hello all. I was watching a train roll through the crossing on the west end of Altoona today and was enjoying the “clank-clank clank-clank!” sound the wheels made on the rail joints. but it got me thinking. why has my area not been given CWR? while i prefer the jointed rail, it was something that i was pondering.
that as well as why CWR is more ideal than jointed rail. i had heard from someone that jointed rail was needed to slightly expand out for wider-spaced wheels etc. how does CWR handle that situation?
well, the Altoona sub is not as heavily used as other lines on UP’s system. it sees 2 roadrailers, 3 or 4 locals, and 2 manifests every day. so i dont know if it’s considered a “major mainline”
(1) Flatlands, light curves, light density ( < 10 trains / day) …no need for CWR. Especially if the existing jointed rail is heavy rail and probably less than 50 years old with decent surface. If you had decent joint maintenance in the past, UP will get as much life out of that rail as possible. The DTM and MTM probably know how long they figure on keeping the rail.
If the joint batter suddenly gets bad, you will see CWR right quick and in a hurry.
The joints are in bad shape five miles either side of MP 40. Half the rail head is worn away in most places and nearly down to the web in a many others. Bolts are loose and several joints are marked with spray paint markings (by whom, I don’t know). The coil springs on those cars sure get a workout when the trains pass through Baldwin.
So, where’s the CWR? Or is UP simply waiting for a RoadRailer derailment?
Main Track is different than yard track if everything is equal. The yard can absorb more abuse account low speeds and long periods without loading/unloading cycles. (think track modulus and smaller impact effects)…what gets beat up in yards are switches & frogs which, by nature, are the weakest link in the track structure. (ask da snowman about what happens to the leads in his yard)…
interesting that you bring up the roadrailer derailing. just last friday, i was watching it come through Elk Mound. and as the end passed me and i watched it leaving, i noticed those trailers are REALLY wobbling. i agree they might derail if this keeps up
Methinks you exagerate more than just a tad. Rail detectors, geometry cars, liteslice, random freight car impact detectors and corrugation analyzers would have umasked something that bad long ago. Uncle Pete woulda put some secondhand CWR out there long ago or dropped the track to Class 1 (10 MPH) if the conditions you described were out there on consecutive runs (no matter what local supervision said - Big Yellow is zero tolerance obsessive like that, and they have resource$ that CNW would never have had). The FRA guys woulda caught it too , independent of UP. (and you don’t leave paint and other markings out there to make it easier for FRA to find unless you have addressed the situation)…
On the painting/marking of rail joints: were they painted yellow, by chance?
In my early days of trespassing along railroad tracks, I noted that every joint had yellow paint by it after the Sperry Rail Service’s detector cars passed over. They saw the joints as defects, and marked them accordingly. I don’t know whether something along these lines is what you were seeing, but it’s a possibility (haven’t heard much about Sperry lately).
I’m also sure that UP has it down to a science, deciding whether it costs more to maintain the jointed rail up to the standards required (and MC is right about tolerance for defects), or to replace it all with CWR and save maintenance money in the long run. I suspect that on the 30000-mile-plus system there are places and projects far more demanding of limited dollars than this line, with light density and no plans for substantially increasing same.
There is no exaggeration of the “rock and roll” of the trains on the Adams Sub. Going down Hwy 21 and watching a train go by and watching all the rocking just gave you a sense that something might happen. Now that section got (or going to get) CWR. I have some videos of manifest trains along that route and it just amazes me on how those cars stay on the tracks. The Adams line is slowly getting CWR and its just time before the whole line gets it.
LiteSlice= Optical scanner rail profile track railhead wear analysis (BNSF has it mounted on their geometry cars,… UP has them mounted on some of their geometry cars (not the Plassers), two of their older PMV’s and their Corrugation Analyzer) The technology has been in use since 1990 and used to be the exclusive domain of Tamper, now everybody has it. Sure beats going out there with the old style railhead profile gauges (etch-a-sketch pantograph) to measure wear.
Heavier Rail …119 and up (119, 122, 130, 131, 132,136,141,144…all nominal pounds per yard / standard sizings/ part of the raised letters on the rail web you see)… CNW had a lot of 132 jointed.
Carl: the signal bubbas measure rail circuits (impedence, current, potential) all the time and write their findings in yellow ballstick paint all the time out there - plus they paint insulated joints frequently to find them quickly in the dark when out on trouble calls/ running down CTC track lights.
MC–this was every joint, insulated or not, and on trackage where signal circuits (for grade crossings only) may or may not have been present–it didn’t matter, the joints were yellow.
I’ll bet I could go back home now and see the same 112-pound rail I grew up with.
Here’s what the joints look like around MP 40. This particular joint has been like this for two years and has been getting progressively worse. This trackage sees 8 to 10 trains a day.
