again and replacing the ballast.^[7] The concept of lifting the rails and ties was counterintuitive, but it revolutionized railbed rehabilitation.^[6] In 1959, Loram introduced the Auto-Track. Designed to work behind either a Mannix Plow or a Mannix Sled, this device was capable to detaching a damaged or broken tie from the rail and ejecting it to one side.^[8]

Loram began grinding rails in the 1970s.^[6] High rates of speed, traffic, and weight can damage rails. The burrs and cracks created can damage train wheels, slow traffic, and cause rails to degrade faster. Grinding rails in place helps to avoid these problems and lengthen rail life. While Speno had its crews living on its grinding trains, Loram did not. Its crews lived off-site while working, which meant Loram grinding vehicles were shorter and less complicated. Grinding carries with it a significant risk of fire, as sparks from the grinding process can ignite nearby vegetation. Loram's first grinders carried a caboose equipped with extensive firefighting equipment, and its crews were trained firefighters. The company later introduced an automatic firefighting system to its grinding vehicles, which eliminated the need for the firefighting caboose.^[9] About 1986, Loram introduced the SX-16, which could grind railroad switches (including switch points, frogs, and wing rails) as well as track.^[10] By 1992, Loram had more than a dozen grinders in operation in the United States.^[9] In the late 1990s, working with KLD Labs,^[6] Loram developed the VISion Transverse Analyzer (VISTA), a computer guided grinding system. The VISTA system employs lasers to identify the rail profile and any defects. The computer then chooses an optimal solution, and guides the vehicle as it grinds the rail to this profile. The system is captures removed metal and places it into a waste storage compartment rather than leaving it on the track.^[9] In the mid 2000s, Loram introduced the RG400 rail grinder, which doubled efficiency to roughly 60 miles (97 km) per day, was lower-emission, and had markedly improved safety features.^[11] A variation of this vehicle, the RGI series railgrinder, was developed specifically for the international market and has been sold in Colombia, India, Mexico, and in Scandinavia.^[6]

Fisher Man offers the following types of fishing & hunting:

Fisher Man has a cancellation window of:

14 days before your trip. There are flexible options / accommodations however due to weather and other circumstances.