Looking for your apps? Click the account icon in the upper right corner of the page.

A Platform for Success

New machine control technology helps Colorado contractor streamline workflow on rail depot project.

Hero Image

One machine does not make a fleet. One machine properly equipped for production, however, can do the work of many. And for nearly a year now, Kyle Leaf, owner and sole employee of Southwind Contracting, LLC, has been proving that every day, most recently at a project to replace an aging passenger rail platform in Fort Morgan, Colorado. There, using a John Deere 308 excavator equipped with MC-Mobile, a multi-faceted machine control solution from Topcon, he is regularly fulfilling that system’s promise to make measuring, designing and building with one tool fast and easy. The result of that effort is a project for which he was able to do all site layout and setup, then accurately excavate for platform footers and all necessary drain work. Working on the railroad has rarely been so efficient.

Gains for Trains

In this day of fast, affordable, air travel, one might wonder why a passenger depot platform replacement is even warranted. The answer: rail passenger traffic has been on a steady upward swing. In fact, in 2024, Amtrak saw its largest uptick in ridership ever — some 15% from the previous year — to 32.8 million people. To support that growth, they are undertaking a program of infrastructure upgrades; the Fort Morgan platform rebuild is a part of that effort.

 

With a price tag of $250,000 for the excavation, the Amtrak project is a departure from the projects he did since starting Southwind. Focusing on smaller jobs — drainage, driveways, foundation work, etc. — allowed him to do 18 of them the previous year.

 

“This year, however, mostly because of the impact MC-Mobile has had my workflow, I have been able to tackle larger projects like this one,” he said. “I started here in April, and my portion of the job, which is being done in two phases, is scheduled to last six months. Phase One, which covers roughly 1/3 of the total project, started with the partial demo of the existing platform and will take it to completion, where passengers will be able to board from it. Then we will move on to Phase 2 to finish out the remaining 2/3 of the platform — all told, the finished structure will measure 800’ long by 12 ½’ wide.”

Mobile-ization

The MC-Mobile solution Leaf mentioned above was not something he had envisioned turning to this early in his fledgling business. But when an opportunity to own it arose, he took it — and is glad he did.

“Last fall I was doing some work for Nick Guadagnoli, corporate manager at Foursight Solutions, the local Topcon dealer,” he said. “He mentioned that they had a John Deere 308 equipped with MC-Mobile — including an Layout Navigator (LN) — that they were selling as a demo machine. While I knew there was technology that could run a grade system on a machine, I never thought I could get into one so soon in my new business. But I was intrigued by how much easier it would make a job, its design strengths, knowing I wouldn’t have to be constantly rechecking things as I went along, wouldn’t be over- or under-digging, etc. And it was at a price I could afford.”

Recognizing that the fates were speaking to him, he bought the machine/system package and immediately put it to work installing a driveway for a project in the ski community of Keystone. “I demoed the existing structure, put in a new box culvert, and regraded it all for curb and gutter,” said Leaf. “I was able to use the machine to grade the subgrade before base and got it within half a tenth, which was outstanding. That ability to grade, coupled with not having to continually get in and out of the machine to check with a grade rod, definitely streamlined the process. Even factoring in the added setup time, I’d say it was 30% faster.”

“If I’d been able to do it using traditional methods at all, it would have been far more difficult and taken much longer. It’s made me more productive than I’d ever imagined being.”

— Kyle Leaf

Platform Shoos

Initial work at the Fort Morgan station started with the demolition of roughly 250’ of the existing platform. With that gone, Leaf moved to excavation for installation of the underdrain, a drainage system for a trench drain on the platform and grading out for the concrete work. Leaf said it was here that MC-Mobile truly came into play.

 

“My workflow with the Topcon solution is far more streamlined than it was in the past when I relied on a rotating laser and grade rod,” said Leaf. “At the platform project, I came out, set up the layout navigator and got my control points. Then I shot all my stakes with an offset, essentially shooting at grade. With that in place, I was able to offset my line, create an alignment that was the bottom of my trench and, using the info on the screen in the cab, begin the excavation. It is a fast, accurate and efficient process that I can now do myself without the need for a grade man in the ditch.”

 

Leaf’s MC-Mobile solution is a modular system that uses one interface to improve resource management, allowing him to perform as an equipment operator and grade checker while doing some tasks normally done by a surveyor. “Using MC- Mobile has made the work of installing new 8” diam. storm piping for trench drain and under drain systems, excavation for new platform foundations, and final grading of the site, fast and easy,” he said. “If I’d been able to do it using traditional methods at all, it would have been far more difficult and taken much longer. It’s made me more productive than I’d ever imagined being.”

“Right now, I’m not even close to using the LN to its full potential, but the benefits I’ve already seen — the time savings, the increase in productivity, the ability to get into the machine and immediately see where I’m at, where the cuts and fills are — tells me this is only the beginning.”

— Kyle Leaf

More Than Just the Dig

Leaf is quick to add that the support he’s gotten from Foursight since adding MC-Mobile has been impressive — both in getting him up to speed and after he was using it regularly. “I had no prior experience with this type of technology; everything I’d done up to the point of purchase had involved a laser and grade rod,” he said. “So, even though getting comfortable with the LN wasn’t very difficult, the team from Foursight was still a huge help for me when I needed it.”

He added that the benefits do not end with the excavation either. “Using MC-Mobile, I am able to obtain as-builts for the project that are more accurate than ever before. And there is a subsequent phase to this project that calls for regrading and bringing in base material for the parking lot adjacent to the station. When that happens, I will use the Topcon solution to design a drainage plan to allow proper drainage to the existing storm system. That’s something I never really envisioned being able to do.”

Leaf anticipates handling the lot grading with a Cat 255 skid steer and a GB120 grading blade. “I don’t currently have the system set up to run the grader attachment, but, based on what I’ve been able to do with what I have now, that will be a future investment. Right now, I’m not even close to using the LN to its full potential, but the benefits I’ve already seen — the time savings, the increase in productivity, the ability to get into the machine and immediately see where I’m at, where the cuts and fills are — tells me this is only the beginning.”

Southwind’s portion of the job is slated for a September completion with the full completion of Phase One set for November 2025.

Related articles