Green Joint Bar

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I saw a joint bar painted the same shade of green as most UP MOW equipment I have seen. Presumably this has something to do with track maintenance. It on was UP tracks.

2

Was it an insulated rail joint in welded rail territory? They are plugs assembled elsewhere and welded into the track to replace a temporary traditional insulated joint. The plug has two short lengths of rail (a few feet) and the joint bar itself is encased with some form of bonding material (epoxy?) supplementing the bolts to ensure rigidity and insulation. I think I have seen some that had a green material encasing the steel joint bars.

John

3

cx500 has it right - it’s most likely a ‘‘Bonded Insulated Joint’’. Here’s a link to a webpage that has a photo at the bottom of a stack of them - all in that shade of green - and a little explanation -

http://www.akrailroad.com/OnlineCatalog/InsulatedJoints/tabid/88/Default.aspx

  • Paul North.
4

They are most likely the pre-assembled epxoy-bonded insulated joint assemblies as manufactured by the Allegheny Rail Products division of L.B. Foster, Inc. For another illustration, see the ‘index’ photo for ALLEGHENY RAIL PRODUCTS at the bottom left of this webpage - http://www.lbfoster.com/Rail/index.html

Then, click on that, go to the webpage for Allegheny at - http://www.lbfoster.com/Rail/allegheny.html

Down at the last line, click on the link to open/download the product ‘reference guide’’ which consists of 7 pages, about 1.25 MB in size in the ‘PDF’ format, at -

http://www.lbfoster.com/Rail/rail_pdf_profiles/Insulated%20Rail%20Joints%20Catalog.pdf

At the bottom of page 4 of 7 is another photo of these, with the green paint. They are more fully described and depicted as Bonded Insulated Joints - Factory Assembled on page 2 of 7, but that photo lacks the characteristic green paint. The TOUGHCOAT Insulated Joints shown on page 3 of 7 have the joint bar encased in a green plastic, but that’s not quite the same as what was asked about above.

  • Paul North.
5

It could be a conventional Seneca insulated joint as opposed to an I-bond. Senecas start dark green and evolve into a lighter color like UP’s M/W primer green .Looks more like a conventional joint, just green with track bolts instead of huck-bolts (Until you get close, you don’t see the fiberglass insulated endposts and collars/tubes.)

6

It’s some kind of an I.J.

7

Described at - http://www.senecarail.com/products.html

Can’t readily find a decent photo of these ‘on-line’, though.

  • PDN.
8

Thanks.

Now I have another question. On the A&K web page, it has “A&K Insulated Rail Joints meet all AREA specifications.” Do they mean AREMA?

9

Sharp eyes - good catch ! Interestingly, so does the Seneca Rail webpage that I linked above. However, the L.B. Foster/ Allegheny Rail Products webpages both refer to the AREMA specifications; and in the brochure for Portec Rail Products, I don’t see a reference to either - see: http://www.portecrail.com/pdf/brochures/PremiumBondedJoints.pdf

That said, it’s likely that they do mean AREMA, not AREA. As you probably know, AREMA is the newer name for and successor organization to AREA (sparing you the intricacies and exact date of that change). Presently, the relevant specifications are in the AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering - 2010 edition, CHAPTER 4 - RAIL, Part 3 - Joining of Rail, at Sections -