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It isn't easy keeping it all going

From the District 4 Newsletter 'Interchange'
It was no small feat to get District 4 snowplows on the road this winter. As a matter of fact, many things were working against the members of the District 4 mechanics shop as snow started to fly in the Idaho mountains.

“Everything went really smooth,” shop supervisor Mike Praegitzer said. “There was only one small thing ... everyone wanted their trucks changed over now. Everyone jumped the gun a little with that first snow.

“Everyone was asking if we could go faster. We can go only so fast,” Praegitzer added. “Then all of a sudden it was don’t change any more because they had to haul all that fill for the new building. It takes time.”

It’s not easy being ready for any kind of mechanical malfunction and taking care of all the seasonal changes as well, Praegitzer said, but his crew tries to keep up. Currently short three full-time mechanics, the District 4 shop fills its slack time doing maintenance on the entire fleet – that is when there is any slack time at all.

“We don’t have slack time. We’re busy year-round,” Praegitzer said. “Even in the summer when we need to work on the sanders, it’s hard to keep up with all the other requests.”

Still, the shop made it through more than 60 sand truck changeovers in less than a month and has been able to keep up. It’s a job that keeps the shop busy.

See a PDF of District 4's 'Interchange'