i’ve seen a new diamond sitting at deshler , ohio. anyone know when it’s going to be replaced. can’t wait for the curfew to end on that job.
I’m not famialiar with plans for Deshler Oh, but was at Rochelle IL a few weeks ago and saw a extra diamond there. I was wondering if they were going to replace, or keep a spare around so that they can repair. Having the extra pieces on hand would allow them to get things repaired more quickly, and keep things on the RRs moving more quickly by not having to wait for parts.
I suspect the cost of the spare is substancial, but suspect that the components in the diamond are custom pieces rather than off the shelf.
Question for our RR track experts.
Given a route with about 20 - 26 trains a day, 50 MPH speed limit going over a diamond.
Crossing RR is a low speed 2-4 trains a week crossing .
Layout is such that a the low speed route could enter the 50 MPH route and then exit about 1 mile to low speed route.
Is the diamond more expensive to maintain than the 2 switches + frogs that could replace the diamond? I realize the cost of adding signaling is another item of cost.
I’m not a track expert, but consider that you’re replacing four frogs with two, plus movable points, which probably don’t wear as quickly. Movable-point frogs for the heavy-use main line might further reduce maintenance. If the two switches could be placed fairly close together, there would be little difference in signal costs (unless the railroads willingly decided to open up a new connection here). The fact that you have moving trackwork with switches, and not with diamonds, probably explains why this isn’t done more often.
If the heavy-use main line were comprised of more than one track, I would think the same thing would apply, with the exception that the switches between the pair of tracks could function as a crossover if desired. In that case, the heavy-use route would need added signals.
Back to the original question: I suspect that what you’re seeing at Deshler or Rochelle is one of the old diamonds, being utilized as necessary as a source for spare (or emergency-use) parts. A new diamond would have no signs of wear at all; the old one will have running rails worn markedly, and the difference should be able to be seen at the frogs. Yes, diamonds are pretty much custom installations.
Engineering Teams Complete Massive Diamond Replacement
CSX News Released: June 7, 2010
On one hot day in Youngstown, Ohio, CSX track and signals teams performed a major engineering feat.
In just 12 hours on May 22, CSX track and signal teams replaced a worn diamond on CSX’s Newcastle main line where it crosses the Norfolk Southern Ashtabula line in Youngstown, Ohio. The project to replace the crossing of tracks of the two railroads called a diamond was impressive on a number of counts.
The 10-degree diamond had to be exceptionally long to accommodate the small angle. The diamond structure itself was 275 feet long, versus the usual 40- to 50-foot diamond structure, and weighed 250,000 pounds. Manufactured by Progress Rail for CSX, it was delivered to the site in a pile of pieces loaded onto eight trucks. The track teams prefabricated the pieces on site as the completed diamond. Four 100-ton cranes were required to walk it into place. Track workers made 32 welds and put in 30 plug rails to complete construction.
It took a total of 70 people to do the job, said Tom Thoburn, division engineer-Great Lakes Division. We had seven teams of welders and seven to eight people on the signal team to complete the installation. For equipment, we used three tampers and three ballast regulators, four large cranes, backhoes, excavators and loaders.
The track teams used a special laser system to excavate the site, where they laid down eight inches of ballast. Final grading employed the laser system to ensure that the ballast was level and even.
That special equipment was necessary for us to complete the project in 12 hours; without it, it would have taken weeks, said Thoburn.
Despite the scope of th
diamond was replaced on 7/5 2010. along with 4 others along the chicago lie. all at once. they had the whole line shut down.
(1) Often the old crossing resides in the weeds for catastrophic emergency use. (like a derailment on the diamond)
(2) The crossing frogs are brittle, cu$tom made, expen$ive, one of a kind rascals that often have a relatively short lifepan that would have been replaced by something else (blue streak’s premise) a long time ago if there were ANY economic way of doing so.
(3) Parts of diamonds are often not interchangable. Carbon frogs (milled from pieces of rail), railbound frogs (Milled rail plus cast inserts), flange bearing frogs, etc are all very different and will not trade parts between them. Add in the different types of frog casting designs and the variables get crazy as do the methods of support. One change in design and the predecessor frog will no longer be a parts source for the new crossing.
(4) These things are custom built and take months to build, especially things like explosive hardened castings. Foundries often make 8 or 9 just to get 4 or five that make it to finished product that is metalurgically sound.
(5) the foundations and method of support on these things is critical. Failure in the support structure or subgrade can shorten the length of the installation’s life by more than half.
(6) By this point in time, most crossing locations are constrained to the point that alternative solutions are prohibitively expensive and will never pay for themselves. Acquiring enough real estate to accomodate a connecting track with acceptable geometry is often problematic in itself. The higher the speed of the connecting track, the more the real estate is gobbled-up.
(7) Tying up traffic on both crossing mains to make a switching move to avoid the use of the diamond is often an unwanted/prohibitive effect as other traffic gets bound-up behind that move.