Rail greasers are used on Amtrak on the New Division. Most greaser pumps are battery powered and the battery is charged by solar a panel. As a retired signal mainteiner I can tell you they make a mess if instecting track you step in the grease. Can’t get the damn stuff off
Here is a commercially available greaser.
http://www.tranergy.com/Switch_Enhancer.html?gclid=CPOs-fGl-IkCFRTWJAodrmArVg
underworld[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
Be sure to watch the video clip at the bottom.
Just an aside but greasing the rails was an old hobo trick
They would grease the track at a spot along a curve on an uphill grade where it couldnt be seen till it was too late. The drivers would spin, slowing the train, allowing the hobos to jump onboard farther back alomg the train. Great scene of this in “Emporer of the North” and I heard a similar story from a guy who did this as a kid for a prank on his dads CP train, yeap he said, it was really funny, till his engineer dad saw them hiding in the bushes. His dad made him cut down the branch and remove all the twigs to make the switch he got his whipping with…
The MBTA uses them on the Green Line in the tunnels where the curves are tight, and I know there’s an active one up at Lowell Junction in Andover. When I lived up there, I used to bike to the junction to watch the trains.
John
I know of several folks, all now dead, that did such things to the Union Pacific on a grade where they ran trains only with full tonnage. Until MofW cleaned the track, they couldn’t get up the hill.
On the railroads that I have worked for, rail lubricators were used liberally, but the control of them was strict. They had to be adjusted so that there was no waste. They were to apply a very thin line of lubricant only where the flang would run and not the wheel, and they were to be used only on the outside rail of the curve. Woe to the maintainer should an engineman complain about slipping after passing a lubricator.
One poster above mentioned the cost of replacing worn rail. $$$$$$$$$$$$ And then there is also locomotive wheels. Dry rail on the sharper curves makes for sharp flanges real quick on locomotives. Again, $$$$$$$$$$$$$
CSX uses rail greasers in the Albany division, and everywhere else I expect. It’s true, the tracks going through the mountain ARE very steep, and are also very twisty (to follow the course of the river, which is the path of lowest grade and of course the twists reduce the grade even more), so you get more grease on the steepest grades. Go figure.
When you mention flange lubricators, I’m not sure whether you are referring to the actual greasers on the tracks, or the graphite lubricators mounted on the locomotive truck. About a year ago, CSX installed these graphite rods on all road power. A device on the truck feeds a big stick of graphite lubricator onto the lead wheel of each truck. Each stick is about 1 foot and a half long (to start with), and it’s like a giant pencil. Someone here mentioned graphite lube in the brake pads - that I haven’t heard about, just these new truck-mounted lube sticks. The new road power, with the efficient engines, have not been equipped with steerable trucks like earlier units, so these wheel lubricators are probably more needed than before.
Definatly so! The Railroads are running more and more trains per day as well as heavier car loads. Also they use greasers on straight tracks too. Grease is what helps save the railhead from over excessive wear from wheels wobbling back and forth and side to side down the track. The flanges on the wheels keep the wheels on the track but doesn’t stop the wheels from free roaming. The wheels usually roam a little bit from the track being warped, lhaving loose ties, too far tie spacing, or a million other things. Greasers are more common in curves especially in mountainous regions where there are a lot of grades. The railroads also will turn the rails around “Transposed Track” to get more life out of the railheads. Which means that they take the guage side of the railhead and swap it with the field side. This process is done because the flanges will wear the guage or inside part of the railhead down faster then the outside. This is especially true in curves where you have a high and low side curve. The train will bear down more on the rail that is on the low side of the curve causing it to wear down faster then the high side. The greasers also help save the overall profile of the railhead which means that the rail doesn’t have to be reshaped by railgrinders as often. The downside for me is it is harder for me to get as good of an ultrasound inspection for flaws within rails that have greasers. If you want a good example of greasers in action check out the Cajon or Tehachapi lines. In some spots the greasers are just a couple thousand feet apart!
The greasers work by the wheel flanges pushing down on a spring valve and as the valve is being depressed it spatters grease up in a spot between the wheel and flange. The grease will stay with a train for quite some time in regular cases such as on level tangent tracks. But in situations where there are a lot of grades and curves the greasers will be closer together. Also there are different formulas of grease the railroads use fo
Howdy,
This is an old topic but I still need some information. [8-|]
Are there any automatic greasers installed ON the curves themselves or are they always installed on the straight before the curve? Trying to see if I can justify installing one on a model train layout but it would be easiest to install on the curve. Thanks for your time.
Jim K
FLANGE LUBRICATORS (is the proper term)
(1) Coverage is determined by local conditions. It’s not a one size fits all solution. Lubricators are placed where the plunger and paddles will do the most good and allow the particular type of grease to do the most good (it’s not supposed to get on top of the rail and should only be applied from the gage corner down on the rail.) The wheel flanges should be able to carry grease in both directions down the track, sometimes for half a mile or more…
(2) There is an art and science to making a lubricator work properly. If some of that grease is getting on top of the rail, it’s either the wrong type of grease for the application or too much is being applied. The maintainer usually is checking how well it works with a goop gage and looking for metal flakes/ rail wear (steel dandruff).
(3) Many railroads also equip their hi-rail trucks with grease applicator(s) controlled in the cab of the truck during normal inspection patrols. Locomotives sometimes had lubricator equipment on-board, but that
CN’s locomotives still have truck-mounted flange lubricators, using sticks of graphite.
As far as I can tell they are being maintained.
they still use them on my OSL we have a grease box at Tieska on track 1 it is here because the curve is sharp and trains go through here in heavy dynamics. #844 did not need to be greased by the guns in Gooding because the grease box lubed her up at Tieska but she had to be greased at Glenns Ferry because she had to go up Reverse which is the steepest grade on the OSL.
[quote user=“mudchicken”]
Are there any automatic greasers installed ON the curves themselves or are they always installed on the straight before the curve?
They are installed on the straight in order to place the grease on the fillet and flange only.
FLANGE LUBRICATORS (is the proper term)
(1) Coverage is determined by local conditions. It’s not a one size fits all solution. Lubricators are placed where the plunger and paddles will do the most good and allow the particular type of grease to do the most good (it’s not supposed to get on top of the rail and should only be applied from the gage corner down on the rail.)
Yes, see above.
So why does the grease get on top of the rail you ask?
The greaser places the grease in the proper spot. Now, what you have is grease placed on a spinning wheel. The spinning wheel tends to sling the grease off. In a straight line, the slung grease would tend to stay within the rails. However, when you get to a curve, the flange rubs againt the rail causing more grease to be flung and now the axis of the flinging grease intersects with the arc of the curving rail, so, the grease gets slung on top of the rail. It was very apparent from the cab of the unit that the ballast around the outside rail on curves was much greasier than the ballast under the inside rail and you could watch the darkness change sides going through esse curves.
Once on top of the rail, it gets collected by the wheel tread and that is why the wheels…
…carry grease in both directions down the track, sometimes for half a mile or more…
So true!!!
(2) There is an art and science to making a lubricator work properly. If some of that grease is getting on top of the rail, it’s either the
Flange greasers are a popular suggestion by folks watching the rail cams at Deshler. Trains using the transfers usually squeal their way around the curves - somewhat dependent on how heavy the cars are, and how wet the rail is from natural conditions.
Of course, the squealing they hear has little or nothing to do with the flanges and everything to do with the solid axles. On a sharp curve, one wheel will be moving faster or slower than the other, causing the tread to slide on the rail, which creates the squealing.
Loaded coil cars on the SW transfer there are the worst.