Last night (about 10PM) I glanced out the window to see the strangest sight. There were all kinds of mercury vapor colored lights, and fire shooting out from the whole mess. I had no idea what I was seeing. Jumped in the truck and ran up to a crossing abiut a mile north. You guessed it! LORAM RG311 was working the Emporia Sub 2main. Never having seen one in person and at night, it was impressive. Being out in the country,with no ambient light it was hard to see how many units were in operation, there were four or five and a couple of tank cars (water?). What was a surpriese was the speed of the grinding operation.
Based on what some have posted here, referencing train speeds when MOW ops are present, I was blown away when a Z train went by on the adjacent main at what surely was track speed out here (50-60 mph or better). I know from watching a LORAM video on their web site, some of their trains are equipped with inside ganways, but this trains units were all outside walkways, except for the control car.
Is this particular operation an exception to the rules for passng MOW workers,by other trains?
When actively grinding, the only people outside are on the rear watching for fires. They are normally on a rear platform rather than on the ground. When they need to change grinding stones, then they will get protection from passing trains.
"When actively grinding, the only people outside are on the rear watching for fires. They are normally on a rear platform rather than on the ground. When they need to change grinding stones, then they will get protection from passing trains. "
Beaulieu:
That was what I saw as the grinding train passed there were two men on the back platform with hoses spraying the ROW as the unit passed. In addition there was a hi-rail truck following about a mile os so behind.
This was quite an operation to see for the first time. I was surprised at the speed of the train as it preformed its operation, all the films I had seen seemed to show the operation at something akin to a running man. This was much faster by comparison, and I was also amazed at the size of the train (number of units grinding and tank cars). As stated it is quite a thing to witness on a dark night!
If it was grinding and moving relatively quick, it was just putting a light profle pattern (touch-up) on rail that had little corrugation or curve wear. The pattern, the number of stones, speed and pressure can all be adjusted nased on what the rail engineer (Chief Engineer’s staff) has already seen based on on foot geometry car lite-slice and corrugation analyzer data.
Nobody in his right mind will stand anywhere within 100 feet of a rail grinder. The stones (high sleed grinding wheels) can break and go flying in an instant. Saw one almost hit a cow once.
Links to NTSB Railroad Accident Brief - Rail Grinder Derailment on Union Pacific Railroad - Baxter, California - November 9, 2006 - NTSB Number RAB-09/03 - PDF Document(149 KB) - on a runaway rail grinder train on Donner Pass a few years ago:
The Mechanical Dept. and Operating types will shudder at the reported conditions of the brakes on the locomotives and cars. The FRA promptly revised its regs to tighten up on its oversight of such operations.
The carriers that believe in rail grinding are using the equipment more frequently on their high wear lines, more frequently than in the past. Once the rail has been ‘whipped into shape’ by the equipment making multiple passes over the the territory and using a large amount of track time to do it, the carriers believe they can keep the rail in shape and overall extend the useful life of the rail by making more frequent ‘high speed’ grinding passes.
Okay, this is the most recent related thread I could find, but I just wanted to get some confirmation on something:
I’m pretty sure that several years ago, I saw one of the these rail grinding trains on the CN mainline. The part that made it really seem to stand out at the time, though, is that I am pretty sure its consist included on old bi-level or gallery commuter car for what I assume would be a bunk car. Has anyone ever seen the same thing?
http://www.loram.com/Services/Default.aspx?id=880 Link to LORAM’s website with photos of their equipment; different equipment used for various ROW maintainence activities. The apparently have no provisions for on-board living conditions.
Pandrol-Jackson’s Rail Grinders seem to make that provision, as they seem to have incorporated a couple of passenger style-cars in their consists. Witness the following videos:
Apparently a company called Pandrol-Jacks was broken up and its rail services divisions were sold to other companies. From The Harsco web site:
“… Harsco Rail, a division of Harsco Corporation, was formed in October 1999 by the merger of two worldwide leaders in the manufacture of railway track construction and maintenance equipment, Fairmont Tamper and Pandrol Jackson, Inc…”
In one of the strangest what doesn’t belong here sights I have ever seen, was when I saw a bi-level commuter car up on the west slope of the Rogers Pass while riding the Rocky Mountaineer passenger train in 1999. It was painted bright yellow, with what appeared to be the most slap dash disreputable looking paint job I have ever seen on a railcar. I do not know what function the crew was performing. The sight of that big yellow car in the beautiful Canadian Rockies startled me so much I didn’t look at anything else[:O]
I downloaded and read the accident report. What is amazing is that they had bad brakes and the operators werr not qualified on the terriroty in which they would be working. Supposidly they did a brake inspection and test, but the post accident tests proved that it was not done or done in a very slipsod mnner.
yes ther’s a bi level car running on the cn I work for loram and one of the grinders is leased to cn rg318 i believe and it has that as a sleeper car for the crew when they’re too far away from civilization to get a motel
looks like a J series grinder. this does the switches and crossings that the mainline big grinders can’t do. each cart has 8 grindwheels powered by 40 horse electric motors… these carts can be loaded onto the flatcar pulling them so they can travel at normal speeds. Otherwise down they can go around 30 mph when traveling.
This bi level car has a kitchen in the bottom level and living quarters up top. The ‘Locomotive’ looking car is called a control car for reverse travel of the machine. The satelite dish is for communication because this machine runs on the CN and operates in many areas where there are no phones, cell phone coverage or hotels which is why this has sleeper cars. The control car was scrapped along with the single level passenger car and the boxcar in the winter of 2009-10. A newer passenger car with out asbestos replaced the old passenger car with showers laundry and quarters for CN personel. The control car was replaced with a bay window caboose with more room for computers and crew. Another grinding car was added and another watercar was added for more speed/ production per day. This is one of lorams large mainline grinders and it grinds at 10-15 mph.
