I was reviewing the valuation map of the NKP in Toledo, OH and there was a note for a flange oiler located at the begining of a yard ladder right before the first turnout. The oiler was located on the rail that was tangent to all of the curved points of the yard at the east end of the yard. It was a stub ended yard located at MC Junction just outside of downtown Toledo. There was no curve on the lead track, so I assume that this was for oiling the yard switch rails. This was not a large yard, only a half dozed or so tracks. Was this normal for a yard? The valuation map was from 1940, I believe, so it was still in the steam days.
There’s some info HERE on flange oilers.
I’m unsure of mainline practice, but at the steel plant where I worked, the switches (turnouts) were lubricated by a guy with a bucket of grease and a mop. In addition to the linkages, the tops of the ties over which the points moved got a liberal application of grease.
Wayne
I have never seen a flange lube system in a yard… ever… there is still a guy that lubes the switches, but he only takes care of the moving parts. Not sure that a oiler/ friction modifier system would really pay in the yard environment.
A flange lubricator does what it says - lubricates the flange of the wheel…for its contact with the rail head. The lubricated flanges spread the lub along the gauge face of the rail head for some distance beyond the lubricator… depending on the speed of the wheels, how the lubricator is set and the weather.
Flange lub is used to reduce wear on both the rail head gauge corner (of the rail head) and the flanges of wheels. In my experience it is very different goop from switch blade lub. A bi-product of flange lub is that it reduces the noise made by the flanges binding on the rail head/gauge corner.
Switch blade lub is usually a thicker stuff. It’s usually applied with a brush and got down between the blade and the stock rail onto whatever plate supports the blade as it slides side-to-side. It is supposed to lubricate this movement. The important thing here is for the lub to stay where it is as far as possible and neither wash into the ballast nor spread along the rail.
In the example quoted I would look at the map to see if the curves in the switches are unusually tight or make reverse curves. Another thing I would look for is what buildings are located nearby… if they are residential (and somebody with some clout with the RR lives there) then the lubricator might be there to cut down the noise. With an old style lubricator I wouldn’t expect much of the lub (if any) to get to the far end of a ladder - unless the machine was set to dollop a lot - in which case the closer track would be very messy.
Anothe thing to look for is what the track going out from the yard is doing… this machine might be placed for flanges going the other way (out of the yard).
Both types of lubrication leave very clear indication/discolouration on the surrounding ties and ballast.
Hope this helps.
"In the example quoted I would look at the map to see if the curves in the switches are unusually tight or make reverse curves. Another thing I would look for is what buildings are located nearby… if they are residential (and somebody with some clout with the RR lives there) then the lubricator might be there to cut down the noise. With an old style lubricator I wouldn’t expect much of the lub (if any) to get to the far end of a ladder - unless the machine was set to dollop a lot - in which case the closer track would be very messy.
Anothe thing to look for is what the track going out from the yard is doing… this machine might be placed for flanges going the other way (out of the yard). "
Thanks Dave: There were only the usual curves associated with a yard ladder. This yard was quite busy in years prior to the 1960’s. The yard was fed by the Wabash, Michigan Central, and the Nickel Plate. I would imagine there was a lot of activity in this yard as it fed nearly 60 industrial and commercial customer sidings in Toledo. The yard lay next to a residential area so your suggestion rings true. The lead out of the yard was pretty straight, so the oiler has to have been for the switch point rails. This yard has long since been removed, most likely after freight operation on the Cloverleaf first subdivision was abandoned just east of Deshler, OH due to a derailment that wiped out a mainline bridge in 1964. Since the yard trackage is gone, I have no idea if the oiler lubed both sides or just one. The map is not that detailed.
OK, Stupid me, I discovered the image I was looking at before was a chopped off version of the real valuation map. Must have happened when I was downloading it. I went back and pulled the map down again and got the real picture. The yard consists of some 14 tracks in a double ended split ladder and a secondary ladder with 10 more stub tracks. This is more reasonable given the amount of traffic in and out of this yard as documented by the NKPHTS. Given this amount of trackage, traffic, and the proximity of the residential neighborhood that existed prior to 1940, there must have been a lot of noise generated by the movement of cars in and out of the yard. This was the steam era so there must have been a lot of dirt too. I can see now why there was a flange oiler at the yard throat and I’ll bet it worked both sides of the track. I wonder how large an oil tank was used to supply this oiler? I have yet to find any pictures of this yard and engine service facility (70’ manual turntable, coaling tower, water tower, ash pit, sand tower, and 6 stall roundhouse), so I am still a bit in the dark on this. The local history section of the local library has nothing on this area, but perhaps the NKP Historical Society will. Guess I need to join. :>)